1998 Year of the Ocean Perspectives on Marine Environmental Quality 



environmental quality in the nation's coastal ecosystems (including, but not limited to, assessment 

 of ambient water quality, benthic environmental quality, and health and quality of living resources); 

 identification of sources of environmental degradation affecting the nation's coastal ecosystems; 

 assessment of the impact of governmental programs and management strategies and measures 

 designed to abate or prevent the environmental degradation of the nation's coastal ecosystems; 

 assessment of the accumulation of floatables along coastal shorelines; analysis of short-term and 

 long-term trends in the environmental quality of the nation's coastal ecosystems; and the 

 development and implementation of intensive coastal water quality monitoring programs (after 

 designation of intensive coastal monitoring areas). 



National Contaminated Sediment Assessment and Management Act , 33 U.S.C. § 1271 



Section 1271 of the National Contaminated Sediment Assessment and Management Act requires 

 the Envirormiental Protection Agency, in consultation with NOAA and the Department of the 

 Army, to conduct a comprehensive national survey of data regarding sediment quality and a 

 continuing program to assess such quality. 



National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) , 42 U.S.C. §§ 4321 et seq. 



NEPA requires, among other things, that for every major federal action significantly affecting the 

 quality of the human environment, the agency prepare a detailed statement regarding: 



(i) the environmental impact of the proposed action; 



(ii) any adverse environmental effects that cannot be avoided should the proposal be 

 implemented; 



(iii) alternatives to the proposed action; 



(iv) the relationship between local short-term uses of man's environment and the 

 maintenance and enhancement of long-term productivity; and 



(v) any irreversible and irretrievable commitments of resources that would be involved in 

 the proposed action should it be implemented. 



This document is called an environmental impact statement (EIS). It is in essence a detailed 

 discussion of the environmental consequences of a given proposed agency action, and it must be 

 made available to the agency decision-maker on the matter, the public, and other agencies. 



Under the regulations implementing NEPA, an environmental document called an environmental 

 assessment (EA) is used to determine whether a federal action rises to the level of a "major federal 

 action significantly affecting the quality of the human environment," thus triggering the 



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