{"id":4394,"date":"2016-08-08T08:02:36","date_gmt":"2016-08-08T13:02:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/?p=4394"},"modified":"2016-08-08T08:04:47","modified_gmt":"2016-08-08T13:04:47","slug":"environmental-impact-review-nycs-citywide-ferry-service-eis-demonstrates-good-practice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/2016\/08\/08\/environmental-impact-review-nycs-citywide-ferry-service-eis-demonstrates-good-practice\/","title":{"rendered":"Environmental impact review: NYC\u2019s Citywide Ferry Service EIS demonstrates good practice"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>by Justin Gundlach<br \/>\nClimate Law Fellow<\/em><\/p>\n<p>New York City\u2019s Economic Development Corporation (EDC) is planning to implement a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nycedc.com\/project\/citywide-ferry-service\" target=\"_blank\">Citywide Ferry Service<\/a> by adding five new routes to those already run by the East River Ferry. EDC anticipates several benefits from the Citywide Ferry Service: it will link neighborhoods that currently have few transit options, ease transit congestion elsewhere, and provide an affordable way for commuters and tourists to access waterfront parks and developments. As required by the City Environmental Quality Review (CEQR) process, EDC drafted an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to identify both the effects of the ferries on the environment and the effects of the changing climate on the ferries and their landings. That EIS, for reasons described below, is a solid example of the sort of analysis that the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) envisioned when it issued its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/the-press-office\/2016\/08\/02\/fact-sheet-white-house-council-environmental-quality-releases-final\" target=\"_blank\">Final Guidance to Federal Agencies on the Consideration of Greenhouse Gas Emissions and the Effects of Climate Change in NEPA Reviews<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>To access the EIS, go to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/a002-ceqraccess.nyc.gov\/ceqr\/\" target=\"_blank\">this website<\/a>\u00a0and enter 15DME009Y (the Citywide Ferry Service&#8217;s serial number) into the &#8220;CEQR Number&#8221; field.<\/p>\n<p><!--more-->EDC\u2019s EIS contains 18 chapters. Chapter 9, \u201cGreenhouse Gas Emissions and Climate Change,\u201d discusses expected emissions impacts from construction of new landings and operation of the new ferry routes. It quantifies those impacts and notes that non-transit alternatives would be more emissions-intensive\u2014\u201ceach additional transit alternative for commuters and recreational users allows the City to maintain lower citywide on-road emissions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Chapter 9 also considers the Citywide Ferry Service in the appropriate context, as required by the Coastal Risk and Resiliency Act, namely the environment as the <a href=\"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/10.1111\/nyas.2015.1336.issue-1\/issuetoc\" target=\"_blank\">New York Panel on Climate Change<\/a> (NPCC) anticipates it will be over the 30-year lifespan of the new landing infrastructure. More specifically, the EIS considers how well that infrastructure would withstand the circumstances of the NPCC\u2019s \u201chigh\u201d sea level rise (SLR) scenario\u201432 inches by 2050\u2014and the more severe rainfalls, higher temperatures, and extreme coastal storm events anticipated in that time. After comparing the relevant heights, e.g., water levels during 100- and 500-year flood events in 2050, with the Service\u2019s design elements, the EIS concludes that the Citywide Ferry Service \u201cwould allow ferry service to resume operations within hours following a storm event that interrupts other transit service, as soon as flood levels recede, thereby providing a resilient transit alternative.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>How does all this relate to CEQ\u2019s Guidance? As Mike Burger and Jessica Wentz noted in a <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/2016\/08\/03\/ceq-issues-final-guidance-on-climate-change-and-nepa-with-two-key-changes-from-2014-draft\/\" target=\"_blank\">blog post<\/a> last week, CEQ\u2019s Guidance states that \u201ca NEPA review should consider an action in the context of the future state of the environment,\u201d and recognizes the importance of climate change adaptation and resilience. Furthermore, it also does <em>not<\/em> include any minimum numeric threshold below which an agency should ignore GHG emissions. Thus, even though the Citywide Ferry Service is not a federal action and so is not subject to NEPA, it is consistent with these directives. Put another way, EDC\u2019s EIS is consistent with good EIS practice.<\/p>\n<p>Further suggestions on how to incorporate the impacts of climate change into EISs for construction projects are set forth in a protocol prepared by the Sabin Center, available\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/web.law.columbia.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/microsites\/climate-change\/model_protocols_for_assessing_the_impacts_of_climate_change_on_the_built_environment.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div style=\"margin-top: 5px; margin-bottom: 5px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Justin Gundlach Climate Law Fellow New York City\u2019s Economic Development Corporation (EDC) is planning to implement a Citywide Ferry Service by adding five new routes to those already run by the East River Ferry. EDC anticipates several benefits from the Citywide Ferry Service: it will link neighborhoods that currently have few transit options, ease [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1666,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-4394","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"czr-hentry"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Environmental impact review: NYC\u2019s Citywide Ferry Service EIS demonstrates good practice - Climate Law Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/2016\/08\/08\/environmental-impact-review-nycs-citywide-ferry-service-eis-demonstrates-good-practice\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Environmental impact review: NYC\u2019s Citywide Ferry Service EIS demonstrates good practice - Climate Law Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"by Justin Gundlach Climate Law Fellow New York City\u2019s Economic Development Corporation (EDC) is planning to implement a Citywide Ferry Service by adding five new routes to those already run by the East River Ferry. EDC anticipates several benefits from the Citywide Ferry Service: it will link neighborhoods that currently have few transit options, ease [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\/climatechange\/2016\/08\/08\/environmental-impact-review-nycs-citywide-ferry-service-eis-demonstrates-good-practice\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Climate Law Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-08-08T13:02:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-08-08T13:04:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Justin Gundlach\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@sabincenter\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@sabincenter\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Justin Gundlach\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\\\/climatechange\\\/2016\\\/08\\\/08\\\/environmental-impact-review-nycs-citywide-ferry-service-eis-demonstrates-good-practice\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\\\/climatechange\\\/2016\\\/08\\\/08\\\/environmental-impact-review-nycs-citywide-ferry-service-eis-demonstrates-good-practice\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Justin Gundlach\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\\\/climatechange\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a2729abace4a0b425f476cedba917b55\"},\"headline\":\"Environmental impact review: NYC\u2019s Citywide Ferry Service EIS demonstrates good practice\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-08-08T13:02:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-08-08T13:04:47+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\\\/climatechange\\\/2016\\\/08\\\/08\\\/environmental-impact-review-nycs-citywide-ferry-service-eis-demonstrates-good-practice\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":543,\"commentCount\":1,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\\\/climatechange\\\/#organization\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\\\/climatechange\\\/2016\\\/08\\\/08\\\/environmental-impact-review-nycs-citywide-ferry-service-eis-demonstrates-good-practice\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.law.columbia.edu\\\/climatechange\\\/2016\\\/08\\\/08\\\/environmental-impact-review-nycs-citywide-ferry-service-eis-demonstrates-good-practice\\\/\",\"name\":\"Environmental impact review: NYC\u2019s Citywide Ferry Service EIS demonstrates good practice - 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