Environmental

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is a federal act to ensure consideration of impacts to the natural, social and built environment. Following NEPA is required on projects using federal funding. It includes three classes of action:

• Class I – Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)
• Class II – Categorical Exclusion (CatEx)
• Class III – Environmental Assessment (EA)

Below is the order in which the Innovate Mound project will apply NEPA to its work and what it includes.

• Initiate Project
  • Purpose and need
  • Develop alternatives
• Collect Data
  • Environmental surveys
  • Compliance with regulations
• Analyze Alternatives
  • Evaluate alternatives
  • Evaluate potential impacts
• Select Preferred Alternative
  • Avoid impacts if possible
  • Minimize impacts if they can’t be avoided
  • Mitigate impacts if unavoidable
• Document Findings
  • Using the appropriate class of actions
  • EAs and EISs require public review and public hearings