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Methods for Environmental Impact Assessment: Theory and Application (Emphasis on Weighting-Scaling Checklists and Networks)

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Environmental Impact Assessment

Part of the book series: NATO ASI Series ((ASID,volume 14))

Abstract

Several activities are required in the conducting of an environmental impact study, including impact identification, preparation of a description of the existing environment, impact prediction and assessment, and selection of the proposed action from a set of alternatives being evaluated to meet identified needs. The objectives of the various activities differ as do the usable methodologies for accomplishing the activities. The term methodology as used herein refers to structured approaches’ for achieving one or more of the basic activities. Since the passage of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in the United States, which became law on 1 January 1970, numerous methodologies have been developed to aid in achieving the various activities in the environmental impact assessment process. The purpose of this paper is to describe, checklists and networks as types of methodologies developed for usage in environmental impact studies. Background comments are provided on the purposes for methodologies as well as a classification scheme. Brief information is included on matrices, with primary attention devoted to four types of checklists.and, more specifically, to checklists which include importance-weighting of environmental factors, and the scaling or ranking of the impacts of alternatives on each factor.

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  1. National Center for Ground, Water Research, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma, USA

    L. W. Canter (Professor of Civil Engineering and Environment Science and Co-Director)

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  1. L. W. Canter
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    © 1983 Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, The Hague

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    Canter, L.W. (1983). Methods for Environmental Impact Assessment: Theory and Application (Emphasis on Weighting-Scaling Checklists and Networks). In: Environmental Impact Assessment. NATO ASI Series, vol 14. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-6795-3_11

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    • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-6795-3_11

    • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

    • Print ISBN: 978-94-009-6797-7

    • Online ISBN: 978-94-009-6795-3

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