Methodologies and Mechanisms for Management of Cumulative Coastal Environmental Impacts

The goal of this NOAA Coastal Ocean Program-funded project is to transfer to environmental management practitioners information about consideration of cumulative impacts in environmental decision-making. This report views the issue from the perspectives of science, law, and environmental management. It provides a brief overview of key concepts, methodologies and techniques and includes an extensive annotated bibliography to assist the reader in identifying additional materials. The project team consisted of lawyers, planners and scientists affiliated with the Marine Law Institute of the University of Maine School of Law and the Habitat and Protected Resources Division of the Northeast Region of the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). The team developed this report based on traditional public policy research, questionnaires sent to theorists and practitioners, a two-day workshop for invited participants held in May 1993, and its own efforts to develop a cumulative impacts approach for NMFS to utilize in reviews of Section 404 permit applications