Environmental Impact Report - Definition

Updated at December 18th, 2020

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Environmental Impact Report (EIR) Definition

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.

A Little More on What is an Environmental Impact Report

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.

References for Environmental impact report (EIR)

Research articles for Environmental impact report (EIR)

[PDF]EBMUD Comments on the Notice of Preparation (NOP) for the Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the Delta Plan, Macaulay, M. T., & Council, D. S. (2011). [PDF]Notice of Preparation and Scoping Document for an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the Whittier Main Oil Field Development Project, Adams, J. (2010). PEIR, the personal environmental impact report, as a platform for participatory sensing systems research, Mun, M., Reddy, S., Shilton, K., Yau, N., Burke, J., Estrin, D., ... & Boda, P. (2009, June). In Proceedings of the 7th international conference on Mobile systems, applications, and services (pp. 55-68). ACM.Environmental impact report, Plan, R. P. V. G. (1975). Local government and the environmental impact report: The California experience, Catalano, R., & Reich, R. (1976). Local government and the environmental impact report: The California experience. The Urban Lawyer, 367-374.Save the Plastic Bags: How the California Supreme Court Weakened Environmental Impact Report Requirements in an Attempt to Protect the Environment, Santarpio, C. M. (2012). BC Envtl. Aff. L. Rev., 39, i.An invited submission on the Wellington Regional Council's environmental impact report for the future State Highway number 1 route: comments on the , Kenworthy, J. (1990). Final Environmental Impact Report, District, S. C. W., & UPDATE, S. O. I. (2009). Ridgemark Wastewater Treatment and Recycled Water Improvements Project.

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