On November 24, Judge Chuck Chambers ruled that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers violated NEPA by not providing sufficient means for the public to comment on two coal mountain top removal permits in the Appalachian Mountains. The other 79 pending permits in the area could be sent back to go through the public process [...]
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EIS violates NEPA for forgetting Eutrophication section
The 9th Circuit Appellate Court reviewed the EIS prepared for the exchange of land in Joshua Tree National Park between the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and Kaiser Eagle Mountain Inc. and confirmed that the EIS violated NEPA. Specifically, the EIS: used too narrow purpose objectives that resulted in a flawed alternative analysis, and didn’t [...]
Hand to Mouth: EPA Releases Guide to Child Environmental Exposures
On October 27, the EPA released the final report “Highlights of the Child-Specific Exposure Factors Handbook,” an accessible introduction to the Child-Specific Exposure Factors Handbook (CSEFH), which provides risk assessors a user-friendly reference guide to “behavioral and physiological characteristics needed to estimate childhood exposure to toxic contaminants and other environmental stressors”. The Highlights Handbook presents [...]
Say It To My Facebook: Using Social Media for Public Involvement
Ryan Link, a Planner with Michael Baker Jr. Inc’s (Baker) Richmond, Virginia office, got hooked on social media over a year ago when working with the non-profit Athletes for a Cure. He immediately made the connection that sites such as Twitter and Facebook could increase public engagement, involvement and outreach for NEPA and just about [...]
Environmental Assessment Omits Water Infrastructure, Violates NEPA
On October 9, Administrative Law Judge Harvey C. Sweitzer found the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to be in violation of NEPA. The Byner Cattle Corporation was proposing grazing permits in the state of Arizona, and the BLM drew up an environment assessment (EA) that the judge found to be seriously lacking a “reasonably thorough [...]
