MIT 1 011 - Environmental Values and Environmental Impact Assessment

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MIT CEE 1.011 – Project Evaluation Spring Term 2003Susan Murcott, Lecturer 1Environmental Values and Environmental Impact AssessmentPresentation to 1.011“Civil and Environmental Engineering Project Evaluation” April 9, 2003Susan MurcottOverview of Presentation• Brief History of Civil Engineering • Project Evaluation Methods• Environmental Values and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)• Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)• Orange County Groundwater Replenishment System and its EIA. How do engineers assess projects?Assessment Methodologies. These are the frameworks by which engineering projects are evaluated and the basis on which project decisions get made. 1.011 has focused on:• Cost-Benefit Analysis My next 2 lectures will cover:• Environmental Impact Assessment• Sustainability AssessmentTraditional engineering project design, management and assessment has been comparatively simple!• Technical /Engineering Components • Cost-benefit Analysis (or cost-effectiveness analysis)Some Technical Assessment Criteria could include:• Capacity• Project life-time• Size/space requirements• Energy and water requirements• Operation and Maintenance • Durability• Ease-of-useMIT CEE 1.011 – Project Evaluation Spring Term 2003Susan Murcott, Lecturer 2Cost-benefit Analysis• Identify the project and determine impacts, favorable and unfavorable, present and future.• Assign dollar values to impacts. Favorable impacts are benefits. Unfavorable impacts are costs.• Calculate Net Benefit = Total Benefit - Total Cost.• Select the project with the greatest net benefit.Strengths of Cost-benefit Analysis• It is the most widely used tool for engineering project assessment, with decades of successful application• Requires a logical detailing of the project components so that the entire project is represented and monetized.• Allows alternatives to be compared by a common metric.• Takes into account project life span through the use of discount rateLimitations of Cost-benefit Analysis (Heinzerling, L. and Ackerman, F. 2002. Pricing the Priceless: Cost Benefit Analysis and Environmental Protection). Global Development and Environment Institute, Tufts University, Medford Ma. • Reducing life, health and natural world to monetary values is inherently flawed.• Use of discounting down-grades the importance of the environment and future generations• CBA ignores questions of equity and therefore potentially reinforces existing patterns of economic and social inequity• CBA fails to produce greater objectivity and transparency because it rests on assumptions and values that cannot be described as objective.Cost-benefit Analysis in a nutshell• Cost-benefit Analysis is, to an engineer, like balancing a checkbook is to a consumer. It’s an essential tool. • However, CBA has limitations and alternate methods may capture different objectives and values, not inherent in a utilitarian approach. • To better understand the different values that might be reflected in different assessment methods, let’s briefly review the history of civil engineering. Brief History of Engineering• In the 19th and early 20th century, engineers implemented the promises of the Industrial Revolution. They had the authority, respect and public support to carry out bold projects that brought huge social benefits, e.g. Los Angeles Aquaduct.• Archetype of “Engineer as Hero,” “enemy of error.” William Mulholland’s life spanned the “Golden Age” of engineering, a time when emphasis was largely on prosperity and the benefits of economic growth. Little attention was paid to the “externalities” associated with economic growth: the environment and social equity.MIT CEE 1.011 – Project Evaluation Spring Term 2003Susan Murcott, Lecturer 3Environmental Movement• Human impact on the environment has been observed for centuries, but systematic efforts to protect and maintain environmental quality only began in the 1960s in the U.S.• Starting in the 1960s, critics argued that environmental impacts of public works were not being accounted for in decision-making, but rather, economic efficiency was the only decision criteria. Four different approaches to environmentalism are associated with this transition:• Pre-1960s– Efficiency View (Pinchot’s 1stPrinciple of Conservation): Efficient use of natural resources for the benefit of people living here, now. – Waste Prevention View: (Pinchot’s 2ndPrinciple of Conservation)• Post-1960s– Ecological View (science-based): preserving the integrity of natural systems– Eco-centric View(ethical/religious): rights of nature and non-human beings to exist and flourish. 1969 National Environmental Policy Act• During the 1960s, many people felt that public works, such as drained wetlands, dammed or diverted rivers, were degrading the quality of the environment.• NEPA was the first national legislation in the world to demand that all federal agencies integrate environmental concerns into its decision-making.• NEPA required the preparation of an environmental impact statement (EIS) for all federal projects, such as dam-building by the Bureau of Reclamation or draining wetlands by the Army Corps of Engineers. • NEPA was an extremely progressive piece of legislation for its time, foreshadowing the sustainable development concerns of the 1980s and 1990s. It indicated that each generation has a responsibility “as trustee of the environment for succeeding generations.” In this respect it went beyond the utilitarian view of maximizing benefits for the greatest number NOW, for THIS generation, proposing instead a concern for “future generations.”With NEPA, engineers’ task got more complicated...• Technical /Engineering Assessment • Cost-benefit Analysis • Environmental Impact AssessmentPrinciple Parts of NEPA• Declaration of national environmental policy (policy statement and gov’t responsibilities)• All Federal Government Agencies shall– Utilize an interdisciplinary approach to planning– Develop procedures to give environmental factors “appropriate consideration” in decision-making– Prepare Environmental Impact Statements (EIS)• Creation on the Council on Environmental QualitySection 102(2)(B) instructs federal agencies to:• Identify and develop methods and procedures … which will insure that presently unquantifiedenvironmental amenities and values may be


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