TY - GEN
T1 - Environmental impact communication
T2 - Cape Wind EIS, 2001–2015
AU - Ross, Donald
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2017.
Copyright:
Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2018/4
Y1 - 2018/4
N2 - ‘‘Cape Wind’’ is a proposed wind-energy project off the Massachusetts coast. Its environmental effects are detailed in an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). Writers of an EIS must address rhetorical challenges posed by the complexity of how the ‘‘environment’’ is characterized by many statutes and regulations. These requirements include guidance on the document’s style, and because the text is hundreds of pages long, they also include rules on its arrangement (its genre), and its online delivery. Partly as a result, the writer’s stance is that of an impersonal, corporate author. The EIS is required to address multiple audiences that include decision makers and elected officials; public participation in the process is encouraged. Evidence about the actual audience shows that the public finds out about the project through media reports, web sites, and press releases, rather than studying the EIS. Finally, sustained opposition by a fossil-fuel lobbying group has led to the project’s apparent demise.
AB - ‘‘Cape Wind’’ is a proposed wind-energy project off the Massachusetts coast. Its environmental effects are detailed in an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). Writers of an EIS must address rhetorical challenges posed by the complexity of how the ‘‘environment’’ is characterized by many statutes and regulations. These requirements include guidance on the document’s style, and because the text is hundreds of pages long, they also include rules on its arrangement (its genre), and its online delivery. Partly as a result, the writer’s stance is that of an impersonal, corporate author. The EIS is required to address multiple audiences that include decision makers and elected officials; public participation in the process is encouraged. Evidence about the actual audience shows that the public finds out about the project through media reports, web sites, and press releases, rather than studying the EIS. Finally, sustained opposition by a fossil-fuel lobbying group has led to the project’s apparent demise.
KW - Environmental impact statement
KW - Federal statute
KW - Genre
KW - Internet publication
KW - Reader response
KW - Wind-power electricity generation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85055993768&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85055993768&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/0047281617706910
DO - 10.1177/0047281617706910
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85055993768
SN - 0047-2816
VL - 48
SP - 222
EP - 249
JO - Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
JF - Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
ER -