Environmental Impact Assessment Flashcards
7 cards from real CEP practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Environmental Impact Assessment flashcards as text
Which analytical method in EIA uses a cause-and-effect diagram to trace indirect and cumulative impacts through ecosystems?
Answer: Network analysis
Network analysis traces chains of cause-and-effect relationships to identify indirect impacts that may not be immediately obvious from direct project actions.
Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) differs from project-level EIA primarily because SEA:
Answer: Evaluates environmental implications of policies, plans, and programs
SEA addresses the environmental impacts of strategic decisions (policies, plans, programs) before project-level decisions are made, enabling upstream integration of environmental considerations.
When assessing cumulative impacts, an EIA practitioner must consider impacts from:
Answer: Past, present, and reasonably foreseeable future actions
CEQ regulations require cumulative impact analysis to consider past, present, and reasonably foreseeable future actions regardless of who undertakes them.
An 'environmental justice' analysis in an EIA is primarily focused on identifying whether:
Answer: Low-income or minority populations bear disproportionately high adverse impacts
Environmental justice analysis, per Executive Order 12898, identifies and addresses disproportionately high and adverse human health or environmental effects on minority and low-income populations.
The 'affected environment' section of an EIS describes:
Answer: Existing conditions of the environment in the proposed action area
The affected environment section provides factual baseline data describing existing conditions of relevant resources in the project area and vicinity.
Which of the following correctly describes a 'categorical exclusion' under NEPA?
Answer: A category of actions that normally do not individually or cumulatively have significant effects
Categorical exclusions (CEs) are defined classes of actions that an agency has determined, based on experience, do not have significant environmental effects, allowing them to proceed without an EA or EIS.
The Record of Decision (ROD) in the NEPA process is significant because it:
Answer: Is the final agency decision document that selects the chosen alternative and commits to mitigation
The ROD is the final NEPA document in which an agency states its decision, identifies the chosen alternative, explains the reasons for the choice, and commits to specific mitigation measures.