Environmental Assessment

by Ravi K. Jain, L.V. Urban, Gary S. Stacey, et al.

Book Overview

This text presents a sythesis of ideas and professional experience to address the complex area of environmental assessment. In keeping with the approach outlined in federal law - NEPA - and its... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0070323690
• ISBN13: 9780070323698
• Release Date: January 1993
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies
• Length: 526 Pages
• Weight: 1.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.2" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Must-have book for those who care about the Environment

OVERVIEW. This book is written by scientists, engineers and economists who have been at the forefront of environmental assessment and the incorporation of industrial ecology in environmental assessments since 1970 when the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) was passed. As practitioners and academicians, the authors apply their wealth of knowledge, experience and expertise gained over the past three decades to (1) bring order to the chaotic mass of environmental legislation, regulation, executive orders, policy acts, documents, and reports; and to (2) provide readers with a systematic, interdisciplinary step-by-step procedure for preparing environmental assessments and statements. They solve the problem, and help reader's solve the particular manifestation of the problem in the reader's life.ORIGIN. While working together at the Army Corps of Engineers Construction Engineering Research Laboratory in Champaign, Illinois in the early 1970's, they developed a handbook to assist U.S. Army personnel in addressing the NEPA requirement to prepare documentation of the environmental impacts of their proposed actions. This handbook developed procedures to include both the natural and physical environment and the relationship of humans with the environment. On page x of the Preface, they tell us that this sweeping incorporation of socioeconomic environment with the biophysical environment was controversial at the time and was considered to go far beyond what NEPA "really required." A couple of decades later, Ravi Jain, who was the leader of the Environmental Policy Institute (and this group of gentlemen), was awarded the Army Corps of Engineers "Engineer of the Year" Award in appreciation for his prescient focus.FUTURE APPLICATION. Going beyond a static description of steps to follow in conducting a comprehensive, deliberative and systematic assessment -- which will help the reader satisfy existing environmental protection requirements, the authors takes a Socratic approach in conveying information to the reader so that the reader can anticipate future requirements. They not only provide information, they provide insight into their mental paradigm and reasoning process. They do this by asking questions. The book starts with a question: "What is environmental assessment?" The book ends with a question: "How are these contemporary issues (i.e., global warming, acid rain, deforestation, endangered species, biodiversity, cultural resources, ecorisk) different?" Imbetween the beginning and the end, each chapter has a section of discussion and study questions.GLOBAL APPLICATION. In the same way that the U.S. did not pay much attention to environmental protection during the first 200 years of its existence, other countries around the world do not pay as much attention to environmental issues as they will in the future. Until the day arrives that there is a universal commitment to protecting the environment, to what extent should the U.S.