Make Environmental Reviews More Efficient |  |
Will your project require permits or approvals from federal, state, and local authorities? When three levels of government are involved in reviewing a project, any impact analysis prepared for the project should simultaneously satisfy the review criteria of all involved agencies. For example, if approval of your wind farm will require a computer-generated visual impact analysis, the initial scope of work for the analysis should include renderings that satisfy the requirements of all involved agencies.
Agencies at the federal, state, and local level may have different lens, distance, and aperture requirements for the baseline photographs used to support computer-generated renderings used in visual impact analysis. You will save time and money if the initial renderings in the visual analysis are designed to be acceptable across the board. This efficient approach avoids false starts, needless delays, and the whipsaw effect that can result when applicants scurry to meet review requirements after the fact. The same multipurpose approach will benefit other project studies, including those that examine impacts on air, water, or other resources.
Coordination among agencies will be particularly important if the project triggers the preparation of an environmental impact statement (EIS). The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) establishes the elements required for a federal EIS. Most states have also enacted their own environmental review statutes, with requirements that may differ from or go beyond NEPA. When a project is subject to both federal and state environmental review, generating compliance documents that satisfy the “hard look” requirements of both federal and state agencies saves time and money.
As the complexity and number of agencies involved in the permit process increase, permit coordination and a holistic approach to project documentation become ever more critical to keeping the permitting process on schedule.
More than twenty years ago, Snyder & Snyder founding partner David L. Snyder was tasked with securing the federal and state environmental permits for a large regional waste-to-energy plant. Construction of the plant required preparation of an EIS for both federal and state agencies. At the outset, a decision was made to prepare a single EIS that met both federal and state requirements. This coordinated approach helped the project move efficiently through the environmental review process. The same approach makes sense today.