Types of Permits

Abstract

As stated in chapter 1, environmental permits are required for the performance of any function that will physically alter the environment. The permit application, evaluation, and issuance process assures the public (through its agencies) that the environment will not be threatened or damaged by that function, just as building permits ensure that the public health and safety will not be threatened by a construction project. A building permit is issued after an agency engineer reviews the structural plans and determines that the structure will not collapse or that there is adequate water to meet fire requirements. Most building concerns have been categorized, standardized, and transformed into building codes. A designer, architect, or engineer, following code requirements carefully, is almost assured of receiving a building permit. This is not the case, however, with environmental permits. The field is relatively new and inexact, but perhaps more importantly, there are few, if any, absolute ways of quantifying environmental health and well-being. Steel, concrete, water, electrical, and air-conditioning specifications are far simpler to quantify. Environmental variables are numerous, and each site has its own peculiar characteristics. Our understanding of toxic and carcinogenic levels of pollutants, as well as the health and well-being of ecosystems, is still developing.