Following World War II, the U.S. went on one of the largest building booms in the history of the world. Interstate highways, dams, nuclear power plants, suburban sprawl, and urban renewal were all embraced as "progress". Government and private sector activities jointly fueled this transformation. By the late 1960's it became clear that uncontrolled development was causing severe environmental degradation. Widespread public outcry led to two complementary types of legislative response. A number of topical regulatory programs were created to address specific issues, such as Clean Air, Super Fund (hazardous waste), and Endangered Species protection. The other response was to view the environment holistically and to establish an integrated, participatory process for improving public decisions. This second approach is the basis of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and New York's State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQR). The heart of both NEPA and SEQR is the Environmental Impact Assessment process (EIA).

1. Demonstrate comprehension of the historical and legal basis for Environmental Impact Analysis, and its roles in public decision- making;

2. Identify the key stages of, and participants in the three alternative tracks used in EIA under the federal NEPA, and the NY State Environmental Quality Review Act;

3. Understand the basic methodologies used in forecasting and predicting impacts from projects and associated mitigations; and

    25% Exam 1 

    25% Exam 2 

    30% Team EIS Review 

    20% Team SEQR EAF

http://www.solano.com/book_links.htm
Your text publisher, Solano press maintains an associated web site.

(3).

Review the map of government land holdings and the agencies involved:  Gov%20Land%20Map.jpg.jpe

Read the origins of BLM's "organic act" (FLPMA 43 U.S.C. 1701 et seq): http://www.blm.gov/flpma/organic.htm ,
    then go to the U. of New Mexico's summary of federal law site: http://ipl.unm.edu/cwl/fedbook/statute_frame.htm
    and read a summary of FLPMA.

Go to Cornell's Legal Information Institute and review the relationship between federal natural resources mangement activities and Titles in the U.S.C. : http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/index.php/Natural_resources
also look at "Land Use"

Examine a land management plan for a national forest

After a regulatory law is passed, the agency must promulgate detailed regulations to systemize the permit program process. The following sites can provide an introduction gateway to the law-regulation- permit relationships.

The Interior Dept's. Fish and Wildlife Service is reponsible for the Endangered Species Act http://endangered.fws.gov/

    Many models are commercially available. Check out hrydrology and hydraulic models at:
    http://www.hydrology-software.com/
    And the models at SciSoft: http://www.scisoftware.com/html/categories.html