9629

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 9629
• Author: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
• Title: Selected NEPA Documents.
• USFW Year: 1993.
• USFW - Doc Type: \
• Copyright Material: NO

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under SS 1506.10).
The information required by this section may be entered on Standard Form 424 (in items 4,
6, 7, 10, and 18).
1502.12 Summary.
Each environmental impact statement shall contain a summary which adequately and
accurately summarizes the statement. The summary shall stress the major conclusions, areas
of controversy (including issues raised by agencies and the public), and the issues to be
resolved (including the choice among alternatives). The summary will normally not exceed
15 pages.
1502.13 Purpose and need.
The statement shall briefly specify the underlying purpose and need to which the agency
is responding in proposing the alternatives including the proposed action.
1502.14 Alternatives including the proposed action.
This section is the heart of the environmental impact statement. Based on the information
and analysis presented in the sections on the Affected Environment (SS 1502.15) and the
Environmental Consequences (SS 1502.16), it should present the environmental impacts of
the proposal, and the alternatives in comparative form, thus sharply defining the issues and
providing a clear basis for choice among options by the decisionmaker and the public. In
this section agencies shall:
(a) Rigorously explore and objectively evaluate all reasonable alternatives, and for
alternatives which were eliminated from detailed study, briefly discuss the reasons for their
having been eliminated.
(b) Devote substantial treatment to each alterative considered in detail including the
proposed action so that reviewers may evaluate their comparative merits.
(c) Include reasonable alternatives not within the jurisdiction of the lead agency.
(d) Include the alterative of no action.
(e) Identify the agency's preferred alternative or alternatives, if one or more exists, in the
draft statement and identify such alternative in the final statement unless another law
prohibits the expression of such a preference.
(f) Include appropriate mitigation measures not already included in the proposed action
or alternatives.
1502.15 Affected environment.
The environmental impact statement shall succinctly describe the environment of the
area(s) to be affected or created by the alternatives under consideration. The descriptions
shall be no longer than is necessary to understand the effects of the alternatives. Data and
analyses in a statement shall be commensurate with the importance of the impact, with less
important material summarized, consolidated, or simply referenced. Agencies shall avoid