This report is a case study of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) that was prepared by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Fort Worth District for the Upper Trinity River Central City Fort Worth, Texas EIS. It utilizes a system of best practices focused on four areas of concern: adequacy of the EIS public involvement and comment process, adequacy of the EIS content considerations, adequacy of analysis considerations, and adequacy of document quality. The basic premise of this report is that Environmental Impact Statements (EIS) should be analyzed outside of the Federal government in order to ensure that the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) remains a healthy statute that continues to serve the public. This particular EIS was chosen because of the magnitude of the project and the potential ramifications it poses for the City of Fort Worth. An important goal of this report is to not only evaluate this particular EIS, but to use it as a means for answering some general questions about the employment of NEPA in the Dallas and Fort Worth (DFW) Metroplex. Perhaps this report can also be of some assistance to individuals participating with the Corps’ preparation of the EIS for the Trinity River Corridor project in Dallas. / text

American Indian lands and cultural resources have been observed, desired, and then taken by Euroamericans since the "Invasion of America." To know any case of such encroachment is to understand something of the entire history and perhaps the future of Native American - Euroamerican relations. But it is only by comparing cases through time and across space that we see most clearly the patterns that best help us understand this process of encroachment. From our reading of the literature on this subject, especially the outstanding contributions made by Francis Jennings in The Invasion of America (1975) and by Alfred Crosby in The Columbian Exchange (1972), it is clear that certain strategies of competition and domination are regularly utilized by Euroamericans. Because such strategies are deeply rooted in fundamental premises of Euroamerican culture (Hagen 1980:66), we can expect that the strategies are and will continue to be important factors where Native Americans and Euroamericans are competing for resources. Moreover, we believe that much contemporary competition for resources can be viewed as the latest phase in the continuing "Invasion of America" (MacDonald, 1980: 170).

This work investigates the question, “what made ethanol’s time come when it did?” The case examined is the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (P.L. 109-158), a landmark public policy law implemented in the United States to address the nation’s energy concerns. The Act’s emphasis on ethanol as a central part of the solution to address the energy crisis represented perhaps the most significant single policy shift in the history of the nation’s energy programme. This research draws attention to the process that resulted in ethanol being given a key role in American energy policy by investigating the pre-decision, agenda setting stage, of the process. Using qualitative research methodologies, this study conducts a historical case study analysis of the Energy Policy Act of 2005. The Multiple Streams agenda setting framework developed by Kingdon ([1984] 1995) is the one which forms the backbone of the study. This research suggests that the greatest influence on ethanol’s placement on the agenda was the way in which policy problems were constructed. When the energy, agricultural, and environmental problems that had garnered ethanol some legislative consideration in the 1970s and 1980s reemerged in the early 2000s, ethanol emerged as an attractive policy option that was seen as addressing each of these concerns. The role of interest groups and policy entrepreneurs helped to reinforce the relationship between these problems. The tactic of seeking aid from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had its advantages, as support from these agencies gave the proposals offered by pro-ethanol interest groups and corn state politicians greater weight. In addition, the fall in political influence of the petroleum industry (a traditionally effective oppositional force to the advance of ethanol) helped to facilitate and reinforce favourable political factors such as pro-ethanol presidential campaign platforms and a public mood that favoured decisive action. With some small modifications, Kingdon’s agenda setting framework, originally designed and applied in the context of health and transportation, holds up well when extended to the energy policy domain. One key point where the energy agenda setting process appears to diverge from Kingdon’s model occurs in the problem stream, which does not appear to be distinct from the political stream. Instead, this research suggests that problem definition plays a strong role in informing the content of the political stream. Kingdon’s framework has significant potential to enhance our knowledge of alternative energy policy formation.

The dominance of motor vehicle use throughout America reflects a massive government intervention on behalf of automobiles. Congress directs billions of dollars into America's highway system annually, assuming that building new roadways is the best option to move people and goods from one place to another. These policies stand in direct contradiction to today's travel patterns. This research examines ways to improve federal law to achieve a more sustainable transportation future. First, it identifies the specific provisions in federal transportation law that inhibit the development of "low-build" transportation projects. Second, it describes challenges to halting roadway construction through litigation in federal court. Understanding the problems of federal transportation law and litigation sheds light on the ways to make positive change in the next federal surface transportation reauthorization. This research culminates in recommendations for how Congress can implement policies that require a comprehensive approach to transportation planning.

The United States Forest Service planning processes, which are driven in large part by the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), are a part of all major (and some minor) land management decisions by the agency. The outcomes of these processes are the result of multiple factors, many related to the manifold smaller incremental decisions made by agency personnel directing the processes. Through qualitative review of 21 NEPA documents and 5 case study processes in which we interviewed decision makers, team leaders, and team members, this study examines those incremental decisions and the factors that drive them. Risk emerged as a dominant lens through which agency personnel weigh and make process-related decisions. We identify the different types of risk perceived by agency actors and the risk management strategies they employ. Our interviews suggest that different actors within the agency tend to assume responsibility for responding to different forms of risk associated with particular tasks. Most time and energy appears to be focused on minimizing process-related risks, especially those caused by external entities in the form of public opposition and threats of appeal/litigation, rather than resource-related threats. We discuss the potential implications of this focus and its associated strategies on organizational and social learning within agency planning processes, on adaptive ecosystem management, and internal agency relationships and morale. / Master of Science

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / The study was concentrated on the period following the first democratic elections for a new government in South Africa, that is, post -1994 up to the year 2000. The change from a system based on fixed apartheid ideology to a more open and democratic one meant that the political scene became more characterized by fierce competition and volatility. The aim of the research was to understand the nature of the contestation as it manifests itself in both the development and implementation of school governance policy at national, provincial and local levels in a climate of political change and turbulence. / South Africa

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1970 required public input in any federal planning process or action. Consequently, natural resource planning can be characterized as more of a complex situation in recent years due to the increasing involvement of the number of constituents who want to be heard. Likewise, the public wants to know their ideas have been heard and considered. Unfortunately, there is very little information available which identifies how the BLM handles and analyzes public scoping comments that are required under NEPA. The purpose of this research is to identify the handling and analysis methodology used by BLM employees in large-scale natural resource plans, as well as gain insight into the experience and satisfaction of BLM employees in recent planning processes. The information gleaned from this study illustrates that through adjustments to the handling and analysis process, it is possible to maintain a supportive and accommodating relationship with the public by listening to their concerns and encouraging continued participation in natural resource planning, as well as adding credibility to the planning process overall through consistent handling and analysis.

This dissertation examines the environmental discourse of the USDA Forest Service, focusing on the language of ecosystem management (EM). A two pronged approach was employed: eleven interviews were conducted with agency executives (chapter two); thirty-three interviews were conducted with agency staff specialists and decision-makers, working at the agency's operational levels (chapter three and four). Differences between how agency executives view EM and how agency operators view EM were identified. Chapter two shows that agency executives generally believed that the process of EM is ingrained in the agency. Chapter three explores this assertion at the forest and district levels, and reveals conflicting stories concerning the current practice of EM. Agency operators explained EM as a process driven by ecological science, but also revealed an alternate planning process. The alternate planning process is driven by the agency's budget and strict employee roles. Through qualitative analysis of interviews with agency operators, a model of how agency operators construct agency planning was created. It illustrates the potential mismatch between planning focused on ecological science and an agency focused on budgets, cost-benefit calculations, and strict employee roles. The model also shows that agency operators described active and passive publics in their constructions of agency planning. Chapter four focuses on these constructs of the public, and shows how they are partly created by agency interpretations of the public involvement processes required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). In some cases, the agency applies a standard for public participation (substantive sieve) that requires publics to couch their concerns in scientific or legal terms. Publics that are able to navigate the substantive sieve are typically viewed as active publics, while those that cannot meet this standard are viewed as passive publics. A feedback mechanism was identified between constructs of the public and agency process; constructs of the public shape agency process and agency process shapes agency constructions of the public. The dissertation concludes by showing that agency focus on budgetary targets and the use of the substantive sieve can be understood as attempts to instill accountability into a decentralized agency with an ambiguous mission. / Ph. D.

In the late 1970s, Southern California Edison Company proposed the construction of a 500 Kilovolt transmission line from Buckeye, Arizona (just west of Phoenix) to the Devers substation near Banning California. The proposed routes crossed the traditional territory of numerous Native American groups such as the Cahuilla, Chemehuevi Southern Paiutes, Cocopah, Mojave, Maricopa, O’Odham, Quechan, and Yavapai. As required by the National Environmental Policy Act, an environmental impact assessment was conducted to understand potential impacts this project could have on human and natural resources. For the first time since the passage of NEPA, Native American concerns were fully considered. This report presents the findings of the first Native American social impact assessment in the United States. This report presents contemporary Native American values that were pertinent to planning, construction, operation, and maintenance of high voltage generation and transmission facilities. The ethnographic study also considered the following aspects: (a) determine if, where, and in what manner such values were relevant to the Devers Palo Verde study area, (b) define differing levels of significance that Native Americans assigned to geographical points, zones, or issues within the subject study area exhibiting such values, (c) assign appropriate sensitivity ratings to the pertinent points, zones, or issues of significance and rank such points, zones, and issues from highest to lowest, explain what actions might constitute varying degrees, kinds of impact to those points, zones, or issues, and (e) provide recommendations for mitigation of negative impacts to those points, zones, or issues.

This project examined the potential impacts that construction of the Western Transmission System of the Allen-Warner Valley Energy System would have on the ethnographic and historic resources of the Mojave Desert area. The Western Transmission System of the Allen-Warner Valley Energy System project consisted of two 500-kilovolt transmission lines extending from Southern California Edison Company’s Eldorado Substation in southern Nevada westward across the Mojave Desert to Lugo Substation in Victorville, California. The ethnographic component of this study included the identification of culturally affiliated Native American groups and extensive field investigations which focused on ethnohistory and ethnogeography of the study area. The ethnographic study also documented Native American recommendations for mitigation by Southern California Edison Company of potential adverse impacts that the project had on Native American values and resources.