Multilevel Environmental Impact Analysis - Environmental Impact Analysis: Process and Methods - page 252

could be made without retracting from the one made in the ROD resulting
from the 2008 EIS. A supplemental EIS could create the impression of reex-
amining the 2008 decision, which in fact was not the case. With the tiered
EIS, the USCG was moving forward consistent with their earlier decision but
just adding another level of detail.

6.4 Strategic Environmental Assessment

Environmental evaluations of proposed actions broader and more compre-
hensive than a single project are collectively termed strategic environmental
assessments (SEAs). At the broadest level, an SEA is conducted on a policy,
sometimes developed by a central or regional government but often by an
agency or some other major subdivision of a central government. There has
been a movement worldwide for SEA as a precursor and guide for project-
specific environmental impact assessments with a specific goal of not only
broad and long-range analysis but also rectifying past environmental insults
and achieving enhancement of environmental conditions (Sadler et al. 2011).
The environmental analysis and review of a U.S. federal government enforce-
able policy to develop energy self-sufficiency that minimizes carbon emis-
sions would be an example of an SEA at the policy level. The U.S. Forest
Service's (USFS) commitment to multipurpose use of USFS lands might be
another policy warranting environmental evaluation at a level higher than an
individual environmental impact assessment. An individual environmental
impact analysis, as exemplified by NEPA documents, is most often the analy-
sis of a project or specific action that is finite (and generally relatively small
scale) in time and space. Individual EISs and other NEPA documents cannot
by themselves actively achieve the NEPA goals; they can only address agency
actions to make sure they are not in contradiction to the goals (Morgan 1998).
The development and environmental analysis of a land use or environ-
mental resource plan, although less comprehensive than evaluation of a
policy, could also be considered an SEA. The SEA for a plan would go a
step beyond the policy evaluation by identifying the actions that would be
required to implement the policy. A plan to implement the example policy
of energy self-sufficiency that minimizes carbon emissions might identify
the range of energy requirements, with and without conservation. It would
likely also identify the energy sources available (e.g., solar, wind, geother-
mal) to satisfy the policy and the SEA for the plan and would at least qualita-
tively identify the types of environmental effects associated with each type
of energy production. The plan and SEA associated with the USFS multiuse
policy example might similarly identify the types of uses to be considered
(e.g., logging, hiking, skiing, air tours), the types of impacts associated with
the use, and the conflicts among the uses.