Environmental Permits: A Time-Saving Guide

421 Pages·1988·12.058 MB·English

by  Donna C. Rona P. E. (auth.)

Environmental Permits
Environmental Permits
A TIME-SAVING GUIDE
Donna C. Rona, P. E.
~ VAN NOSTRAND REINHOLD
~ ______ New York
Copyright © 1988 by Van Nostrand Reinhold
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1s t edition 1988
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 87-27417
ISBN-13: 978-1-4612-8933-3 e-ISBN-13: 978-1-4613-1669-5
om: 10.1007/978-1-4613-1669-5
All rights reserved. No part of this work covered by the copyright hereon may be
reproduced or used in any form or by any means-graphic. electronic. or mechanical.
including photocopying. recording. taping. or information storage and retrieval systems
without written permission of the publisher.
Designed by Stan Rice, Autospec. Inc.
Van Nostrand Reinhold
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Thomas Nelson Australia
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Nelson Canada
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16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
c..
Rona, Donna 1954-
Environmental permits.
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
1. Environmental permits-United States. I. Title.
KF3775.R66 1988 353.0077'2 87-27417
Contents
Preface vii
Chapter 1 Introduction 1
Environmental Perspective 1
Why Environmental Permits Are Needed 1
Projects Requiring Environmental Permits 8
Obtaining Environmental Permits-Overview 12
The Laws 15
Chapter 2 Types of Permits 18
Classification 19
Chapter 3 Application Procedures 24
Pre application Meeting 25
Application Preparation 32
Accompanying Documentation 47
Submission Strategy 53
Practical Suggestions 54
Sources of Help 62
Chapter 4 Agency Review Procedures 63
Completeness Review 63
Competence Review 65
Legal Review 65
Environmental Considerations 75
Chapter 5 Agency/Applicant Interactions 79
Dealing with Requests for Additional Information 80
Dealing with the Intent to Deny 81
Bargaining 82
Chapter 6 Preparation of Reports and Assessments 83
Types of Reports/Assessments 85
Scoping 99
Tiering 100
v
VI CONTENTS
Methodologies 101
Timing 109
Myths About Environmental Assessments 110
Chapter 7 Hearings 113
Public Hearings 113
Technical Hearings 117
Chapter 8 Litigation 119
The Laws 119
Procedures 121
Who May Sue? 121
Factors in Environmental Lawsuits 122
Remedies 123
Bibliography 125
Appendix A Glossary of Environmental Terms 133
Appendix B Federal Government Environmental Departments 143
Appendix C Federal Environmental Agencies 147
Appendix D State Environmental Agencies 151
Appendix E Environmental Organizations 165
Appendix F Regulations for Implementing the National Environmental
Policy Act 169
Appendix G Implementation of Procedures for the National Environmental
Policy Act 217
Appendix H EPA - EIS Preparation Regulations 261
Appendix I EPA Sample Consolidated Permit Forms 329
Appendix J U. S. Army Corps of Engineers Sample Permit Form 385
Appendix K Sample Development of Regional Impact Statement Forms 389
Index 431
Preface
Environmental permits enable regulatory agencies to control the disturbance
and degradation of the environment caused by man's activities. Created by
governments through legislation, the permit processes are administered by
elected officials. Environmental legislation is relatively new as an independent
field of the law: the laws themselves are primarily a conglomeration of older
legal doctrines from other fields of law, modified and adapted for particular
situations (Landau and Rheingold 1971). Like other laws, environmental laws
are meant to serve and protect the rights and well-being of the public. However,
like other laws, they have created confusion, a proliferation of costly paperwork,
and some inequities.
Numerous statutes, dealing with most aspects of pollution, exist at every level
of government-so many, in fact, that they frequently conflict and overlap.
These statutes establish a public policy toward polluters. They also empower
the regulatory bodies that issue permits. It would be impossible to compile a list
of requirements for each type of permit. Therefore, this book will acquaint the
reader with the common aspects of environmental permits: their terminology,
components, and application processes. This book covers the permit process
from initial agencies/applicant contacts through application parts and procedures,
to application approval. Special emphasis has been placed on bringing together
copies of laws and lists of agencies as appendices. The appendices give the
reader easy access to materials that will help clarify the permit process. If you
follow the general rules and methodologies set forth, you should be able to
approach the permit process with confidence and achieve results efficiently
and relatively inexpensively.
VII
1
Introduction
ENVIRONMENTAL PERSPECTIVE
To understand the serpiginous, often confusing, and sometimes contradictory
nature of environmental science, permit standards, and evaluation criteria, you
must first understand how the various components of our environment interact.
Nature functions within cycles (we will exclude external catastrophes such as
meteor impacts). These cycles vary widely in space and time, defying simple
interrelations. On a global spacial scale and a million-year time scale, the
structure of the earth and the composition of the atmosphere are constantly
changing. The continents are changing position on the globe, as a result of
which gases are given off, water is absorbed and formed, and the chemical
composition of the oceans is altered. On a shorter time scale, glaciation not
only affects world atmospheric conditions, sea level, and erosion patterns, but
also species dominance, local food webs, and other relationships within ecosystems.
In a still shorter time frame and a more limited geographic scale, climatic
patterns, erosion, natural fires, and other natural phenomena change how the
environment functions. On a still narrower time and space scale, individuals
live, die, and contribute to the next portion of the food web as food or detritus.
On a global scale, short-duration events, such as tidal waves, volcanic activity,
and droughts, may affect environments dramatically.
Natural chemical, biological, hydrologic, geological, and meteorological
cycles, each with their own subcycles, all have their own time andcspace frame.
But all affect each other-none are independent (see figures 1-1, 1-2).
Now the actions of man are introduced into these cycles (see figure 1-3). It is
certainly an awesome task to understand and evaluate the impact of anyone
activity on all these in the presence of cycles. Whereas certain impacts are
physically obvious on a short time scale, other impacts, especially over the long
term, are as yet unknown, or the prediction is very complex.
WHY ENVIRONMENTAL PERMITS ARE NEEDED
The term environmentalism is generally used to describe a movement and a
philosophy to protect the quality of life through conservation and control of
2 INTRODUCTION
Precipitation Precipitation
~ ~
Evapotranspiration Evaporation
LAND runoff----~ SEA
Source: After Ehrlich et al., 1977.
1-1. The hydrologic cycle.
Atmosphere ~ winds
------------------------}--------i-----{------}------r--
Sediments rivers oceans Evaporation precipitation fallout absorption outgassing
(upper crust) streams Evapotranspiration
lakes ~ runoff ~ glacial transport
------------------------}--------i-------i--------------
Earth, crust weathering fallout chemical
motions precipitation
~ crustal motions
Source: After Ehrlich et al., 1977.
1-2. Transport mechanisms in the world.
land use and resources and the prevention of pollution. Environmentalists are
concerned about how man's actions affect the ecosystems and the natural
cycles just described. The philosophy of modern environmentalism was estab
lished by Thomas Jefferson, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and
other early naturalists. Not until the time of Theodore Roosevelt, however, did
our system of conservation through the establishment of national parks and
forests, wildlife refuges, and the like begin to develop. Organizations such as the
Sierra Club and the Audubon Society broadened public awareness of conserva
tion and pollution issues, and this national concern prompted pervasive federal
legislation in the early 1970s. Consequently, many activities now require envi
ronmental permits that try to ensure the protection of our natural environment.
Even the most naive among us must recognize by now that the powerful industrial
ist and developer. and even the not so powerful small entrepreneur. cannot be
expected to do what is right and environmentally sound simply out of decency. The
free-enterprise system has shown itself capable of initiating positive and creative new
alternatives in community design. but it needs a progressive legal framework of
governmental support to encourage. and insist on. development in harmony with
environmental needs and the public interest. Then even the best-intentioned private
WHY ENVIRONMENTAL PERMITS ARE NEEDED 3
Land-use Determinants Natural Population Land Private
features growth and uses market
distribution forces
~
Land-use Patterns Form Density Open Use
Space Mix
Physical Alterations Stream Percolation Withdrawal
flow (filtration) of surface-and
alteration alteration gr ou nd water
r
water Quality Impacts Domestic Runoff pollutant
of Land Use ,--__. waste loads loads (agriculture,
industrial, and
urban)
Quality of
receiving ~------'
waters
Source: After Canter, 1977.
1-3. Schematic of the relationship between land use and
water quality.
developer cannot have more than a piecemeal effect on any region. New laws and new
roles for regional government are an inescapable imperative. (Tomioka and Tomioka
1984)
Society's desire for a safe and healthy environment and its perpetuation for
future generations has generated the laws that now govern our actions with
regard to the environment. Land-use plans and policies, preserve-area designations,
and coastal construction restriction zones are only a few of the many methods
used to protect the environment. While planning and zoning ordinances pro
vide a general guide to environmental considerations within a region, laws set
standards for conduct and construction, and the permit procedure assures the
public that these laws are being upheld.
The process of obtaining and granting permits probably originated soon after
people began to discover that all craftsmen, all building materials, and all
designs were not alike. No doubt, after a chief's new shelter fell apart, primitive
standards for construction were established. Without standards, and a means
for ensuring that those standards were upheld, no one knew if he was safe. This
is the foundation of environmental permits. Without regard for the environment,
builders, miners, developers, and others have created imbalances in the natural
4 INTRODUCTION
system. Air, land, and water have been polluted and defiled. Plant and animal
species have been driven to extinction.
Although the first smoke abatement law was passed in 1273, the ideal of
pollution control resolutions was adopted in 1869 by the Massachusetts Board
of Health: "We believe all citizens have an inherent right to the enjoyment of
pure and uncontaminated air and water and soil; that this right should be
regarded as belonging to the whole community; and that no one should be
allowed to trespass upon it by his carelessness or his avarice or even his
ignorance. "
Federal legislation for the protection of the environment in this country
began with the Forest Reserve Act of 1891 (figure 1-4) and has proceeded
steadily up to the present.
1-4. Federal legislation regulating development.
Date
Enacted Name of Act Reference
1891 Forest Reserve Act 26 Stat 1095,
16 USC 471
1897 Organic Act of 1897 16 USC 475
1899 Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 30 Stat 1148, 1150-1155,
33 USC 403
1899 Refuse Act 30 Stat 1152
1912 Public Health Service Act of 1912 37 Stat 309
1916 National Park Service Act of 1916 39 Stat 535
1920 Federal Water Power Act 41 Stat 1063,
16 USC 791-823
1920 Mineral Leasing Act of 1920 41 Stat 437
1924 Oil Pollution Act of 1924 43 Stat 604,
33 USC 431-437
1932 Emergency Conservation Act
1934 Fish & Wildlife Coordination Act 48 Stat 401,
16 USC 661-666
1940 Ohio River Valley Sanitation Compact
1948 Water Pollution Control Act PL 80-845,
62 Stat 1155,
33 USC 1151
1950 Fish Restoration and Management Project Acts 64 Stat 430,
16 USC 777
1952 Public Law PL 82-579,
33 USC 1159
1952 Saline Water Conservation Act 66 Stat 328,
42 USC 1951-58
1952 Federal Water Pollution Control Act 66 Stat 755
1954 Atomic Energy Act 68 Stat 919,
42 USC 2011
1955 Air Pollution Control Act PL 84-159,
42 USC 7401 et seq
1956 Fish and Wildlife Act of 1956 70 Stat 1119,
15USC713
1960 Multiple Use Sustained Yield Act of 1960 PL 86-517,
74 Stat 215,
16 USC 528-531