Multilevel Environmental Impact Analysis - Environmental Impact Analysis: Process and Methods - page 244

r Long-term residuals management: The initial EIS identified the potential
for significant issues associated with long-term management of resid-
uals that were not fully addressed in the initial EIS, including the
location of a sludge landfill or other final disposition of the residuals.
The interim plan relaxed the immediate need for a long-term solu-
tion, which halted sludge discharge to the harbor. Thus, the ROD for
the initial EIS identified the need for subsequent NEPA compliance
for long-term residuals management. A supplemental EIS was iden-
tified as the method of compliance, but the information developed
during the initial EIS was critical to scoping and the long-term resid-
uals NEPA evaluation tiered off the decisions and analyses support-
ing the initial EIS.
r Wastewater conveyance and treated effluent discharge: Selection of the
location and means of effluent discharge from the wastewater treat-
ment plant was determined to be unconstrained and independent of
the selection of the wastewater treatment plant site (after the satellite
option had been screened out). Similarly, the method for conveying
the raw wastewater to a central location for treatment was an inde-
pendent decision. Thus, the ROD resulting from the initial EIS rel-
egated the environmental analysis and decision on conveyance and
discharge location to a subsequent NEPA process (a supplemental
EIS was identified, but in current practice it was tiered from the ini-
tial EIS to address a follow-up decision).
r Combined sewage overflows: As summarized earlier, resolution of the
CSO issue was independent of other aspects of the Boston Harbor
Cleanup, once a set-aside for CSO flows was built into the specifica-
tions of the new wastewater treatment plant. Also, resolution of the
complex and ubiquitous CSO problems was projected to take a very
long time (evaluation was begun in the early 1980s and has contin-
ued to the publication of this topic). Thus, the need for subsequent
NEPA evaluation for CSOs was identified, but the time was not ripe
to identify exactly what and when. Approximately five years later,
the EPA determined that the state environmental regulations (see
discussion of MEPA, Section 8.6.1) would satisfy NEPA for the CSO
action and a separate NEPA document was not required.
Although the Boston Harbor Cleanup NEPA compliance was termed an
initial EIS, two supplemental EISs, provisions for EAs, reliance on the state
environmental procedure, and other environmental analysis documents
and procedures have shown that it was in reality a series of tiered EISs (and
other documents) cascading from a programmatic EIS. This process rep-
resents the successful use of multilevel environmental impact analysis to
finally resolve a decades-old serious environmental problem efficiently and
effectively. With the assistance of and push from the “sludge judge” there