How the Programmatic EIS Is Prepared

The Oil Shale and Tar Sands Programmatic EIS will be prepared according to the terms of regulations for implementing the National Environmental Policy Act.

The President's Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) has issued regulations for implementing the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969. These regulations identify the steps that must be taken in the preparation of a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). These steps are:

1. A Notice of Intent (NOI) to prepare the Programmatic EIS is published in the Federal Register. (Note: the NOI for the Oil Shale and Tar Sands Programmatic EIS is also available on the Documents page of this Web site.)



2. The NOI announces a scoping period during which written and other comments on the content of the programmatic EIS are gathered, including statements made at public meetings.



3. A Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (Draft Programmatic EIS) is prepared, which, at a minimum, includes:
1. Summary;
2. Purpose of and need for action;
3. Alternatives, including proposed action;
4. Affected environment; and
5. Environmental consequences.


4. A Notice of Availability (NOA) is published in the Federal Register announcing the distribution of the Draft Programmatic EIS, announcing a public comment period, and describing how the pubic may comment, including the location and schedule of public meetings on the Draft Programmatic EIS.



5. A Final Programmatic EIS is prepared that includes descriptions of public comments on the draft and discussions on how they were addressed in the Final Programmatic EIS.



6. An NOA is published in the Federal Register notifying the public that the Final EIS has been issued. Publication of this NOA opens a 30-day protest period for the public. In order to protest, the protester must have commented on the Draft Programmatic EIS. In accordance with Title 43, Part 1610.5-2 of the Code of Federal Regulations, any person who participates in the planning process and has an interest that is or may be adversely affected by the amendment of a Resource Management Plan may protest such amendment. A protest may raise only those issues that were submitted for the record during the planning process.



7. A Record of Decision (ROD) is published in the Federal Register no sooner than 30 days after publication of the Final EIS. The ROD describes the agency's decision regarding the proposed action.

The Draft and Final PEIS documents, the Notices of Intent and Availability, and the ROD will be available for downloading and browsing on this Web site when they are published.