Conducting the Environmental Impact Analysis and Assessment - Environmental Impact Analysis: Process and Methods - page 170

efforts or even surveys conducted over a year can rarely convince
the doubter and will almost always generate comments, like the sur-
vey was not comprehensive enough, conducted at the wrong time,
and observers were biased. Relying on the long-term record, general
habitat description, or just making the conservative assumption that
the species could be present in the long run is often the most efficient
and productive approach.
r Use of inappropriate methods. This is a common shortcut taken
as part of affected environment investigations and can be easily
avoided by identifying which methods have historically been used
and accepted. The risk of such pitfalls can also be minimized by
review of the proposed methods with TAC as part of the investiga-
tion planning and design. If available resources and schedule do not
allow use of accepted methods, it is frequently better in the long run
to rely on existing data and conservative assumptions rather than
waste resources on a data collection program that will not be useful
or accepted to support decisions.
r Collection of too much or inappropriate data. It is not uncommon
to see pages and pages of data in the affected environment section
of an environmental impact analysis and then never see it again.
Frequently, it is not even referenced in the decision-making efforts
or other critical aspects of the analysis such as: impact prediction,
comparison of alternatives, impact mitigation, or documentation
of decisions. A good way to minimize the risk or repercussions of
this pitfall is to always ask the question, “how will I use the results
of the data collected?” before collecting the data. Unless there is a
definitive answer, the data collection effort needs to be redesigned
or dropped.
r Failure to collect information for subsequent environmental
approvals. As discussed in Section 9.2, environmental analysis
is just the first step in gaining environmental acceptance and
approval. Following the environmental impact analysis, there are
environmental permits required and frequently, public support is
essential to implement the proposed action. Identifying the neces-
sary permits and public concerns and their associated data input
requirements should be incorporated into any investigation of
existing conditions. Most environmental permits have very spe-
cific baseline information requirements and methods to be used
to gather the information. Significant time delays and wasted
resources can result if it is necessary to collect separate permit-
specific baseline information when the necessary information
could have been part of the affected environment data collection
with proper planning. In the worst case, data collected for per-
mits and that collected as part of comprehensive environmental