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Sustainable Development and Environmental Reform
Environmental Impact Assessment 145
of Project to be Reviewed by Responsible EIA Agency

Categorical exclusion Finding of no significant impact
No further action Suggested mitigating measures

Environmental
Impact Statement (EIS)

Scoping meeting

First draft

Public review of draft

Final draft

Governmental
Environmental Protection Appeal
Agency (GEPA) process

Environmental concern Environmental Environmentally
Lack of objection Mitigating measures are objection unsatisfactory
Project is accepted suggested and Changes are Project is
implemented made rejected

FIGURE 4.6 EIA–EIS process

• An analysis of the environmental impacts of each of the possible
alternatives.
• Selecting the best alternative based on economical, technical, and
social aspects.

Not all federal actions require a full EIS. If the action is not likely to cause a
significant impact the agency may prepare a smaller, shorter document
called an environmental assessment (EA). However, EAs are only appropri-
ate if there will be “no significant impact”. An EIA should be performed
before establishing any development. It discusses the consequences of the
project and the mitigation measures that can be built into the action that
would produce similar end results but less damage to the environment. The
EIA–EIS process as shown in Figure 4.6 will be discussed in the following