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).

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

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.

On August 10, 1994, the Department of Energy/Nevada Operations Office (DOE/NV) published a Notice of Intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the entire Nevada Test Site (NTS) and seven off -site locations in the State of Nevada. In the EIS, DOE was to consider the following site management alternatives: (A) continue current operations and interagency project activities and programs. (B) discontinue operations, except those related to monitoring, security, and human health and safety, and decommission, (C) expand the use of the NTS to support national defense and nondefense programs, including waste management and storage, transportation, environmental restoration, and research and development; or (D) implement alternate use of withdrawn lands for new programs including unprecedented public access to remote areas for education and recreation. The structure, organization, and content of the EIS document were to be developed in accordance with the law, and included an assessment of long -term consequences of pro-posed alternatives, evaluation of mitigation strategies, and development of a resource management plan. Thus, in 1995 DOE/NV released a Draft Implementation Plan that documented the agency's approach for preparing the EIS, an important aspect of which is the incorporation of public opinion. In the same year, DOE/NV began consultations with the CGTO as required by NEPA, by the President's Council on Environmental Quality (Federal Register 43: 230, 44978 -56007), and the American Indian and Alaska Native Tribal Government Policy, as amended in 2000. The CGTO appointed seven of its representatives (the American Indian Writers Subgroup or AIWS) to research the potential adverse effects of each action alternative on American Indian resources, to propose mitigation alternatives, and to outline future involvement of the member tribes and organizations in NTS programs and activities. The result of this endeavor was unprecedented, in that DOE agreed to include excerpts of text prepared by the AIWS in the main body of the EIS document and to publish the American Indian Assessment: Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Nevada Test Site and Off-site Locations in the State of Nevada: A Native American Resource Document in its entirety, as Appendix G of the Final NTS EIS (DOE /NV 1996).

On August 10, 1994, the Department of Energy/Nevada Operations Office (DOE/NV) published a Notice of Intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the entire Nevada Test Site (NTS) and seven off -site locations in the State of Nevada. In the EIS, DOE was to consider the following site management alternatives: (A) continue current operations and interagency project activities and programs. (B) discontinue operations, except those related to monitoring, security, and human health and safety, and decommission, (C) expand the use of the NTS to support national defense and nondefense programs, including waste management and storage, transportation, environmental restoration, and research and development; or (D) implement alternate use of withdrawn lands for new programs including unprecedented public access to remote areas for education and recreation. The structure, organization, and content of the EIS document were to be developed in accordance with the law, and included an assessment of long -term consequences of pro-posed alternatives, evaluation of mitigation strategies, and development of a resource management plan. Thus, in 1995 DOE/NV released a Draft Implementation Plan that documented the agency's approach for preparing the EIS, an important aspect of which is the incorporation of public opinion. In the same year, DOE/NV began consultations with the CGTO as required by NEPA, by the President's Council on Environmental Quality (Federal Register 43: 230, 44978 -56007), and the American Indian and Alaska Native Tribal Government Policy, as amended in 2000. The CGTO appointed seven of its representatives (the American Indian Writers Subgroup or AIWS) to research the potential adverse effects of each action alternative on American Indian resources, to propose mitigation alternatives, and to outline future involvement of the member tribes and organizations in NTS programs and activities. The result of this endeavor was unprecedented, in that DOE agreed to include excerpts of text prepared by the AIWS in the main body of the EIS document and to publish the American Indian Assessment: Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Nevada Test Site and Off-site Locations in the State of Nevada: A Native American Resource Document in its entirety, as Appendix G of the Final NTS EIS (DOE /NV 1996). In 2002 and 2008, reports were prepared that addressed American Indian responses to issues raised by the federally mandated five and ten year supplement analyses. This process involved looking at the 1996 Environmental Impact Assessment conducted to consider whether the issues Indian people assessed are still being addressed by the EIS and whether new issues have arisen that would require agency action such as a new Environmental Impact Statement assessment. Included in this collection is the original Appendix G of the Final NTS EIS (DOE /NV 1996), the 2002 Supplement Analysis and the 2008 Supplement Analysis. These efforts triggered a new Environmental Impact Statement which was completed in early 2013.

On August 10, 1994, the Department of Energy/Nevada Operations Office (DOE/NV) published a Notice of Intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the entire Nevada Test Site (NTS) and seven off -site locations in the State of Nevada. In the EIS, DOE was to consider the following site management alternatives: (A) continue current operations and interagency project activities and programs. (B) discontinue operations, except those related to monitoring, security, and human health and safety, and decommission, (C) expand the use of the NTS to support national defense and nondefense programs, including waste management and storage, transportation, environmental restoration, and research and development; or (D) implement alternate use of withdrawn lands for new programs including unprecedented public access to remote areas for education and recreation. The structure, organization, and content of the EIS document were to be developed in accordance with the law, and included an assessment of long -term consequences of pro-posed alternatives, evaluation of mitigation strategies, and development of a resource management plan. Thus, in 1995 DOE/NV released a Draft Implementation Plan that documented the agency's approach for preparing the EIS, an important aspect of which is the incorporation of public opinion. In the same year, DOE/NV began consultations with the CGTO as required by NEPA, by the President's Council on Environmental Quality (Federal Register 43: 230, 44978 -56007), and the American Indian and Alaska Native Tribal Government Policy, as amended in 2000. The CGTO appointed seven of its representatives (the American Indian Writers Subgroup or AIWS) to research the potential adverse effects of each action alternative on American Indian resources, to propose mitigation alternatives, and to outline future involvement of the member tribes and organizations in NTS programs and activities. The result of this endeavor was unprecedented, in that DOE agreed to include excerpts of text prepared by the AIWS in the main body of the EIS document and to publish the American Indian Assessment: Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Nevada Test Site and Off-site Locations in the State of Nevada: A Native American Resource Document in its entirety, as Appendix G of the Final NTS EIS (DOE /NV 1996). In 2002 and 2008, reports were prepared that addressed American Indian responses to issues raised by the federally mandated five and ten year supplement analyses. This process involved looking at the 1996 Environmental Impact Assessment conducted to consider whether the issues Indian people assessed are still being addressed by the EIS and whether new issues have arisen that would require agency action such as a new Environmental Impact Statement assessment. Included in this collection is the original Appendix G of the Final NTS EIS (DOE /NV 1996), the 2002 Supplement Analysis and the 2007 Supplement Analysis. These efforts triggered a new Environmental Impact Statement which was completed in early 2013.

This dissertation examines how the U.S. Forest Service implements and uses public involvement during the agency's planning processes as mandated by the National Environmental Policy Act. Focused from the perspective of the agency personnel leading the process, this study is informed by both quantitative and qualitative analyses. Chapters two and three report the results of a web-based survey completed by 489 Forest Service employees. Chapter two shows that these employees most commonly view public involvement as a means for obtaining substantive information that could be used to improve the management decision. Chapter two also reveals that agency personnel who view public involvement as only a procedural requirement tend to achieve less positive process outcomes, but those who explicitly create opportunities for interactive dialogue with the public tend to achieve more positive outcomes, including more positive perceptions of the public involvement process and agency-public relationships. Chapter three shows that agency employees commonly believe more public influence should and does happen during the earlier stages of the planning process, but that agency employees also desire more public influence throughout the process. Chapter four uses qualitative interviews with 16 of the survey respondents to build upon the insights from chapter three. By exploring what may be constraining public influence from occurring at the desired levels, chapter four describes how agency personnel can impact how much public influence happens. The final chapter highlights the importance of looking beyond the specific public involvement technique employed during the process to the nature of the agency-public interactions. Agency personnel who are willing to engage in extra effort to translate public values into substantive management concerns generally achieve more desirable forms of public influence. They also help satisfy the public's desires to communicate their visions for the management of the National Forests. Key barriers include heavy workloads, negative views of the public, and over-reliance on minimum procedural requirements. Conversely, strong normative beliefs about the positive role of the public in agency planning, leadership commitment, and a recognition of the discretion afforded planning personnel can lead to higher levels of desired public influence. / Ph. D.