Lesson 5 ODOT Merging Best Practices

Merging Best Practices Our Task: As the best practices are written, they are not complimentary Can we merge the best practices into a single, coherent approach to a complete EIA?

Merging Best Practices Predicting Effects Predicting Effects Scoping Disclosing the Implications Disclosing the Implications Identify useful information 2. Resource-Focused Analysis Conduct: 1. Action-Focused Analysis Discuss uses and limits of the information

Merging Best Practices Matching Best Practices and EIA components ►Scoping - a process ►Predicting Effects – two-part analyses ►Disclosing Implications and Determining the Environmental Consequences – analysis (identify, determine, modify & monitor)

Merging Best Practices FHWA Checklists

Merging Best Practices Which EIA component does this step best fit: Confidence that the impacts will occur? A.Scoping B.Model C.Analysis

Merging Best Practices Which EIA component does this step best fit: Can the impacts be sufficiently described and specified now to allow for useful evaluation? A.Scoping B.Model C.Analysis

Merging Best Practices Which EIA component does this step best fit: If the impacts are not evaluated now, will future evaluations be irrelevant? A.Scoping B.Model C.Analysis

Merging Best Practices Which EIA component does this step best fit: Identify the study area’s directions and goals (transportation as well as social, economic, cultural, and ecological) A.Scoping B.Model C.Analysis

Merging Best Practices Which EIA component does this step best fit: Inventory the study area’s notable features (these are specific indicators … [including] elements of the biophysical and human environment considered valuable, vulnerable, or unique) A.Scoping B.Model C.Analysis

Merging Best Practices Which EIA component does this step best fit: Identify impact-causing activities of the proposed action and alternatives (both activities required for implementing the project and those likely to be caused by the project) A.Scoping B.Model C.Analysis

Merging Best Practices Which EIA component does this step best fit: Identify indirect effects for analysis (by exploring cause-effect relationships between project activities and goals or notable features and isolating issues of concern) A.Scoping B.Model C.Analysis

Merging Best Practices Which EIA component does this step best fit: Analyze the identified indirect effects (with an appropriate forecasting tool) A.Scoping B.Model C.Analysis

Merging Best Practices Which EIA component does this step best fit: Evaluate the analysis results (communicate the results and accompanying assumptions and uncertainties about the results to decision makers and the public; conduct sensitivity and risk analyses; use the results as a factor in project decision) A.Scoping B.Model C.Analysis

Merging Best Practices Which EIA component does this step best fit: Assess the consequences and develop mitigation (if appropriate) based on results A.Scoping B.Model C.Analysis

Merging Best Practices Which EIA component does this step best fit: What is the geographic area affected by the project? A.Scoping B.Model C.Analysis

Merging Best Practices Which EIA component does this step best fit: What are the resources affected by the project? A.Scoping B.Model C.Analysis

Merging Best Practices Which EIA component does this step best fit: What are the other past, present, and reasonably foreseeable actions that have impacted these resources? A.Scoping B.Model C.Analysis

Merging Best Practices Which EIA component does this step best fit: What were those [past, present, and RFFA] impacts? A.Scoping B.Model C.Analysis

Merging Best Practices Which EIA component does this step best fit: What is the overall impact on these various resources from the accumulation of actions? A.Scoping B.Model C.Analysis

Merging Best Practices Which EIA component does this step best fit: Identify the significant cumulative effects associated with the proposed action and define the assessment goals A.Scoping B.Model C.Analysis

Merging Best Practices Which EIA component does this step best fit: Establish the geographic scope for the analysis A.Scoping B.Model C.Analysis

Merging Best Practices Which EIA component does this step best fit: Establish the time frame for the analysis A.Scoping B.Model C.Analysis

Merging Best Practices Which EIA component does this step best fit: Identify other actions affecting the REC A.Scoping B.Model C.Analysis

Merging Best Practices Which EIA component does this step best fit: Characterize the RECs identified in scoping in terms of their response to change and capacity to withstand stresses A.Scoping B.Model C.Analysis

Merging Best Practices Which EIA component does this step best fit: Characterize the stresses affecting these RECs and their relation to regulatory thresholds A.Scoping B.Model C.Analysis

Merging Best Practices Which EIA component does this step best fit: Define a baseline condition for the RECs A.Scoping B.Model C.Analysis

Merging Best Practices Which EIA component does this step best fit: Identify the important cause-and-effect relationships between human activities and RECs A.Scoping B.Model C.Analysis

Merging Best Practices Which EIA component does this step best fit: Determine the magnitude and significance of cumulative effects A.Scoping B.Model C.Analysis

Merging Best Practices Which EIA component does this step best fit: Modify or add alternatives to avoid, minimize, or mitigate significant cumulative effects A.Scoping B.Model C.Analysis

Merging Best Practices Which EIA component does this step best fit: Monitor the cumulative effects of the selected alternative and adapt management A.Scoping B.Model C.Analysis

Merging Best Practices Scoping: SCvM NCHRP FvA CEQ (all)

Merging Best Practices Model: SCvM NCHRP FvA CEQ n/a 5 n/a 5 - 7

Merging Best Practices Analysis: SCvM NCHRP FvA CEQ n/a 6 – 8 4 &

Merging Best Practices Bonus Disclosing and Reducing Uncertainty: SCvM NCHRP FvA CEQ 1 – 3 (all) 1, & 5 11