EA's and ED's and CE's.. Oh My!

The past couple of weeks, which, though they may not have been too exciting, have been almost overwhelmingly interesting so that I find it takes all of my will power to resist delving into the seemingly infinite other perspectives from which there are to study environmental policy. Other than staying on task, however, the majority of my effort has been put toward reading MANY primary documents from not only Harris Environmental Group but also from Arizona state documents, especially amended and revised statutes concerning environmental regulation within the state. As Congress debates the reining in of the Environmental Protection Agency, restricting its ability to regulate air pollution through the Air Quality Act, it's been incredibly interesting to watch their thought process while trying to discover as much as I can about that of the state. I've found out much about the policies that Arizona has implemented concerning environmental regulation and have been able to see firsthand the implementation of such policies with Harris Environmental, through thoroughly examining reports such as the Environmental Assessment, Environmental Determination, and the Categorical Exclusion. The most difficult part so far, however, has been attempting to understand how Arizona's environmental regulations were brought to formation. With the research that I've been able to complete at the U of A I've gained an unfortunately limited understanding of the stimuli behind the creation of such departments as the EPA at the federal level, but I hope to supplement this with eventual research at the archives in Phoenix, where I will hopefully find a plethora of resources documenting the process of implementing such regulations. So wish me luck until next time!

Sierra