San Antonio Ranch Case Study — National Environmental Policy Act

Federal new communities fall under the scope of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1970 and San Antonio Ranch was the first such project to circulate an Environmental Impact Statement prior to action of approval. The San Antonio Ranch has made its way through the incredibly complicated and expensive reviews established by the new communities program, the various regulatory agencies at the Federal, state, and local levels, A-95 review encompassing some 149 meetings, and a 3-yr litigation resulting from the NEPA statutes — at a cost in excess of –1,500,000. The problems with the NEPA process are presented. The vagueness of the Act itself has left anyone proposing an action completely at the mercy of the environmentalist and the judiciary. The process is necessary, but must improve in efficiency, it must become less fragmented, less time consuming, and more professional. The NEPA must be tightened to the point where it can serve as a means of evaluating environmental impact and not provide any small group the basis for jamming the process legitimately or illegitimately.