Skip to Content
Streetsblog New York City home
Streetsblog New York City home
Log In
sprawl.jpgNo EIS necessary. Photo: tlindenbaum/Flickr

In the past few months we've reported on opponents of bike lanes, car-free parks, and congestion pricing using the pretext of environmental review to stymie initiatives that would reduce vehicle emissions. Norman Oder at the Atlantic Yards Report points us to another unintended consequence of the National Environmental Protection Act, the 1970 legislation that established the EIS process.

AYR recounts a talk given by progressive developer Jonathan Rose, who says that NEPA -- favored by a real estate industry that did not want to subject itself to an alternative law based on land use planning -- was flawed from the start:

"So the effect was that we turned our back on national planning, and weturned our back on a national infrastructure policy," Rose said. "And,at the same time, here’s what happens: 1000 individuals choose tosubdivide a parcel in the suburbs, or the exurbs, and it falls underthe screen of an environmental impact statement, each one is oneindividual act."

"One person chooses to build a 1000-unit urbanproject in a city and they get held up for five years in anenvironmental impact statement," he concluded. "And so the unintendedconsequence of NEPA actually was one more of the many things that madeit easier for suburban sprawl to proceed from 1970 to 2000 instead ofurban redevelopment."

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog New York City

Earth to Albany: Don’t Pander to Every Driver in the City with Toll Exemptions

Two-dozen of the state's leading good governance groups demanded that the legislature reject bills that would gut congestion pricing.

February 5, 2025

The Explainer: What To Know About The MTA’s New Congestion Pricing-Backed Debt

You asked for it, you got it: a 2,000-word explainer on municipal bond sales.

February 5, 2025

Wind in their Sales: Congestion Pricing is No ‘Toll’ on the Broadway Box Office

Despite doom prognostications, congestion pricing has not hurt Broadway's bottom line a bit — and, in fact, may be boosting it.

February 5, 2025

Wednesday’s Headlines: Tin Cup Edition

Road safety wasn't on the agenda for Mayor Adams in Albany on Tuesday. Plus more news.

February 5, 2025

Kirsten Gillibrand Trots Out Bogus FDNY ‘Toxins’ in Quest to Weaken Congestion Pricing

Gillibrand's solution to potential toxins in the subway is more automobile toxins in the air.

February 4, 2025
See all posts