Conducting the Environmental Impact Analysis and Assessment - Environmental Impact Analysis: Process and Methods - page 216

Site 2

Site 5

Site 4

km 2
Area changed
Area degraded

Site 2
159.0
0.5

Site 4
6.8
0.2

Site 5
4.0
0.0

Changed area
Degraded area

FIGURE 5.18
Areas of Boston Harbor exceeding impact significance criteria for nutrient enrichment.

5.4 Impact Mitigation

The process of mitigating the impact from a proposed project, plan, or pro-
gram is an inherent component of environmental impact analysis. However,
it can only be initiated once a potential impact has been identified, and there
are two basic approaches to impact mitigation. The classic approach to miti-
gation occurs at the end of the process, and the other is an integrated analy-
sis. Each of these approaches is discussed in detail.

5.4.1 Classic Approach to Mitigation

The classic process through all the environmental impact analysis steps is dis-
cussed in Chapter 4 and this chapter (e.g., scoping, alternatives development,
description of affected environment, impact prediction, comparison of alter-
natives, and designation of proposed action), which results in prediction of
impacts and then considers mitigation. This approach was introduced as part of
NEPA (see Section 3.1.3) and was incorporated into early environmental impact
analyses. The classic approach involves identifying the impacts that are antici-
pated from implementation of the proposed action and then evaluating them
individually to determine what, if anything, can be done to lessen the impact.