Location
University of Nevada Las Vegas, Stan Fulton Building
Start Date
1-6-2007 3:20 PM
End Date
1-6-2007 3:30 PM
Description
The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) has long been regarded as the“Magna Carta” of environmental policy legislation. The government in implementing its requirements on NEPA is required to evaluate potential environmental impacts from “significant” projects, to examine alternatives to proposed actions, and to enable the public to provide meaningful input to decision-makers. Despite the significance of NEPA there is evidence to suggest that environmental impact analyses may in fact be understating potential negative effects to citizens and communities. In particular potential impacts associated with stigma have been almost universally ignored in documents prepared under NEPA. The proposed high-level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain in southern Nevada exemplifies how stigma issues if not examined could result in dramatic impacts to the Las Vegas metropolitan area. Analogous impacts could occur from similar projects elsewhere. The paper will examine issues associated with stigma vis-à-vis NEPA.
Keywords
Environmental disasters; Environmental impact analyses; Environmental impact analysis; National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA); National Environmental Policy Act of 1969; Nevada—Yucca Mountain; Psychological impact; Radioactive waste repositories; Stigma-related impacts; Stigma (Social psychology)
Disciplines
Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment | Environmental Policy
Language
English
COinS
Session 6 - The National environmental policy act (NEPA): Is it all that it can be? The Case for evaluating stigma effects
University of Nevada Las Vegas, Stan Fulton Building
The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) has long been regarded as the“Magna Carta” of environmental policy legislation. The government in implementing its requirements on NEPA is required to evaluate potential environmental impacts from “significant” projects, to examine alternatives to proposed actions, and to enable the public to provide meaningful input to decision-makers. Despite the significance of NEPA there is evidence to suggest that environmental impact analyses may in fact be understating potential negative effects to citizens and communities. In particular potential impacts associated with stigma have been almost universally ignored in documents prepared under NEPA. The proposed high-level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain in southern Nevada exemplifies how stigma issues if not examined could result in dramatic impacts to the Las Vegas metropolitan area. Analogous impacts could occur from similar projects elsewhere. The paper will examine issues associated with stigma vis-à-vis NEPA.
Comments
7 pages
DOI: 10.1109/ISTAS.2007.4362205