Since the passage of the National Environmental Policy Act, there has been considerable debate about the procedures, content and role of the environmental impact statement. This article examines the legal background of broadbased environmental assessments and analyzes court decisions on timing, scope and other issues regarding these assessments. The author then explores the use of these broadbased assessments in both the U.S. government and international institutions
Since the passage of the National Environmental Policy Act, there has been considerable debate about the procedures, content and role of the environmental impact statement. This article examines the legal background of broadbased environmental assessments and analyzes court decisions on timing, scope and other issues regarding these assessments. The author then explores the use of these broadbased assessments in both the U.S. government and international institutions
Since the passage of the National Environmental Policy Act (docx)
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Jon Cooper has participated in and led highly complex and controversial environmental assessments, e.g.:
· He participated in the Programmatic Assessment of the Nuclear Waste Program conducted for the U.S. Department of Energy. This five-year program required coordination between nuclear engineering, physical and chemical science, economics, transportation planning, risk assessments (for health, ecology, and occupational impacts), logistics, national security, and defense strategy. The study involved intense public scrutiny of major policy issues, such as the initial policy of restoring waste sites to background levels of contamination.
Among other activities, Dr. Cooper coordinated work between stakeholders in government, private industry, and environmental groups. Major technical issues included proposed cleanup standards and cost-effectiveness of alternative actions.
· Dr. Cooper directed an EIA for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on the impacts of dredging on the Delaware River. As part of this work, he created new models for predicting and assessing food chain transportation of contaminants in birds of prey. These models considered the diminution of impacts due to realistic resident times for these species and their prey in the ecosystem, as well as other fate and effects assessments. He also performed similar studies on dredging associated with harbor and slip maintenance for the New York-New Jersey harbor.
· For the U.S. Agency for International Development, Dr. Cooper studied the use of pesticides in the U.S. foreign aid program. In this study, he examined culturally-specific issues, as well as policy issues with respect to persistence, toxicity, and protection of sensitive ecological resources. The initial programmatic study formed the basis for the preparation and review of specific issues in eight African nations.
· Dr. Cooper was responsible for the implementation of an environmental assessment of a major planned system of oil pipelines under construction by Exxon Mobil in Chad and Cameroon. As a result of the requirements specified in the loan agreements resulting from the EIA, Dr. Cooper worked with large French subcontractors to prepare environmental management documents for oil spills, waste management, health, sociological, training, and management issues.
· Dr. Cooper has performed other important environmental impact assessments, including the large and controversial Hudson River case studies, which was a study of the thermal impacts of power plants on receiving waters for Consolidated Edison and Orange and Rockland, another utility; and natural resource damage assessments for an oil spill in the New York-New Jersey harbor.
resume2018nepa3 (doc)
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