When working on large federal environmental projects there is such a disconnect between the day-to-day work and the final product that its hard to conceptualize how your work affects the big picture. Ultimately, the US Navy deemed it necessary to build an Undersea Warfare Training Range somewhere near the Atlantic coastal shelf. Along with a variety of consulting agencies, from both environmental and practical backgrounds, we completed an offshore environmental impact statement for the range.
Here's what Wikipedia explains about the EIS process components:
- Scoping: When a project is first proposed, the agency announces it with a notice in the Federal Register, notices in local media, and letters to citizens and groups that it knows are likely to be interested. Citizens and groups are welcome to send in comments helping the agency identify the issues it must address in the EIS (or EA).
- Draft EIS: Based on both agency expertise, and issues raised by the public the agency prepares a Draft EIS with a full description of the affected environment, a reasonable range of alternatives, and an analysis of the impacts of each alternative. The public is then provided a second opportunity to provide comments.
- Final EIS and Proposed Action: Based on the comments on the Draft EIS, the agency writes a Final EIS, and announces its Proposed Action. The public is not invited to comment on this, but if they are still unhappy, or feel that the agency has missed a major issue, they may protest the EIS to the Director of the agency. The Director may either ask the agency to revise the EIS, or explain to the protester why their complaints are not actually taken care of.
- Record of Decision: Once all the protests are resolved the agency issues a Record of Decision which is its final action prior to implementation. If members of the public are still dissatisfied with the outcome they may sue the agency in Federal court.
