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ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW & CASE STUDY: Reviewing NEPA's Past: Improving NEPA's Future

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 September 2011

Roger P. Hansen  and
Theodore A. Wolff
Roger P. Hansen
Affiliation:
Hansen Environmental Consultants, Aurora, Colorado
Theodore A. Wolff*
Affiliation:
Albuquerque, New Mexico
*
Theodore A. Wolff, 10443 Fourth Street NW, Albuquerque, NM 87114; (phone) 505-898-7434; (fax) 505-284-5210; (e-mail) [email protected]
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Abstract

On December 31, 2009, President Barack Obama proclaimed the 40th anniversary of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), a landmark “conservation” law. During this 40-year period, NEPA has been hailed as a champion of American “environmental rights” and criticized as an obstacle to economic progress. In the view of some critics, NEPA uselessly exploits private and public time and resources. It is remarkable that NEPA, although battered and worn, has survived virtually intact for four decades. This article is not a “how to” dissertation containing new or revised prescriptions for preparing defendable environmental impact statements (EISs), environmental assessments (EAs), and other action-forcing documents prepared by federal agencies. It is not a recitation of main provisions in the NEPA [National Environmental Policy Act of 1969] with which most readers are familiar. Instead, it selects 10 of a plethora of problems blockading responsible NEPA process implementation: seven historic and persistent and three new or emerging. This selection is by no means an all-inclusive list. Finally, the article reviews NEPA's development and looks to some future steps that might be taken to implement NEPA as its founders intended.

Environmental Practice 13:235–249 (2011)

Type
Features
Information
Environmental Practice , Volume 13 , Issue 3 , September 2011 , pp. 235 - 249
Copyright
Copyright © National Association of Environmental Professionals 2011

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