What is an Environmental Impact Statement?

TallGrass FEIS

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An Environmental Impact Statement (commonly called an "EIS") is required by New York State law and must provide the following information:

  1. It describes a proposed action in detail.
  2. It discusses those aspects of the existing environment (both natural and human resources) that the action could impact.
  3. It analyzes the potential impacts (both beneficial and adverse) to the environment that may occur if the action is undertaken.
  4. It examines those features and aspects of the action that may tend to mitigate the effect of the adverse impacts studied.
  5. It compares the effects of other proposals that could be undertaken instead of the proposed action.

A “Draft” EIS (“DEIS”) includes all appropriate studies, reports and reference materials that pertain to the proposal and the analysis of potential impacts, and may include traffic studies, groundwater studies, ecological analyses, market studies, excerpts from regulatory documents, correspondence, and the like. The breadth of these appendices depends upon the specific nature of the project and the characteristics of the project site.

After the public has had a sufficient period of time to comment, (generally, at least 30 days, during which a public hearing may be held), a second document is prepared that responds to all comments on the DEIS that are provided, both orally and in written form, to the lead agency. This is the “Final” EIS (FEIS), and it commonly incorporates the DEIS by reference, and it may incorporate an entirely new, refined alternative that satisfies the applicant, the lead agency and the public to a greater degree than the original proposal. Taken together, the DEIS and the FEIS constitute the EIS for the project. The lead agency then prepares a its own document, the “Findings Statement”, that summarizes the EIS and its impact analyses. It is on this last document that the lead agency relies to determine whether the application mitigates the expected impacts to a degree sufficient to merit approval.