Overview and Initiating the Environmental Impact Analysis and Assessment - Environmental Impact Analysis: Process and Methods - page 115

be equal to or greater than the delays and complications uncovered during
the scoping phase. At least if the issues and biases become apparent during
scoping, the extreme surprise ending can be avoided. Also, when the biases,
opposition, and intransigence are identified early in the process, there is at
least the possibility of addressing these obstacles. If the obstacles of pacify-
ing the extreme and self-centered opposition or changing the culture of the
project proponent cannot be overcome, at least the issues can be exposed to
the more rational stakeholders and their support used to forge a compromise.
Another potential trap of scoping is to substitute popular issues for real and
potentially serious detriment to sensitive or nonrenewable environmental
resources. The public input and concerns must not overshadow the environ-
mental analysis practitioners need for a rational, objective, technically based,
and rigorous appraisal of the likely impacts (Morgan 2001). Similarly, a survey
and evaluation of USFS environmental practitioners and managers' concerns
with environmental evaluation identified attention to public concerns as con-
suming time and resources that could be much better put to use in objective
impact evaluation (Stern et al. 2010). The study even cited practitioners who felt
all too often that addressing the public's subjective concerns became the pri-
mary focus of the environmental evaluation to the detriment of understand-
ing, incorporating, and mitigating valid environmental impacts.
Successful scoping is a transparent and public process, thus there is much
overlap between scoping and public outreach. There is more discussion of
the relationship of scoping to public interaction in the following section (4.4),
but the subsections below describing the elements of scoping include some
of the interaction between scoping and public outreach.
4.3.1 ScopingTopics
The information generated as part of scoping can advance environmental
analysis objectives including: streamlining; maximizing efficiency; focusing;
and early identification of critical issues and concerns. Some areas of infor-
mation that can advance these objectives include:
r Potential areas of impacts and concern, including relative impor-
tance and level of significance
r Environmental setting, including: relevant sources of information,
VECs, and sensitive receptors
r Alternatives for consideration
r Methods available for environmental impact analyses of various
components (e.g., impact prediction, baseline investigation, and
comparison of alternatives)
r Environmental approvals that may be required
Each of these topics is addressed in the subsequent sections.