Barriers to and opportunities for effective cumulative impact assessment within state-level environmental review frameworks in the United States

In the US, relatively little research has been done in recent years to inform the development and implementation of cumulative impact assessment (CIA) policy. Past studies have primarily focused on the requirements and practices of the National Environmental Policy Act, but little is known about the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of environmental planning and management 2012-09, Vol.55 (7), p.961-978
Main Authors: Ma, Zhao, Becker, Dennis R, Kilgore, Michael A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Assessments
Barriers
Case studies
Conduction
Cost
Costs
cumulative effects
Data analysis
Environmental impact
environmental impact assessment
Environmental impact studies
Environmental policy
governmental programs and projects
Guidelines
Impact analysis
issues and policy
Management
National Environmental Policy Act
national surveys
Perception
Policies
States
Strategy
Studies
Surveys
United States
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Summary:In the US, relatively little research has been done in recent years to inform the development and implementation of cumulative impact assessment (CIA) policy. Past studies have primarily focused on the requirements and practices of the National Environmental Policy Act, but little is known about the challenges and opportunities relating to CIA practices at the state level. By analysing data from a national survey of state environmental review programme administrators, this study identified the inability of state programmes to facilitate CIA practices as a major barrier to effective implementation, particularly reflected by the perceived lack of explicit procedures and data for conducting CIA. Important strategies for improvement included adopting detailed guidelines specifying what to include in an assessment and developing institutional mechanisms to encourage state agency co-ordination. Some differences in perception were observed across programmes due to the different types of state-level environmental review frameworks within which cumulative impacts are assessed. In addition, administrators from programmes without CIA requirements seemed to overestimate the cost and time needed to implement CIA. Changing their perception may contribute to the adoption of CIA procedures in these states.
ISSN:1360-0559
0964-0568
1360-0559
DOI:10.1080/09640568.2011.635013