Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-45l2p Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T17:16:28.381Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Commentary: NEPA Reform: Effects on Citizen Participation in Environmental Decision Making

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 July 2009

Frank Turina*
Affiliation:
Doctoral Candidate, Graduate School of Public Affairs, University of Colorado at Denver; and CH2M HILL, Denver, Colorado
*
Frank Turina, Environmental Planner, CH2M HILL, PO Box 241325, Denver, Colorado 80224-9325; (fax) 303-754-0197; (e-mail) fturina@ch2m.com.
Get access

Extract

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) has been hailed as one of the most successful environmental statutes ever written, and has been used as a model for environmental stewardship throughout the world. One of the primary objectives of this act is to provide citizens with a voice in governmental decisions. However, recent efforts to make the NEPA process more efficient, less costly, and less time-consuming threaten to undermine achievements in public participation and participatory policy making gained during the last 30 years. This article examines public participation under NEPA and demonstrates that the recent rise in the use of the Environmental Assessment (EA) as the primary document for NEPA compliance, and the corresponding decrease in the use of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), is due to efforts to streamline NEPA as part of the overall movement to reinvent government. The article examines recent trends in NEPA implementation and public involvement requirements for EISs and EAs, and concludes that the increased use of Environmental Assessments significantly limits the public's ability to respond to environmental impacts caused by federal actions, thereby damaging one of the most effective vehicles for citizen participation in government. Finally recommendations are provided to increase opportunities for public involvement in the EA process without sacrificing improvements in efficiency.

Type
Features & Reviews
Copyright
Copyright © National Association of Environmental Professionals 2001

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Notes

1. Gore, A., 1993, From Red Tape to Results: Creating a Government That Works Better and Costs Less, US Government Printing Office, Washington DC, 83 ppGoogle Scholar; Kamensky, I. M., 1996, “Role of the Reinventing Government Movement in Federal Management Reform,” Public Administration Review, 56 (3): 247255.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

2. Osborne, D. and Gaebler, T., 1993, Reinventing Government: How the Entrepreneurial Spirit Is Transforming the Public Sector, Penguin Books, New York, 331 pp.Google Scholar

3. Gore, , From Red Tape to Results, p. 4.Google Scholar

4. Pierre, Jon, 1998, “Public Consultation and Citizen Participation: Dilemmas of Policy Advice,” in Taking Stock: Assessing Public Sector Reforms, Peters, and Savoie, D. J., eds., McGill-Queen's University Press, Montreal, pp. 137163.Google Scholar (141 stating that the very idea of reforms is to have less public involvement in the production of services.)

5. Schacter, H. L., 1995, “Reinventing Government or Reinventing Ourselves: Two Models for Improving Government Performance,” Public Administration Review 55(6):530537.CrossRefGoogle Scholar (Arguing that a customer-centered model puts citizens in a reactive role limited to liking or disliking services and hoping that administrators will change delivery if enough customers object, as opposed to a citizen as owner model in which citizens play a proactive role by deciding what the government's agenda should be.)

6. Terry, L. D., 1998, “Administrative Leadership, Neo-Managerialism, and the Public Management Movement,” Public Administration Review 58(3):194200.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

7. Heinzerling, L., 1995, “Selling Pollution, Forcing Democracy,” Stanford Environmental Law Journal 14(2):300346.Google Scholar (Arguing that reinvention programs encouraged agencies to make key environmental decisions out of the public eye, with almost no explanation.)

8. Kraft, M. E. and Vig, Nj., 2000, “Environmental Policy from the 1970s to 2000: an Overview,” in Environmental Policy, 4th Edition, Vig, N. J. and Kraft, M. E., eds., CQ Press, Washington, DC, pp. 131.Google Scholar (Noting that during the late 1960s and early 1970s as society placed a new emphasis on quality of life, concern for the environment expanded across all groups in the population. The effect was a broadly based public demand for more vigorous and comprehensive federal action to prevent environmental degradation.)

9. Burns, S., 1990, Social Movements of the 1960s: Searching for Democracy, Twayne Publishers, Boston, 215 pp.Google Scholar (Noting that during the 1960s millions of Americans acted beyond the usual bounds of citizenship to change social practices, and that this unprecedented outpouring of genuine democracy has inspired other public activists.)

10. Doremus, H., 1999, “Preserving Citizen Participation in the Era of Reinvention: The Endangered Species Act Example,” Ecology L Q. 25(4):707717.Google Scholar; Poisner, J., 1996, “A Civic Republican Perspective on the National Environmental Policy Act's Process for Citizen Participation,” Environmental Law 26(1): 5395.Google Scholar (“Virtually every federal environmental law passed in the 1970s contains significant provisions for citizen participation in the decision making of implementing agencies.”)

11. Kraft, and Vig, , 2000, Environmental Policy, 11.Google Scholar (“… Congress set the stage for the spurt in policy innovation at the end of 1969 when it passed the National Environmental Policy Act.”)

12. 40 CFR 1500.1(b).

13. Gore, , From Red Tape to Results, p. 4.Google Scholar

14. Frederickson, G. H., 1996, “The Seven Principles of Total Quality Politics,” Public Administration Times 17(2):9Google Scholar; also see Mintzberg, H., 1996, “Managing Government, Governing Management,” Harvard Business Review 74(3):7585.Google Scholar

15. For divergent views on this debate see the Symposium on Leadership, Democracy and the New Public Management, Public Administration Reviaw 58 (3) 1998Google Scholar; Also see Panel: The Structure of Government Accountability, University of Pittsburgh Law Review 57 (2) 1996.Google Scholar

16. Schacter, , 1995, Reinventing GovernmentGoogle Scholar

17. Schacter, , 1995, Reinventing GovernmentGoogle Scholar

18. Rockman, Bert A., 1998, “The Changing Role of the State,” in Taking Stock Assessing Public Sector Reforms, Peters, B.G. and Savoie, D. J., eds., McGill-Queen's University Press, Montreal, p. 31.Google Scholar (“Ironically, keeping the customer happy may not necessarily be in the public interest.”)

19. Behn, R. D., 1998, “What Right Do Public Managers Have To Lead,” Public Administration Review 58(3): 209224.CrossRefGoogle Scholar (Arguing that public managers have an obligation to lead as an attempt to compensate for some of the failures of government.)

20. For Example, Moe, R. C., 1994, “The Reinventing Government Exercise: Misinterpreting the Problem, Misjudging the Consequences,” Public Administration Review 54(2):111122CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Moe, R. and Gilmour, R. S., 1995, “Rediscovering Principles of Public Administration: The Neglected Foundations of Public Law,” Public Administration Review 55(2):135146CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Terry, , 1998, Administrative Leadership, 194 pp.Google Scholar

21. Stever, J. A., 1988, The End of Public Administration: Problems with the Profession in the Post Progressive Era, Transnational Publishers, Dobbs Ferry, NY, 188 pp.Google Scholar

22. Behn, 1998, What Right, 221 pp.Google Scholar (Arguing that if public managers exercise leadership intelligently and take seriously their responsibilities for civic education, they will improve political accountability.)

23. Gore, , From Red Tape to Results, p. 2.Google Scholar

24. Clinton, William J., 1993, Remarks Announcing the Initiative to Streamline Government at www.npr.gov/library/speeches/030393.html.Google Scholar

25. Waldo, D., 1948, Vie Administrative State. Ronald Press, New York, 227 pp.Google Scholar (Concluding that focusing on perfecting administrative processes was harmful to democracy); also see Ostrom, V., 1997, The Meaning of Democracy and the Vulnerability of Democracy: A Response to Toqueville's Challenge, University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, 329 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

26. Kelly, R. M., 1998, “An Inclusive Democratic Polity, Representative Bureaucracies, and the New Public Management,” Public Administration Review 58 (3):201208.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

27. Alasdair, R.S., 2000, “Less Government, More Secrecy: Reinvention and the Weakening of Freedom of Information Law,” Public Administration Review, 60(4):308320.Google Scholar

28. Peterson, E. C., 1998, “The Impact of the National Performance Review and Other Forces on the Rights of an Informed Citizenry. A Case Study in Reinvention—Reforming Government Publishing,” Government Information Quarterly 15(4):383392.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

29. Kirlin, J. J., 1996, “The Big Questions of Public Administration in a Democracy,” Public Administration Review 56(5): 416424.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

30. Kirlin, , 1996, The Big Questions, pp. 416, 420.Google Scholar

31. Tonn, B. E. and Petrich, C., 1997, Environmental Citizenship: Problems and Prospects, National Center for Environmental Decision-making Research, Technical Report NCEDR/97–16.Google Scholar

32. Tonn, and Petrich, , 1997 Environmental Citizenship, p. 3.Google Scholar (The United States has evolved into a bureaucratic democraq, where efficiency of public administration is often, if not always, viewed as being in conflict with the goals of populism. From the classical bureaucratic viewpoint, public participation in administrative decision making can be seen as being inefficient, at best, and leading to highly counterproductive and costly decisions, at worst. The result is that many environmental decisions are made by government agencies without input from citizens.)

33. Doremus, , 1999, Preserving Citizen Participation.Google Scholar

34. Doremus, , 1999, Preserving Citizen Participation, p. 711.Google Scholar

35. 16 U.S.C. 1539(a)(1)(B) (1994).

36. Doremus, , 1999, Preserving Citizen Participation, p. 711.Google Scholar

37. Doremus, , 1999, Preserving Citizen Participation, p. 712.Google Scholar

38. Doremus, , 1999, Preserving Citizen Participation, p. 713.Google Scholar

39. Committee on Resources, House of Representatives, Problems and Issues With the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, Washington, DC: US House of Representatives, 1998.Google Scholar (In which nearly every speaker testified to the cost and time delays caused by NEPA implementation.)

40. Cortner, H. and Moote, M., 1999, The Politics of Ecosystem Management, Island Press, Washington, DC, 224Google Scholar; Kraft, and Vig, , 2000, Environmental Policy, p. 13.Google Scholar

41. For a thorough analysis of environmental policy initiatives of the 104th and 105th Congresses, see Kraft, Michael E., 2000, “Environmental Policy in Congress: from Consensus to Gridlock,” in Environmental Policy, 4th Edition, Vig, N. J. and Kraft, M. E., eds., CQ Press, Washington, DC, 121144.Google Scholar

42. Geitman, E. G. and Skroback, A. E., 1998, “Reinventing the EPA to Conform with the New American Environmentally,” Columbia Journal of Environmental Law 23(1):156.Google Scholar

43. Geltman, and Skroback, , 1998, Reinventing the EPA, pp. 23.Google Scholar

44. CNN 04 16, 1996Google Scholar, “Democrats Warn Of Veto Over Environment.”

45. Cushman, J. H., 1995, “GOP's Plan for Environment is Facing a Big Test in Congress,” New York Times 07 17Google Scholar. (The House Appropriations Committee that recommended the cut explained its action stating “The Agency was headed in the wrong direction, for the wrong reasons, and in a manner that can impose unnecessary costs on American Industry.” The tactic was used again in response to Clinton's 1997 budget. US Department of the Interior, Press Release, 05 21, 1996Google Scholar, Congress Launches New Attack On Environment stating that the House Appropriations Committee had announced budget allocations that would cut funding for the Interior Department and related agencies by $895 million below the 1996 level. This would mean a 7% or greater cut for the second year in a row. An additional cut that exceeded $100 million, or 15%, was proposed for the Bureau of Reclamation.)

46. Bureau of Land Management, 1986Google Scholar, National Environmental Policy Act Handbook, available online at www.blm.gov.; Hayes, N. K., 1998Google Scholar, Prepared Statement of Nancy K. Hayes, Chief Staff and Counselor, Bureau of Land Management, US Department of the Interior, Before the Senate Committee on Resources, House of Representatives. Problems and Issues With the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969; National Academy of Public Administrators (NAPA) Center for the Economy and the Environment, 1998, Managing NEPA at the Department of EnergyGoogle Scholar available online at www.doe.gov; US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), 1998, US Food and Drug Administration Initiatives Under Vice President Gore's Partnership for Reinventing GovernmentGoogle Scholar, available online at wu-w.fda.gov.

47. Byrne, M. J., 1998, “Prepared Statement of Michael J. Byrne Before the Committee on Resources, House of Representatives,” Problems and Issues With the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, pp. 86, 88.Google Scholar

48. Geringer, James, 1998, “Prepared Statement of James Geringer, Governor of Wyoming, Before the Senate Committee on Resources, House of Representatives,” Problems and Issues With the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, pp. 18, 20.Google Scholar

49. Kettl, D. F., 2000, “Restless Reinvention,” Government Executive 32(1):2527.Google Scholar

50. Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), 1997, The National Environmental Policy Act: A Study of Its Effectiveness After Twenty-five Years. US Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, 60 pp., available online at http://ceq.eh.doe.gov/nepa/nepanet.htm.Google Scholar

51. CEQ, 1997, The National Environmental Policy Act, p. 20.Google Scholar

52. 40CFR §1502.20.

53. Spence, D. B., 1999, “Agency Discretion and the Dynamics of Procedural Reform,” Public Administration Review 59(5):425–342.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

54. Spence, , 1999, Agency Discretion.Google Scholar

55. CEQ, 1997, The National Environmental Policy Act, p. 19.Google Scholar

56. USEPA does not keep track of the number of EAs produced. However, 1993 survey estimated that approximately 50,000 EAs were being prepared annually.

57. CEQ, 1997, The National Environmental Policy Act, p. 19.Google Scholar

58. Weiner, K. S., 1997, “Basic Purposes and Policies of the NEPA Regulations,” in Environmental Policy and NEPA: Past, Present, and Future. Clark, R. and Canter, L., eds., St. Lucie Press, Boca Raton, FL, 6183.Google Scholar

59. Weiner, , 1997, Basic Purposes and Policies, p. 77.Google Scholar

60. Weiner, , 1997, Basic Purposes and Policies, p. 78.Google Scholar

61. CEQ, 1997, The National Environmental Policy Act, pp. 1920.Google Scholar

62. Solomon, R. M. et al. , 1997, “Public Involvement Under NEPA: Trends and Opportunities,” in Environmental Policy and NEPA: Past, Present, and Future, Clark, R. and Canter, L., eds., St. Lucie Press, Boca Raton, FL, 261276.Google Scholar

63. Solomon, R. M. et al. , 1997, Public Involvement, p. 265.Google Scholar

64. Solomon, R. M. et al. , 1997, Public Involvement, p. 266.Google Scholar

65. CEQ, 1997, The National Environmental Policy Act, p. 29.Google Scholar

66. NAPA, 1998, Managing NEPA at the Department of EnergyGoogle Scholar; FDA, 1998, US Food and Drug Administration Initiatives.Google Scholar

67. CEQ, 1997, The National Environmental Policy Act, p. 19.Google Scholar

68. NAPA, 1998, Managing NEPA at the Department of Energy, p. n(C).Google Scholar

69. CEQ 1997, The National Environmental Policy Act, p. 19.Google Scholar

70. US General Services Administration, 1999. National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Desk Guide, US Government Printing Office, Washington DC, 208 pp. Available online at www.gsa.gov.Google Scholar

71. Byrne, , 1998, Prepared Statement of Michael J. Byrne, 88 pp.Google Scholar (Ironically, limiting public involvement may actually increase the time and expense of NEPA compliance by increasing the likelihood of post-decision challenges and litigation from a disenfranchised public.)

72. Rocky Mountain Oil and Gas Association, 1998, “Statement of Rocky Mountain Oil and Gas Association, Before the Senate Committee on Resources, House of Representatives,” Problems and Issues With the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, pp. 165, 170.Google Scholar

73. FDA, 1998. US Food and Drug Administration Initiatives.Google Scholar

74. FDA, 1998, US Food and Drug Administration Initiatives.Google Scholar

75. 62 Fed. Reg. 40569–40600.

76. NAPA, 1998, Managing NEPA at the Department of Energy.Google Scholar

77. NAPA, 1998, Managing NEPA at the Department of EnergyGoogle Scholar sections III(A) (the Academy's study team confirmed that in the last decade Department of Energy has decreased the time it takes to prepare both EISs and EAs) and IV(C). (Analysis of the costs of environmental assessments shows that costs of EAs has declined since 1994. The average cost of 59 EAs begun before July 1994 was $153,000, compared with an average cost of $103,000 for 78 EAs commenced after July 1994. The median cost also dropped, from $78,000 to $52,000.)

78. CEQ, 1997, The National Environmental Policy Act, p. 20.Google Scholar

79. Canter, L. and Clark, R., 1997, “NEPA Effectiveness: A Survey of Academics,” Environmental Impact Assessment Review 17(5):313327.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

80. O'Leary, H. R., 1994, Memorandum: National Environmental Policy Act Policy Statement, US Department of Energy, available at www.doe.gov/nepa/.Google Scholar

81. O'Leary, , 1994, Memorandum, section V(B).Google Scholar

82. O'Leary, , 1994, Memorandum, section V(B).Google Scholar

83. Welles, H., 1997, “The CEQ NEPA Effectiveness Study: Learning From Our Past and Shaping Our Future,” in Environmental Policy and NEPA: Past, Present, and Future, Clark, R. and Canter, L., eds., St. Lucie Press, Boca Raton, FL, 193214.Google Scholar

84. For discussions of the internet's potential in increasing citizen participation at less cost see Grossman, L. K., 1996, The Electronic Republic Reshaping Democracy in the Information Age, Viking Press, New York, 290 pp.Google Scholar; also see Ryan, S. M., 1996, Downloading Democracy: Government Information in an Electronic Age, Hampton Press, Cresskill, NJ, 353 pp.Google Scholar

85. Rochon, T. R., 1998, Culture Moves, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 280 pp.Google Scholar