Environmental Compliance

Determining Alternatives

Environmental documents (environmental impact statements (EIS's) and environmental assessments (EA's)) prepared in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) must include discussions of alternatives. The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) NEPA regulations state that the alternatives section (Alternatives including the proposed action) "is the heart of the environmental impact statement" (40 CFR  1502.14). For EA's, discussions of alternatives and their environmental impacts are required (40 CFR • 1508.9). EIS's must: (1) objectively evaluate all reasonable alternatives, (2) identify alternatives dismissed from detailed study and discuss why they were dismissed, (3) include reasonable alternatives not under the jurisdiction of the lead agency, (4) include the alternative of no action, (5) identify the preferred alternative (if it exists) in the draft, (6) identify the preferred alternative (unless prohibited by another law) in the final, and (7) include appropriate mitigation measures (40 CFR • 1502.14).

"Reasonable alternatives include those that are practical or feasible from the technical and economic standpoint and using common sense, rather than simply desirable from the standpoint of the applicant." Alternatives outside the jurisdiction of the lead agency (in potential conflict with other laws, or outside the scope of what Congress has approved or funded, must still be evaluated if they are reasonable (CEQ's 40 Questions).

The no action alternative can be interpreted as no change from current management direction or management intensity (generally involving land use projects), or no action on a project proposal. "This analysis provides a benchmark, enabling decisionmakers to compare the magnitude of environmental effects of the action alternatives." Evaluation of a no action alternative may be crucial to understanding of environmental impacts, in that decisions to take no action do not necessarily result in less environmental impact--they may result in greater environmental impact (CEQ's 40 Questions).

The preferred alternative "is the alternative which the agency believes would fulfill its statutory mission and responsibilities, giving consideration to economic, environmental, technical and other factors." The preferred alternative should not be confused with the "environmentally preferred alternative" which is required to be identified in the record of decision; the environmentally preferred alternative does not consider those economic or technical factors, but is the one which causes the least damage to the biological or physical environment (CEQ's 40 Questions).

In practice, alternatives tend to evolve during the preparation of an EIS. Preferred alternatives may be developed or recommended by program managers, and may often be found in proposed action plans or other documents. Literature reviews and public comments during scoping may identify other reasonable alternatives. It is possible that an agency's failure to identify a reasonable alternative in a draft EIS could result in the need to issue a supplement to the draft with a corresponding extension of the review process (CEQ's 40 Questions).