Overview and Initiating the Environmental Impact Analysis and Assessment - Environmental Impact Analysis: Process and Methods - page 143

interest and expertise are defined as part of the CAC structure and
each group selects a representative.
r Third party identification: a public participation specialist, volunteer
citizens committee, or a recognized nonbiased organization does
research and conducts interviews with stakeholders to identify and
prequalify participants.
r Direct search: this is similar to third party identification except it is
typically conducted by the environmental analysis team and resem-
bles a search to fill a paid position.

Other stakeholder groups, such as a TAC, can be formed in a similar man-
ner with the CAC (or equivalent) participating with other major players to
structure the group. Alternatively, the CAC can accept full responsibility
for identifying, structuring, and populating other groups to provide input.
Under any scenario, it is generally a wise approach to involve the CAC in any
public outreach activity or decision.

4.4.2 Benefits of a Public Outreach Process

The benefits of involving the public discussed at length in the previous sec-
tion on scoping (Section 4.3) including identification of issues, improved
understanding of existing conditions, ultimate support for proposed action,
a better decision, and impact mitigation apply to all aspects of public out-
reach. However, when viewed in a larger perspective there are different
benefits to different parties. At one end of the spectrum, the proponent of
the proposed action benefits from increased knowledge of existing condi-
tions, which can support a more informed and better decision. This trans-
lates into a conclusion and decision at the end of the environmental analysis
that acknowledges all the facts and is at a reduced risk to successful chal-
lenge and the inherent delays at the end of the process. At the other end of
the spectrum, the stakeholders have an opportunity to influence the deci-
sion in favor of their objectives and incorporate avoidance or other forms of
impact mitigation to environmental resources important to the stakeholder
(O'Faircheallaigh 2010).
Both the proponent and the stakeholders can benefit from using public out-
reach to assist in alternative comparison and selection (Schoepfle et al. 1993). As
described in detail for the Lake Whitney Management environmental analy-
sis, a key element in alternative comparison and selection was the magnitude
and extent of impact of each alternative on each key environmental resource.
Impacts to different resources can be expressed on a common basis by estab-
lishing levels of impact significance (see Section 5.3.3), and the public can play
a key role in establishing the level of significance. The public input to the RWA
Lake Whitney Management Plan (Section 4.3.1 and Table 4.1) established the
level of significance of each resource that formed the basis for comparing the