EIS Process

Pursuant to requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) has determined that an environmental impact statement (EIS) is necessary to assess the potential impacts of the proposed West Plains Mixed-Use Development Project.

The EIS is being prepared in accordance with NEPA; Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) Implementing Regulations, 40 CFR 1500-1508; Department of the Interior (DOI), Departmental Manual Part 516, 1-7 and 10; Bureau of Indian Affairs Manual, Supplement 1 (The NEPA Handbook), 2004; and other relevant statutes, regulations, and DOI and BIA requirements.

The NEPA process is intended to ensure that environmental information is available to public officials and citizens before decisions are made and actions are taken. The purpose of the EIS is to document the environmental, social and economic consequences of constructing and operating the proposed project. The EIS will:

  • Provide site-specific environmental analysis for proposed project alternatives;
  • Describe, analyze and disclose the various biological, physical, social and economic impacts that proposed project alternatives would generate;
  • Identify, where possible, the long-term impacts and secondary effects of the proposed project alternatives;
  • Indicate possible mitigating measures which may be used to avoid or reduce impacts; and
  • Provide a comprehensive, reliable document for review and evaluation by interested public agencies, groups and individuals and for use as a basis for decision-making.

The EIS will identify and objectively evaluate a reasonable range of alternatives, including a no action alternative. The range of alternatives to be analyzed will be based upon public and agency scoping. A preferred alternative will not be documented by BIA (as lead agency) until completion of the environmental analysis.

The first step in the EIS process is scoping. Scoping is the process to determine the scope of the environmental analysis to be conducted. It is used early in the NEPA process to identify: (1) issues to be addressed; (2) the depth of analysis; (3) alternatives to the proposed action; and (4) potential positive and negative impacts of the proposed action.

The notice of Intent (NOI) to prepare an EIS was published in the Federal Register on August 27, 2009. This initiated a 45-day scoping period.

Now that the scoping process is complete, a Draft EIS is being prepared which shall be released for public review, following publication in the Federal Register of a Notice of Availability (NOA). A 60-day public comment period will follow after the NOA is published. Comments received on the Draft EIS during the public comment period will be considered in the preparation of a Final EIS. The Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs, on behalf of the Secretary of Interior will prepare the final decision which will be documented in a Record of Decision (ROD).