Environmental Impact Assessment in the United States

Environmental impact assessment is now firmly established as an important and often mandatory part of proposing any development project. Environmental Impact Assessment in the United States provides foundational knowledge of environmental review in the United States as carried out at federal, state, and local levels, with detailed information about the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and its applications, and other relevant federal and state legislation. This book will aid planners, architects, engineers, project managers, or consultants who work with environmental impact statements to assess the effects of a proposed activity on the environment and who develop and assess measures to avoid or minimize those impacts. It will serve as a desk reference for professional environmental planners as well as a core textbook for students who intend to work in the fields of environmental policy, civil engineering, environmental law, resources management, or other areas of environmental management.

Robert M. Sanford (Rob) is Emeritus Professor of Environmental Science & Policy at the University of Southern Maine in Gorham, Maine. He received a BA in anthropology (archaeology) at SUNY Potsdam, and his MS and PhD in environmental science from SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry. He served as an environmental hearing officer in Vermont for nine years. Before and after that, he was an environmental impact assessment and planning consultant. His research interests include environmental impact assessment, environmental planning, and environmental education. He was a co-director of the SENCER (Science Education for New Civic Engagements and Responsibilities) New England Center for Innovation (SCI) from 2012-2022. In 2019, he was appointed to the Maine Board of Environmental Protection. His recent books include Reading Rural Landscapes, Environmental Science: Active Learning Laboratories and Applied Problem Sets (3rd Ed.), River Voices, Practicing Archaeology (3rd Ed.) and Environmental Site Plans and Development Review.

Donand G. Holtgrieve earned his PhD degree from the University of Oregon in 1973. He taught geography, environmental studies, and environmental planning at California State University campuses at Hayward and Chico before moving back to Eugene at the University of Oregon. He created two environmental planning consulting firms and supervised the preparation of over two hundred environmental impact reports, resource management plans, and various other community planning documents for federal, state and local agencies. He planned environmentally sensitive land development projects and created three wildlife preserves for non-profit watershed groups. He was also involved with volunteer aquatic husbandry and conservation at the Oregon Coast Aquarium, and the Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport, Oregon.