Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
r Expanded bus service
r Environmentally sustainable storm water management system
r State-of-the-art wastewater treatment system
r In perpetuity, a guarantee of substantial open space and preserva-
tion of critical habitat
r Expedited cleanup of hazardous waste
r Proponent-supported infrastructure improvements
r State-supported traffic improvements
The coordination of environmental analysis at the state and federal
level is another aspect of environmental analysis illustrated by the South
Weymouth Naval Air Station case study. When the Navy closed the sta-
tion, they were obligated to comply with NEPA and prepare an EIS because
the closure was a federal action and had the potential to significantly affect
the human environment. However, the ultimate use of the land following the
Navy's cessation of operation was unknown, thus the EIS was very generic
in their prediction of impacts, incorporating many assumptions with a high
degree of uncertainty. As the entire situation was controversial and there
was significant opposition to any proposed new use, either a public group
in opposition or another federal agency with natural resource responsibil-
ity could have made a strong case that the Navy's EIS did not take a “hard
look” at the impacts due to the necessity for broad assumptions and a high
degree of uncertainty. However, any proposed action on the site required
numerous state approvals, and the land was to be initially transferred to the
state before it was turned over to private developers. Thus the Navy, other
federal agencies (particularly EPA who was heavily involved in the hazard-
ous waste cleanup and the MEPA process), and citizens groups understood
there would be an extensive and highly scrutinized MEPA process before
any action was taken. They understood that the MEPA process would fully
meet the intent of NEPA, and challenging the action under NEPA would
most likely be a waste of time and instead focused their efforts on MEPA.
The result was consensus (not unanimous but very strong) and ultimately a
much better process with benefits for all parties.
Enactment and implementation of MEPA reflects much of NEPA and the
lessons learned. It builds on and expands the public outreach, scoping,
and screening multilevel approaches (i.e., CATEX, EA, and EIS) of NEPA.
It embraces the concepts of affected environment, impact prediction, and
mitigation developed over decades of NEPA experience. It does differ in
one very important aspect. MEPA is administered by an independent entity
(Secretary of Environmental and Energy Affairs) with staff and authority
to not only define the scope but also approve or reject the environmental
impact analysis and ultimate the proposed action. In practice, the secretary
pays close attention to comments by agencies such as the state Department
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