Draft EIS/EIR for the San Luis Reservoir SRA Resource ...

5 Environmental Analysis
5.1 Introduction
5.1.1 Integrated Environmental Impact Statement/Environmental
Impact Report
Both the NEPA and the CEQA encourage the use of an integrated EIS/EIR.
CEQA and its guidelines contain numerous provisions allowing state and local
agencies to use an EIS as a substitute for an EIR. The joint RMP/GP for the Plan
Area, including the environmental analyses, is consistent with NEPA and CEQA
requirements (40 CFR Parts 1500-1508; California PRC Section 21000 et seq.;
California Code of Regulations [CCR] Section 15000 et seq.).
5.1.2 Purpose
The purpose of the EIS/EIR is to inform decision-makers and the public about any
effects that could result from the implementation of the Plan. The EIS/EIR also
provides information on potential growth-inducing impacts and cumulative
impacts of past, present, and reasonably foreseeable future projects.
As required under NEPA, this Draft EIS/EIR includes a description of the
proposed action, an evaluation of the potential impacts of each alternative at equal
levels of detail, and a description of the environmentally preferable alternative. As
required under CEQA, an environmentally superior alternative is identified.
This document is a programmatic Draft EIS/EIR for the Plan and, as such, does
not contain project-specific analysis of proposed projects or management actions
included in each alternative. Additional management planning, schematic design,
and construction documentation would be completed as necessary before
improvements were made. The information currently available is insufficient to
support a project-specific analysis, but future projects would undergo subsequent
NEPA and/or CEQA review as appropriate.
This programmatic Draft EIS/EIR is intended for use in a “tiered” process of
environmental review, and the discussion of project impacts is commensurate
with the level of specificity of this Plan. Tiering in an EIS/EIR on a programmatic
plan allows agencies to deal with broad environmental issues at the planning
stage, followed by more detailed examination of actual development projects (that
are consistent with the Plan) in subsequent NEPA and CEQA assessments. The
assessments may later incorporate by reference the general discussion from the
programmatic EIS/EIR, in this case the Plan, and concentrate solely on the issues
specific to the later projects (PRC Section 21093: State CEQA Guidelines; CCR
Section 15152 [40 CFR 1508.28]). Accordingly, the Plan and Draft EIS/EIR
constitute the first (broadest and most general) tier of environmental review.
San Luis Reservoir SRA 5-1
Draft RMP/GP and Draft EIS/EIR