Global climate change and NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) analyses
Conference
·
OSTI ID:5302436
Energy production and use, industrial activity, and land-use change are expected to cause a global climate change that would have local and regional manifestations during the next century. Although the resulting impacts are not yet known with certainty, potential effects on agriculture, water, forests, ecosystems, fisheries, coastal areas (from rising sea level), and other environmental resources have been predicted. The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) provides for consideration of such topics as global climate change. However, the implementation of the environmental impact statement (EIS) requirements of NEPA has seldom been used to address the issue. Climate change and its consequent effects have three important implications for NEPA determinations: (1) the potential for an action to individually alter climate must be assessed, (2) cumulative impacts of the action in concert with other actions must be considered, and (3) the potential for future climate change to alter the baseline'' environment (and thus to affect the action or to alter the impact of the action) must be assessed, even if the action under consideration will not in itself contribute to climate change. In this paper, we evaluate the climate-change issue (including the uncertainty of the temporal and spatial distribution of impacts) in a NEPA context. We discuss the kinds of actions to which NEPA is applicable, the types of analyses that might be appropriate, and the problems they might involve. In particular, the opportunities and limitations under current Council on Environmental Quality regulations for addressing climate change through the environmental assessment (EA)/EIS process are addressed. We also discuss changes that have been proposed for NEPA and its implementing regulation and how they could affect the analysis of global climate change. 32 refs., 3 tabs.
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (USA)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- DOE/ER
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-84OR21400
- OSTI ID:
- 5302436
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-891098-4; ON: DE90003704
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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