Multilevel Environmental Impact Analysis - Environmental Impact Analysis: Process and Methods - page 258

timely manner, there is a likelihood they will be accepted and adopted in
many jurisdictions. The advantages and benefits of SEA are not in devel-
oping procedures, requirements, or analysis methods but rather in the ulti-
mate environmental benefits derived from implementing the program, and
it will take time to make a judgment on the value and effectiveness of a fully
developed SEA program. Based on the histories of SEA and NEPA, one could
reasonably hope that as SEA matures, both in terms of development and
refinement of analysis methods and increased acceptance, SEA initiatives
will eventually be fully implemented and accrue environmental benefits in a
manner similar to what we have witnessed with NEPA over the last 40 years.
An early precursor of SEA, which has been very successful, is the Coastal
Zone Management Act (CZMA), passed by the U.S. Congress in 1972 and is
still very much in effect. The CZMA requires every state with a coastal zone
(which includes the Great Lake states) to prepare a comprehensive coastal
zone management plan. Although the Act does not mandate an environmen-
tal impact analysis as part of the plan development, it does call for “manage-
ment of the nation's coastal resources, including the Great Lakes, and balances
economic development with environmental conservation.” The CZMA is
administered by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's
(NOAA) Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management (OCRM). NOAA
has delegated much of the responsibility and funds to state CZM offices to
develop the coastal plans and administer the Act. Under the CZMA, every
federal action within the coastal zone, whether it is funding, construction,
land transfers, permitting, or regulation, must be consistent with the coastal
management plan applicable to the specific location of the action. NEPA
compliance for the federal action in the coastal zone requires full documen-
tation of the action's consistency with the plan on a point-by-point basis. The
mission of OCRM and the state CZM offices has a very heavy environmental
protection and enhancement component, thus the coastal plans and enforce-
ment of CZMA tend to reflect many aspects of SEA.
Another area potentially amenable to successful implementation of SEA is
a regional transportation PPP. At the broadest level the SEA would consider
where people live, work, and play and also where manufactured goods and
food are produced. The SEA would then identify plans to minimize transport
among these uses. The next level of analysis would be to evaluate alternative
means of transportation such as mass transit, ships, trains, high mileage cars,
and so on. Then the final analysis would address where the roads/railroads
would be and what type of transportation modes would be employed. Other
possible topics of SEA that could be developed with existing environmental
impact analysis tools are biodiversity, carbon emissions, and water resources
development. The development of the U.S. Interstate Highway System during
the 1950s and 1960s is a great example of a missed SEA opportunity. If an SEA
requirement had been in place at the time, the highway alignments would
have been very different (e.g., avoiding wetlands) and in all probability there
would have been a strong integration of rail and highway.