If you are a facilities manager, property developer or designer who is planning a new project - whether it is a new school, a district service center, an office building, or even just a new parking lot - there are some very good reasons why you may want to do an environmental assessment of the project. You may even be required to do so.

In many states, any new development of property is subject to a review by a Responsible Government Unit (RGU), such as a local or county planning department, zoning office, or a state agency which may have jurisdiction. The RGU decides if your project meets any of the criteria requiring review.

Environmental review can apply to any action or activity if:

1. It involves direct or indirect physical manipulation of the environment.
2. It requires at least one government approval, one form of governmental financial assistance, or is a project conducted by a unit of government.

When these two things are true (which they are in most cases involving new buildings), an Environmental Assessment Worksheet (EAW) or Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) may be required. In addition to the situations listed, where an environmental assessment is not mandatory, an assessment may be required as a result of citizen petitions or for other reasons.

. . . environmental assessment(s) [require]:

traffic studies, wetland surveys, title searches,

geotechnical surveys, review of databases

for spills and clean-ups, etc.

The few EISs that are written each year are for major projects such as the airports or steam generating plants, refineries etc. Usually, projects are reviewed through the less technical EAW process.

Your building project will likely require development of an EAW. If so, construction cannot begin nor a permit granted before the EAW demonstrates that there is no need for further environmental review.

Technically, the responsible government unit (RGU) must "develop" the environmental assessment but they will require you, as the proposer, to supply all reasonably available information to complete the assessment. This may mean figuring out if there ever was any important historic, archeological or natural structures on the sites; if any endangered species will be affected; if the site will affect groundwater or surface water; if there is any hazardous waste on the site; or any number of other "environmental impacts." The list goes on and on.

It is probable that your local RGU will not have had a great deal of experience in preparing and reviewing environmental assessments. In any case, they likely do not specialize in environmental projects.

As a facilities manager, you may never have tried to generate the information necessary to support an environmental assessment: traffic studies, wetland surveys, title searches, geotechnical surveys, review of databases for spills and cleanups etc.

How can you be sure that you have all the information you need to successfully complete an EAW?

How will you make sure that your project is not delayed due to a government agency requiring more information or their not seeing it as a high priority?

For some of you, the answer to having your project start on time when an EAW is necessary will be to have expert consultants on your project team. Consultants can handle all of the required studies, reports, investigations, documentation and presentation of information to the RGU. They will work with your architect, engineers and other specialists to make sure your project is environmentally sound and approvable.

Consultants work on your behalf directly with the RGU and all other agencies that must be satisfied with your EAW, and can facilitate every phase of the assessment activity from field investigations to document searches, to generating the final assessment information or even distributing the final document to the officials and agencies required to receive it.

If you are planning a new project and think it may need an environmental assessment, please call the Institute to discuss it.