1 / 10

CEQA Basics: What is the environmental review process & How do I participate?

Learn how the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) environmental review process works and how you can participate. Understand the key elements, public input, and agency involvement. Discover what is covered in an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) and who participates in the process.

richardf
Download Presentation

CEQA Basics: What is the environmental review process & How do I participate?

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. CEQA Basics: What is the environmental review process & How do I participate?

  2. Overview • What is the CEQA environmental review process? • What will we learn? • How can I participate?

  3. What is CEQA? • The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) (1970) is a statute that requires state and local agencies to identify the significant environmental impacts of their proposed actions and to avoid, reduce or mitigate those impacts, if feasible. • To comply with CEQA, potential significant environmental impacts of proposed development projects are often identified, analyzed and shared with the public and regulatory agencies through the environmental review process in the form of an Environmental Impact Report (EIR). Decision makers must consider these impacts before approving a proposed project or action.

  4. The purpose of an EIR is to: • Inform decision makers and the public of a proposed project’s significant environmental effects and ways to reduce them • Describe reasonable project alternatives and design options to reduce or avoid these impacts • Provide the public and agencies with opportunities to comment on a proposed project and it’s potential environmental impacts

  5. Environmental Review Process Public & Agency Input Public & Agency Input EIR Certification & Project Approval Notice of Preparation Draft EIR Final EIR Lead Agency Hearing Public Meeting Public Meeting Scoping Period This process typically takes 1 to 2 years.

  6. Scoping Period (Getting Started) Main Elements: 1) Notice of Preparation (NOP) • Sent by a Lead Agency notifying other agencies and the public of plans to prepare an EIR 2) Initial Study (IS) • Discloses potential significant environmental impacts that will be studied further in the EIR 3) Public Scoping Meeting • Forum to solicit public comments on the NOP/IS • Comments will help further define the scope of the EIR and inform the project design http://www.just-do-something.org/wp-content

  7. What will we learn? There is a range of issues that may be analyzed in an EIR. • Aesthetics • Agricultural and Forestry • Air Quality • Biological resources • Cultural resources • Energy Use • Geology and Soils • Hazards and hazardous materials • Hydrology and Water Quality • Land Use/Planning • Mineral Resources • Noise • Population and Housing • Public Services • Recreation • Transportation and Traffic • Utilities and Service Systems • Greenhouse Gas Emissions • Health Risk • Climate Change

  8. Project Applicant Neighbors/ Nearby Landowners Public Agencies Interested Parties Organizations Individuals Who participates in the environmental review process? CEQA Lead Agency

  9. How can I participate? The public is encouraged to: • Review and provide comments on environmental documents as they become available: • Notice of Preparation/Initial Study • Draft EIR • Final EIR • Attend public meetings to learn more and provide comments dvba.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/get-involved.gif

More Related