Environmental Planning

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) require the assessment of environmental impact as part of the planning process of major programs and actions of federal and state agencies. If a program is judged to have a significant impact on the environment or expected to be controversial in nature, the proponent agency is required to file a formal Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) or Environmental Impact Report (EIR). The purpose of the assessment is to provide the public and interested agencies with a description of the proposed action and the scope and extent of environmental analysis. Eco performs environmental impact assessments with the following objectives:

• Determine if an EIS or a “finding of no significant impact” (FONSI) is needed.
• Aid compliance with NEPA and CEQA when an EIS is not necessary.
• Prepare an EIS when appropriate.

Numerous factors impact any given environment. When investigating a site, Eco staff assesses all relevant factors needed to complete the EIR or EIS. These factors include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Environmental management programs and practices
• Noise
• Meteorology and air quality
• Transportation and circulation
• Earth resources and geologic hazards
• Water resources
• Biological resources
• Land use and development
• Socioeconomics
• Public services
• Public utilities
• Cultural resources
• Public health and risk of upset