No other books discuss using the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to combat global warming. In both editions of Using NEPA to Combat Global Warming, I make three important distinctions. First, I review seminal NEPA case law to make the point that NEPA is both substantive and procedural in nature. This means that any procedural action taken under the NEPA statute such as production of an environmental impact statement (EIS) or environmental assessment (EA) must state how the reasonable range of alternatives considered in it and decisions based on it will achieve the substantive requirements of sections 101 and 102(1) of the NEPA statute (P.L. 91-190, as amended).
Second, I point out that the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) NEPA Regulations (40 CFR Parts 1500-1508) contain a regulation that has heretofore been unused, but is ripe for implementation. Section 1502.16, Environmental consequences, of the May 20, 2022 regulations “forms the scientific and analytic basis for the comparisons under §1502.14, Alternatives, including the proposed action. The discussion shall include: [1502.16] (a)(6) Energy requirements and conservation potential of various alternatives and mitigation measures.” It is now time for the CEQ to create new policy in the CEQ regulations that operationalizes and explains the “energy requirements and conservation potential” mandate to include energy analysis in NEPA documents in order to combat global warming.
Third, unlike other books on NEPA, I have focused on the laws of thermodynamics and the so-called entropy law, and how it relates to global warming and U.S. federal environmental policy under NEPA.
The second edition of Using NEPA to Combat Global Warming includes changes to the CEQ NEPA regulations in both the Biden and Trump administrations as well as three new chapters including a chapter on environmental and climate justice.
Buy from Amazon
