What is an Environmental Impact Report?

An Environmental Impact Report (EIR) is a written report given after a proposed project has been assessed in relation to its impacts on the environment. EIR is also called EIS (Environmental impact statement), it is a report that reflects the environmental impacts or consequences of a proposed project or of an existing facility. After an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) has been carried out on an existing facility or proposed project and there is evidence that the project, if executed, will have adverse effects on the environment, an EIR will be submitted. The record will include an analysis of the effects, whether they can be mitigated or not.

How is the Environmental Impact Report Used?

EIR is a report on the impacts and environmental consequences of a proposed federal government mission and other proposed undertakings in a community. Factors that are included in EIS include the natural effects of the proposed project and possible environmental consequences. The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 gave certain modifications for EIS to be made and all EIS are accessible to citizens. Concerned citizens are allowed to make inputs in environmental impact report. These statements made in EIR are reviewed through the environmental protection agency before they are published on NEPAs website and also in the federal register.

Example of an Environmental Impact Statement

Since an Environmental impact statement is a report on the possible effects of a proposed on the environment, quite a number of projects can attract EIS or EIR. For example, proposed projects such as constructing a tank farm, building a mining facility, drilling a gas turbine, building an airport, among other projects can be subjected to an environmental impact assessment. For instance, the recent EIS published in May 2017 include an assessment of the proposed project to construct an incubation facility for spring/summer season-run Chinook salmon by Shoshone-bannock clans of the stronghold hallway reservation of Idaho. Before this report or statement was finalized, a lot of assessment was done. Although, the aim of EIR or EIS is to give a report on the assessment of a proposed project in terms of its possible environmental consequences, there are still certain limitations to EIR. Experts, legislators, researchers and scientists are pitched in different tents about these environmental impact statements. One of the limitations of EIR is that there is limited time allocated to research or assessment. Also, there is the tendency to cover up certain ecological factors by experts who carry out the assessment. Furthermore, EIRs often present precise information about the proposed project but quality of the information is however not assessed by government authorities or nationals that receive the records.