Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Frequently stakeholders have lived with the existing situation for some time
and have brainstormed on possible solutions. These alternative solutions can
either be related to possible sites that are frequently identified by local residents
or organizations, or technical, planning, or policy approaches to addressing
the purpose and need that can originate from more technically oriented stake-
holders. In either case the environmental analysis practitioner should take
advantage of a broader range of potential alternatives identified through local
knowledge and technical expertise. Frequently, alternatives identified in such
a manner require refinement, but they can be a starting point. Also it can initi-
ate a reexamination and brainstorming by the environmental analysis team,
which can result in better or refined alternatives.
Identification of alternatives as part of scoping for the Washington
Aqueduct Water Treatment EIS (see Chapter 10 for background on the project)
broke a logjam in the project and ultimately became part of the proposed
action. The residents of the neighborhoods adjacent to the Dalecarlia water
treatment plant were concerned about the noise, aesthetic quality, traffic, and
other impacts resulting from installation of water treatment residual (i.e., the
solids removed from the water during treatment, which creates a “sludge”)
management facilities on the site. They were also very familiar with the char-
acteristics of the site (i.e., environmental setting or existing condition, right
side of Figure 4.1). After a less than totally successful initial scoping effort, the
local stakeholders were able to work with the project team to identify truck
access points and routes that minimized impacts to existing traffic patterns.
Also through their familiarity with the site and neighborhood characteristics,
again working cooperatively with the project team, they identified a location
for the facilities that cut into the side of a hill such that it was only minimally
visible to the neighborhood and the hill significantly mitigated noise impacts.
The project engineers and environmental analysis practitioners working
alone, before stakeholder scoping input, had not identified these alternatives
which ultimately became components of the proposed action.
4.3.1.4
Methods for Environmental Impact Analyses
A primary role of the environmental practitioners on the impact assessment
team is to consider the concerns and potential impacts raised during scoping
and select methods to address these issues. The interdisciplinary team should
have the technical expertise to understand these issues and an appreciation
of methods and approaches available that have worked for previous analyses
to satisfactorily identify impacts. The team can then select the methods to
use in the analysis, adapting to project-specific conditions as warranted. They
can then be presented to stakeholders following the initial scoping where the
issues were identified and supplemented by stakeholder input.
Environmental impact analysis is not always an exact science, and almost
always there is more than one way to predict an impact. The environmen-
tal analysis team will most often select the methods familiar to them and
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