Affected Environment and Environmental Consequences
Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement Chapter 3: Affected Environment & Environmental Consequences 3.15 INDIRECT AND CUMULATIVE IMPACTS 3.15.1 Regulatory Context and Methodology NEPA legislation does not mention indirect or cumulative impacts; however, the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) regulations for implementing NEPA address federal agency responsibilities applicable to indirect and cumulative considerations, analysis, and documentation requirements (40 CFR 1508.25) for the environmental consequences section of an EIS (40 CFR 1502.16) (FHWA, 2014). In addition to CEQ’s regulations, indirect and cumulative effects assessment is conducted in accordance with the requirements and processes outlined in 23 CFR Part 771, FHWA Interim Guidance: Indirect and Cumulative Impacts in NEPA (2003), FHWA Position Paper on Secondary and Cumulative Impact Assessment (1992), FHWA’s Questions and Answers on Considering Indirect and Cumulative Impacts in the NEPA Process (2015), the Transportation Research Board’s (TRB) National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 466: Desk Reference for Estimating the Indirect Effect of Proposed Transportation Projects (TRB, 2002), NCHRP Project 25-25 Task 22: Land Use Forecasting for Indirect Impacts Analysis (TRB, 2005), NCHRP Project 25-25 Task 11: Secondary/Indirect and Cumulative Effects Analysis (TRB, 2006), as well as CEQ’s Considering Cumulative Effects under the National Environmental Policy Act (1997) and Guidance on the Consideration of Past Actions in Cumulative Effects Analysis (2005). CEQ defines indirect effects as “…effects which are caused by the action and are later in time or farther removed in distance, but are still reasonably foreseeable (40 CFR 1508.8[b]). Indirect effects may include growth-inducing effects and other effects related to induced changes in the pattern of land use, population density or growth rate, and related effects on air and water and other natural systems, including ecosystems” (40 CFR 1508.8[b]).
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