NEPA Process and Specific Requirements - Environmental Impact Analysis: Process and Methods - page 62

Concurrent with initiating the technical investigation, the federal agency
begins preparation of the EIS. Many sections can be gleaned from other
documents, such as extracting the description of the proposed action and
alternatives from previously prepared planning, and conceptual engineer-
ing documents. If these other documents are readily available to the public,
they can be summarized in the EIS and then referenced, but if not they
should be included as appendices. Also at this early stage of the EIS prepa-
ration, aspects of the action similar to other federal actions subject to NEPA
and those that have been addressed in other EISs or environmental assess-
ment (EA) should be identified. If they are relevant to the new proposed
action they can be incorporated by reference and briefly summarized in the
new EIS.
Recent NEPA documents prepared for the same geographic area, even
if for a dissimilar type of action, can be helpful and improve efficiency.
Relevant sections of the description of existing conditions (or Affected
Environment, see Section 5.2) can often be referenced, used directly or mini-
mally modified for the new EIS (see Chapter 6, for a discussion of incorpo-
ration by reference). Incorporation of existing conditions descriptions and
relevant elements of the proposed action from other NEPA documents not
only saves time and resources, it takes advantage of the review and accep-
tance of previous environmental analysis information and avoids the pos-
sibility of new information being challenged or criticized as not meeting the
objectives of NEPA.
The meat of the draft EIS is the incorporation of the technical investiga-
tions into the prediction of impacts and evaluation of alternatives. As pointed
out earlier, the details are best presented in appendices with the approach,
rationale, and conclusions summarized in the body of the draft EIS using
language clearly understandable by stakeholders at any level of technical
knowledge and experience. The design, execution, and presentation of tech-
nical investigations are key to any successful environmental impact analysis,
not just a NEPA draft EIS, and they are discussed in detail in Chapter 5.

3.1.3.3 Draft EIS Contents

The draft should meet all the procedural requirements for an EIS, clearly
report the findings of the environmental analysis, and frame the critical
issues and trade-offs the agency considered in developing and comparing
alternatives. The clarity of an EIS is not a trivial issue, as courts have ruled on
numerous occasions that, in essence, if the stakeholders potentially affected
by the proposed action cannot be reasonably expected to understand the EIS,
it does not meet NEPA or CEQ requirements. For example, a Bureau of Land
Management (BLM) EIS that did not foster informed decisions and active
public participation was invalidated. The court “considered not only its [EIS]
content, but also its form….” ( National Parks & Conservation Association v.
U.S. Bureau of Land Management , 586 F.3d 735 [9th Cir. 2009]).