Final Environmental Impact Statement Research Articles

Monitoring Environmental Justice Impacts: Vietnamese-American Longline Fishermen Adapt to the Hawaii Swordfish Fishery Closure

The Hawaii-based longline fishery, which lands the vast majority of the Hawaii commercial catch of pelagic fish, is a limited entry fishery capped at 164 permits. Of the 120 active vessels, roughly 1/3 are owned by Vietnamese-Americans. Since the late 1980s, nearly all of the Vietnamese-American longline fishermen targeted swordfish. This changed dramatically in 2001 when the National Marine Fisheries Service prohibited targeting of swordfish due to interactions with threatened and endangered sea turtles. The final environmental impact statement predicted that the closure and related actions would disproportionately and negatively affect Vietnamese-American fishermen. To monitor actual social impacts, researchers conducted in-depth interviews with 40 Vietnamese-American owners, captains, and wives from June - November 2003. Changes in household income, family cohesion, and community cohesion, coupled with the cumulative impact from other actions, created a dramatic change in the quality of life of affected individuals and families, with effects rippling through the Vietnamese-American fishing community and the broader longline community. The impact assessment had identified some types of impacts, but missed substantial components of others, demonstrating the necessity of monitoring social impacts.

Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge: Can the Military and Migratory Birds Mix?

Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge: Can the Military and Migratory Birds Mix?

Microsatellite Variation of Double-Crested Cormorant Populations in Eastern North America

Double-crested cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) exhibit highly adaptive and opportunistic foraging behavior. This flexibility in foraging and increases in population size have led to conflicts with aquaculture and recreational and commercial fishing (Duffy 1995). Although double-crested cormorants roosting in the lower Mississippi Valley appear to have minimal negative impact on sport fisheries, they may have a significant impact on commercial aquaculture production in this region (Glahn and Brugger 1995, Glahn et al. 1998). In 2003, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released the Final Environmental Impact Statement on doublecrested cormorant management allowing more flexibility in control of these birds in areas where they are negatively impacting aquaculture, habitat for nesting colonial waterbirds, and other public resources (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 2003). The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Final Rule expands the 1998 Public Resource Depredation Order (50 CFR 21.47) to permit control of double-crested cormorants at winter roost sites in the vicinity of aquaculture facilities. Populations of double-crested cormorants declined sharply in the 19th and early 20th centuries followed by several periods of population growth in the middle and later decades of the 20th century (Hatch 1995). Atlantic and Interior/Great Lakes migratory populations have seen the greatest increase in breeding pairs. Between the 1970s and 1990s, double-crested cormorant populations in the Atlantic increased 4-fold to more than 96,000 pairs (Hatch 1995). Although double-crested cormorants experienced a marked increase in population size from the 1970s to the 1990s, recent estimates suggest a reduction in the overall rate of growth (Tyson et al. 1999). Although most populations of double-crested cormorants are migratory, a resident population (P. auritus subsp. floridanus) estimated at 10,000–30,000 individuals occurs in Florida (Brugger 1995, Hatch 1995). Population estimates for Florida suggest stable resident populations of P. auritus subsp. floridanus with increasing numbers of wintering birds from migratory subpopulations (Brugger 1995). It is unclear whether or not the resident subspecies in Florida is a genetically distinct lineage, separate from migratory populations. If genetic differentiation is sufficient, it is possible that this resident population may warrant special consideration in management and any control efforts. In addition to the population in Florida, smaller colonies of nonmigratory birds have become established in other areas of the southeastern United States (e.g., Mississippi Delta, Reinhold et al. 1998; Louisiana, Hatch and Weseloh 1999). Determining genetic distinctiveness of diverse populations of double-crested cormorants and the extent of gene flow are important for regional management decisions (Hatch and Weseloh 1999). It is thought that individuals exhibit high fidelity to a colony site; although, no data exist to support this claim (Hatch and Weseloh 1999). Reduction of populations on breeding grounds might prove more feasible than reduction of wintering birds because double-crested cormorants nest in distinct colonies that can be readily accessed. Control efforts on breeding grounds would be most effective at reducing depredation if the natal areas of wintering birds can be identified. The number of band returns is insufficient to establish a relationship between double-crested cormorant nesting colonies in the northern United States and Canada and the wintering, depredating populations in the southeastern United States. Genetic markers have been used to associate wintering dunlin (Calidris alpina) and Canada geese (Branta canadensis) with breeding populations (Pierson et al. 2000, Wennerberg 2001). Sufficient genetic differentiation among breeding populations is necessary to correctly assign samples of wintering birds to their natal areas. An analysis of variation in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) found no evidence of genetic differences among migratory and nonmigratory populations (Waits et al. 2003). However, microsatellite loci are known to evolve rapidly and, thus, may reveal population structure even in the absence of mtDNA structure. For example, Goostrey et al. (1998) used highly polymorphic microsatellite markers to assess population structure and differentiation in European populations of great cormorants (P. carbo subsp. sinensis and P. carbo subsp. carbo). They detected high levels of variation both within and among populations suggesting the potential for detecting differences among populations of double-crested cormorants. Our primary objectives are to 1) characterize the genetic 1 E-mail: claygreen@txstate.edu 2 Present address: Department of Biology, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX 78666, USA 3 Present address: Department of Biology, University of Memphis, Memphis, TN 38152, USA

A comparison of radiation doses and risks between spent fuel transport/storage and selected non-nuclear activities

Spent fuel transport and storage have achieved an exemplary safety record over four decades within both the United States (US) and the global community at large. This paper offers an assessment demonstrating the safety of spent fuel transport and storage packagings relative to currently accepted but unregulated non-nuclear activities and practices within society. Over the last quarter of a century, several spent fuel transport and storage packaging test programmes have produced data that allow calculation of potential releases and population doses resulting from a terrorist attack. The US Department of Energy (DOE) has used this information to develop projected worst-case, low probability population exposures as part of the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the Yucca Mountain repository. The paper discusses potential population exposures from these packagings based on analysis and testing under beyond-design-basis (BDB) events, including missile attacks, and then defines and defends an acceptance criterion for the bounding outcomes of these events, based upon current accepted activities within society that produce high radiation doses to the general public. These activities involve unregulated technologies and practices within society that yield population doses significantly exceeding those that would result from such hypothetical and highly improbable events as a terrorist missile attack on a spent fuel transport or storage packaging. In particular, technologically enhanced natural radiation (TENR) exposures from building materials, farming, and masonry construction are highlighted. Recent landmark work by the US National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and by the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) are cited in support of this assessment, along with work from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). From this compelling evidence, it is concluded that spent fuel transport and storage represent a low radiological risk to the public compared with other routinely accepted activities which go unregulated in all countries of the world.

When Should Preferred Alternatives Be Disclosed in Transportation Environmental Impact Statements?

State transportation agencies, in an effort to show a lack of bias toward alternatives under consideration, often do not disclose their Preferred Alternative in the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), even if they are inclined to prefer a particular choice at that stage. Typically, the Draft EIS is released for review, comments are received, a Preferred Alternative is designated, the Preferred Alternative is disclosed with release of the Final EIS (where the comments on the Draft EIS are also addressed), a 30-day review period follows, and then a Record of Decision is published. The public has sometimes criticized this process as shutting them out of decision making. This article discloses the findings of questionnaires given to transportation agency officials in various states and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, reporting information on recent Draft and Final EISs for transportation projects. The objective was to determine what proportion of Draft EISs for transportation projects disclose the Preferred Alternative at that stage, and what proportion of projects allow the public to comment on a Final EIS and its Preferred Alternative determination. After identifying common trends, suggestions are made for improving the decision-making process in order to empower the public to be a full partner.

10.2172/885550

Projected constant dollar life cycle cost (LCC) estimates are presented for the domestic reactor-based plutonium disposition program being managed by the US Department of Energy Office of Fissile Materials Disposition (DOE/MD). The scope of the LCC estimate includes: design, construction, licensing, operation, and deactivation of a mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel fabrication facility (FFF) that will be used to purify and convert weapons-derived plutonium oxides to MOX fuel pellets and fabricate MOX fuel bundles for use in commercial pressurized-water reactors (PWRs); fuel qualification activities and modification of facilities required for manufacture of lead assemblies that will be used to qualify and license this MOX fuel; and modification, licensing, and operation of commercial PWRs to allow irradiation of a partial core of MOX fuel in combination with low-enriched uranium fuel. The baseline cost elements used for this document are the same as those used for examination of the preferred sites described in the site-specific final environmental impact statement and in the DOE Record of Decision that will follow in late 1999. Cost data are separated by facilities, government accounting categories, contract phases, and expenditures anticipated by the various organizations who will participate in the program over a 20-year period. Total LCCs to DOE/MDmore » are projected at approximately $1.4 billion for a 33-MT plutonium disposition mission.« less

Public Comment on the ICBEMP Process

Abstract More than 83,000 citizens and interested parties heeded the Interior Columbia Basin Ecosystem Management Project's call for public comment; the content of their letters has been compiled by analysts not involved in the project itself. For every issue raised there were both proponents and critics. Nevertheless, the ICBEMP scientists will seek to incorporate the information and opinions in the final environmental impact statements due next year.

Post-National Environmental Policy Act Monitoring of Environmental Impacts and Mitigation Commitments

Post-National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) phase tracking tools have been developed and applied successfully to monitor changes in environmental impacts and mitigation commitments identified during the NEPA process as transportation projects advance and are refined through the highway final design process. The tools have been used effectively on two Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC) expansion projects currently under development in the Monongahela River Valley region of southwestern Pennsylvania. The tools include a set of computerized spreadsheet/database tracking tables that identify the environmental impacts and mitigation commitments contained in the final environmental impact statement (FEIS), the memorandum of agreement for cultural resources, the FHWA record of decision, and the Pennsylvania Agricultural Land Condemnation Approval Board adjudication. As refinements were made to the project and its right-of-way requirements during final design, any associated changes to environmental impacts were recorded. The tables provided the PTC, state, and federal agencies with a means to efficiently evaluate the resulting environmental impacts for the projects and assess the applicability of the mitigation commitments as defined in the FEIS. Any refinements needed in the mitigation commitment were incorporated into the final design plans. The rationale behind the development of these tools in conjunction with their functional value to the NEPA process is presented.

Reply to the Anunsens

are no park plants federally listed as threatened or endangered. True, though I do not use this argument. I emphasize that changes in floral composition have resulted from heavy grazing by goats. park has not been able to document that is exotic.... I reiterate that expeditions of Biological Survey between 1897 and 1921, and expedition of Field Museum in 1898, found no evidence of goats. Published allusions to goats in park before 1925 (Dunn 1844; Seattle Press 1890; Gilman 1896) are bare statements without elaboration. There exist no specimen records of endemic goats, with improbable exception of big horn and goat remains that Regan found in seacoastal middens, usually only in ladle form of horns. (Regan 1917:16) That either species was endemic to Olympic Mountains is equally unlikely. Ethnologist Erna Gunther's statement (1936:117) that the mountain does not occur on Olympic Peninsula is important. Working in Washington State Museum for over 30 years, she spent hundreds of hours interviewing Clallam and Makah about their lifeways, traditions, and knowledge of Olympic environment. With respect to Lyman's (1988) theory, I agree that goats could have reached Olympics in late Quaternary. Lyman elaborates on theory in an unpublished 1993 paper, Indirect Evidence for Pre-1925 Presence of Mountain Goats on Olympic Mountains of Washington State. Scheffer also fails to acknowledge [the comments of Jay Kirkpatrick on value of contraceptives]. I first learned of these comments in September 1993. I accept Kirkpatrick's opinion that a vaccine administered by dart might keep a female sterile for up to three years. But Kirkpatrick's voice was only one in a five-man panel which concluded that treating mountain goats with these agents [sterilants] would represent a very expensive, never-ending program that, at best, would only partially control population. If goats are to be eliminated, not simply controlled, lethal shooting appears to be only feasible option. (Scientific Panel 1992:2) The National Park Service's Final Environmental Impact Statement on management may appear while present article is in press. I trust that it will recommend what is best for Olympic National Park and, in long run, best for people.

The Offensive-Defensive Distinction in Military Biological Research

Should medical researchers not participate in military biological research? The argument for falsely assumes there is no practical and moral distinction between offensive and defensive military biological research. In April 1989, the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command published the Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) that allowed the Biological Defense Research Program (BDRP) to continue. This document states that the purpose of the BDRP is to maintain and promote national defense with respect to potential biological wayfare threats. The major objectives of the BDRP are to develop measures for detection, treatment, protection from, and decontamination of potential biological warfare agents; and development of medical defenses, prophylactic vaccines and drugs, therapeutic measures, and management of protocols. The impact statement holds that, in addition to promoting the national defense through improvements in diagnostic methods and drug therapies, such a program would benefit the scientific community in general. Though supposedly dealing only with environmental concerns of the BDRP, the FEIS has created the opportunity for organizations and individuals to voice their opposition to the entire biological defense program. The document opens the way for arguments such as those raised by Jonathan King, Charles Pillar, or Barbara Hatch Rosenberg that the BDRP could foster the development of offensive weapons or encourage other nations to do so, thus spawning a biological weapons race. (1) This opposition stems from serious concerns about rDNA technology and genetically engineered microorganisms that have driven many biomedical scientists to refuse to participate in Pentagon-sponsored medical research. (2) Some researchers are even signing pledges not to engage knowingly in research they believe will further the development of biological agents. (3) (see p. 21) I want to consider here what I will call the participation argument, of which the Committee for Responsible Genetics (and Jonathan King as their spokesman) are perhaps the principle proponents. (4) Behind this argument is an assumption that no real distinction exists between offensive and defensive biological research. If this claim is true, then we must ask whether people who conduct this research for the military establishment face a healing-killing moral conflict. Further, if such a conflict exists, are researchers morally obligated to stop conducting military medical research to conform to the traditional moral standard of the healing professions? I think the assumption of the participation argument is false, though ensuring we do only defensive biological research is a moral imperative. Research Gains, Moral Questions The participation argument presents several problems. Superficially, it posits nonparticipation as the way to dissociate oneself from evil. This eliminates working within the system to generate reform, whistle-blowing on violations of agreements prohibiting offensive weapons developments, or developing experimental pathways that ensure biomedical scientists do not cross the line between offensive and defensive research. Moreover, complete dissociation from military biological research programs risks losing benevolent gains in vaccine development and drug therapies. American soldiers, who may be deployed worldwide, face a real threat from naturally occurring endemic diseases. In Europe, in the fall of 1944 during the Lorraine campaign American forces suffered the loss of 46,000 troops-the equivalent of three infantry divisions-to disease and nonbattle injury. (5) In Vietnam, from 1966 to 1969, disease accounted for every four of six hospitalizations (battle and nonbattle injury accounting for the other two). In fact, disease was the single greatest cause of morbidity during our involvement in the Vietnam War. (6) The medical situation in Vietnam could have been much worse if not for the efforts of military biological research and development. …

Political battle begins over Texas SSC siting

There had to be losers in the biggest basic science sweepstakes in U.S. history. And the six states who did lose to Texas as site for the Superconducting Super Collider (SSC) complained loudly but probably in vain. Pending the Environmental Protection Agency's review of the final environmental impact statements, Texas will get the 40 trillion eV proton-proton collider. Its estimated cost: $5.3 billion. A more likely figure: $6.4 billion, when cost overruns for earlier accelerators are factored in. The SSC will be 53 miles around. It will surround the town of Waxahachie, 25 miles south of Dallas, known best for the filming of various movies since the 1960s (Bonnie and Clyde, for example). Some rural families will be uprooted but most will remain to boast of being smack in the middle of the world's foremost scientific cathedral. The SSC is Texas-sized, and the people of the longhorn state, beset by the collapse of its banking, ...

Washington Watch

In the preceding issue of Practicing Anthropology this column discussed the Federal rulemaking or regulatory process and the Federal Register which publishes notices of proposed and final rules, proposed and available Environmental Impact Statements (EIS's) and certain other actions. As mentioned, deadlines for public responses to such notices tend to be short, sometimes as brief as ten days, making it difficult for this column to consistently offer its readership timely information about intended actions. Readers wishing to comment on federal actions should consult their libraries for current Federal Registers. Some notices with reasonable response times have been excerpted, however, from recent issues of the Federal Register, as follows:

WATER QUALITY SIMULATION OF THE PROPOSED JORDANELLE RESERVOIR, UTAH

ABSTRACT Jordanelle Reservoir, a proposed component of the Bonneville Unit of the Central Utah Project, will be a major source of municipal and industrial water for the Salt Lake Valley. The final environmental impact statement identified the need to evaluate Jordanelle in terms of its downstream impact on Deer Creek Reservoir and the use of the water. To evaluate the impact, a combination of temperature and water quality simulation models, anaerobic simulation of the sediments, empirical nutrient loading models, and estimates of primary productivity were utilized. As a result of these efforts, Jordanelle Reservoir is expected to experience seasonal excesses of eutrophication with resulting low dissolved oxygen levels, potential mobilization of mine tailings, and seasonal recycling of nutrients from the sediments. To restrict the impact of these factors on downstream productivity and to allow efficient routing of nutrients and water through Deer Creek Reservoir, a multiple level withdrawal outlet structur...

Final environmental impact statement: Proposed federal/state oil and gas lease sale for the beaufort sea

Final environmental impact statement: Proposed federal/state oil and gas lease sale for the beaufort sea

Final environmental impact statement, management of commercially generated radioactive waste

The large disparities in resource endowment and economic development in different regions have caused large differences in promoting zero-waste (ZW) cities. This study comprehensively considers the whole life cycle chain of solid waste and the guarantee mechanism for promoting the development of ZW cities, and constructs an index system from four dimensions: solid waste reduction at the source, solid waste resource utilization, solid waste final disposal, and development of security capacity. Furthermore, it adopts the TOPSIS–entropy weight method to evaluate the development status of ZW cities in 31 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities under the Central Government of China from 2010 to 2019 (Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan were excluded due to lack of data). The results show an upward trend of ZW levels in twenty-five provinces; a downward trend in four provinces, namely, Fujian, Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Liaoning; and a roughly f lat trend in two provinces, namely Henan, and Ningxia. Yunnan, Gansu, and Guizhou provinces have the most significant improvement in the ZW levels. Meanwhile, the eastern region has the highest ZW level, followed by the central and western regions. Combined with Geographic Information System (GIS), the solid waste management capacity of each region was analysed on the basis of the aforementioned four dimensions. Spatial differences were determined in the solid waste management characteristics of different regions. In terms of source reduction, the central and a few western regions have the best performance. Furthermore, the final disposal in the north is higher than that in the south, and the resourcefulness and development of security capacity show a clear decreasing trend from the east to west. Using a multiple linear regression analysis model, we analysed the potential factors affecting the ZW level of each region from four aspects: economy, technology, resource endowment, and education. The results indicated significant differences in the role of the same type of index in the ZW levels in each region. This paper assessed the performance of China’s ZW cities from both temporal and spatial perspectives, and the relevant influencing factors were further examined. It can provide a theoretical support and decision-making basis for China to improve ZW level further, narrow down the regional gaps, and implement green development and high-quality economic transformation, with important theoretical and practical values.

Final generic environmental impact statement on handling and storage of spent light water power reactor fuel

Final generic environmental impact statement on handling and storage of spent light water power reactor fuel

Final environmental impact statement on southern Utah coal

A final statement assessing the broad regional environmental impacts of proposed and possible mining of federal coal and of related coal development activities and projects in southern Utah has been released by the U.S. Geological Survey.The statement also describes local environmental impacts from the operating of seven proposed underground mines and one proposed strip mine on federal lands and the cumulative impact of the Allen‐Warner Valley Energy System, a 2500‐megawatt electric power generation project.