Nothing comes for free.  While federal and state monies for private development have become more accessible then ever before, access to these monies often require the recipient to produce a formal environmental impact statement (EIS).

The EIS process is generally the same whether done under the Federal National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) or a State counterpart.  The NEPA process includes analyses of potential impacts in categories that are intuitively “environmental” such as threatened and endangered species and wetlands, but also include less obvious factors such as cultural and archeological resources and visual impacts.  The EIS process is an explicitly public one since the use of public funds which initiates the process and therefore requires the one paying the bill, the Public, to understand the implications of the preferred project as well as alternatives that were considered.  In GZA’s experience the public is often surprised that the EIS process does not result in a position statement for or against a project.  Rather it is a non-biased statement to on the costs and benefits of project alternatives be used as a tool by the funding agency.

GZA’s staff of engineers, water resource planners, biologists and air quality experts will get the job done.