| Purpose of the DEIR/SDEIS What
is the DEIR/SDEIS and What Does it Contain?
The Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) has been prepared pursuant
to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). This legislation requires project
sponsors to prepare a document that describes the nature of the project, the potential
effects of the project (particularly those considered "significant"), various
measures to reduce or eliminate the significant effects, and possible alternatives that
could achieve the project's objectives and minimize some of the significant effects. The
legislation also encourages public and agency comments on impacts and alternatives as part
of the process of selecting a preferred project. The Supplemental Draft Environmental
Impact Statement (SDEIS) has been prepared pursuant to the National Environmental Policy
Act (NEPA) and is intended to similarly document potential effects of the project on the
human and physical environments.
The proposed extension of BART to the vicinity of the
SFIA is subject to both the federal requirements for preparation of an EIS under NEPA and
the state requirements for preparation of an EIR under CEQA. In any instance in which a
project is subject to both NEPA and CEQA, federal and state or local agencies are
encouraged to work closely with one another to prepare a single document which complies
with both NEPA and CEQA. Thus, the joint DEIR/SDEIS is the result of BART, SamTrans, and
FTA working in concert to meet both the spirit and the letter of NEPA, CEQA and all other
applicable federal and state laws.
However, the requirements of NEPA and CEQA are not necessarily one and
the same: certain requirements differ in that either the state or the federal requirement
is more stringent. In addition, both CEQA and NEPA incorporate requirements which are not
duplicated in the other statute. Finally, the proposed BART-San Francisco Airport
Extension is subject to federal and state environmental statutes and regulations separate
and apart from NEPA and CEQA, which require analyses to be incorporated into the EIS/EIR.
In any of these circumstances, the joint DEIR/SDEIS has been prepared in compliance
with the more stringent or more complete requirements, whether they be federal or state.
For example:
CEQA requires that each significant impact of a project be identified
in the EIR and feasible mitigation measures or alternatives be identified and implemented.
NEPA, however, requires only a consideration of potentially significant adverse
environmental impacts, and evaluation of all reasonable alternatives and the suggestion of
appropriate mitigation measures. Thus, the DEIR/SDEIS identifies each significant impact
of the proposed BART-San Francisco Airport Extension in order to meet the requirements of
CEQA.
- CEQA requires an analysis of growth-inducing and cumulative impacts, while NEPA requires
neither. The DEIR/SDEIS incorporates both types of impacts.
Department of Transportation regulations require that a Section 4(f)
evaluation be prepared in compliance with Section 4(f) of the Department of Transportation
Act of 1966 (now codified at 49 U.S.C 1653(f)) and incorporated into the EIS. Therefore,
the Section 4(f) evaluation has been included as Chapter 5 of the DEIR/SDEIS.
Both the Counsel on Environmental Quality Guidelines implementing NEPA
and the CEQA Guidelines recommend that an EIS or an EIR be limited to approximately 300
pages in length. In certain circumstances, however, such as with a project of the
magnitude and complexity of this proposed BART extension, it is necessary in order to
comply with CEQA, in particular, to provide more detailed information than can be
accommodated in 300 pages.
Therefore, in order to meet the spirit and the letter of both CEQA and
NEPA, to assist in compliance with other applicable laws, and to provide a more useful and
informative document for the public and the decision makers, the joint federal and
California document has been compiled in four volumes:
this Executive Summary;
the SDEIS and a summary of the DEIR, referred to as the DEIR/SDEIS;
the DEIR and a technical appendix to the SDEIS, known as the
DEIR/Technical Appendix; and
the Design Appendix, containing the plans and profiles for all the
alignments under study.
The DEIR/SDEIS is intended to provide a more focused, summary
analysis and complies with the suggested 300-page limitation, whereas the DEIR/Technical
Appendix contains the comprehensive information necessary to comply with CEQA and also
provides detailed background to the SDEIS. Given, however, that both this Executive
Summary and the DEIR/SDEIS are derived from the DEIR/Technical Appendix, and are intended
primarily as summaries of this latter document, the reader who is interested in the
greatest level of detail available regarding any particular aspect of the proposed
BART-San Francisco Airport Extension should consult the DEIR/Technical Appendix. Should
there be inadvertent inconsistency between and among these documents, the information
contained in the DEIR/Technical Appendix is the baseline information.
Wasn't an Environmental Report Already Prepared?
The DEIR/SDEIS supplements an earlier document completed by MTC, BART,
SamTrans, and the FTA in 1992 entitled Alternatives Analysis/Draft Environmental Impact
Statement/Draft Environmental Impact Report (AA/DEIS/DEIR).
The objective of the AA/DEIS/DEIR was to consider a range of
alternatives to improve mass transit service in northern San Mateo County and provide a
transit connection between San Francisco, San Mateo County, and the SFIA. The AA/DEIS/DEIR
evaluated five different BART alternatives, in addition to a "No Build" scenario
and an alternative that focused on enhancing other existing transit systems, the
Transportation Systems Management Alternative. In Spring 1992, a Locally Preferred
Alternative was nominated, consisting of the extension of BART to a station about one mile
west of the SFIA terminals, with connections to the SFIA via an Airport Light Rail System
and to Highway 101 via new access roads and ramps. The selection of this alternative
(which is the "proposed project" in the DEIR/SDEIS) makes it the preferred
alignment of BART, SamTrans, and MTC and the basis for further environmental and
engineering studies. The documentation supporting the Locally Preferred Alternative is
reviewed by FTA in determining whether to commit federal funds for the additional
environmental and engineering studies. As shown in Table S-1, FTA authorized this work in
May 1993.
Why is Another Environmental Report Being Prepared?
Before the project could be adopted, BART and SamTrans were obligated
to review public comments on the AA/DEIS/DEIR and to prepare responses in a Final
Environmental Impact Statement/Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIS/FEIR). Public and
agency comments were extensive, recommended more detailed analyses, and identified viable
alternatives to those studied in the AA/DEIS/DEIR. For these reasons, BART and SamTrans
have elected instead to respond to the comments by providing more detailed information and
considering other alternatives in a new DEIR. FTA concurred with this decision and
recommended that a supplement to the DEIS be prepared concurrently. |
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