Editing Environmental impact statement (section)

{{Short description|Assessment required under US environmental law}}
{{Redirect|DEIS|other uses|Deis (disambiguation){{!}}Deis}}
{{about|environmental impact statements under United States federal law|worldwide perspective on environmental impact statements|Environmental impact assessment}}
An '''environmental impact statement''' ('''EIS'''), under [[United States environmental law]], is a document required by the 1969 [[National Environmental Policy Act]] (NEPA) for certain actions "significantly affecting the quality of the human environment".<ref>[http://ceq.hss.doe.gov/nepa/regs/nepa/nepaeqia.htm The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended, 42 USC Sections  4321-4347] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081017083720/http://ceq.hss.doe.gov/nepa/regs/nepa/nepaeqia.htm |date=2008-10-17 }} (enacted 1970-01-01) from [http://ceq.hss.doe.gov/nepa/nepanet.htm Council on Environmental Quality NEPAnet] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081010172140/http://ceq.hss.doe.gov/nepa/nepanet.htm |date=2008-10-10 }}</ref> An EIS is a tool for decision making.  It describes the positive and negative [[Environmental impact assessment|environmental effects]] of a proposed action, and it usually also lists one or more alternative actions that may be chosen instead of the action described in the EIS. One of the primary authors of the act is [[Lynton K. Caldwell]].

Preliminary versions of these documents are officially known as a '''draft environmental impact statement''' (DEIS)<ref name="deis-source">{{cite web |title=DEIS - Draft Environmental Impact Statement |url=https://www.codot.gov/projects/archived-project-sites/north-i-25-eis/deis-pdf |website=Colorado Department of Transportation |access-date=9 June 2020 |language=en-us |archive-date=9 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200609193859/https://www.codot.gov/projects/archived-project-sites/north-i-25-eis/deis-pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> or '''draft environmental impact report''' (DEIR).<ref name="deir-source">{{cite web |title=Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) |url=https://www.metro.net/projects/orangeline/draft-environmental-impact-report-deir/ |website=www.metro.net |access-date=9 June 2020 |archive-date=9 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200609194007/https://www.metro.net/projects/orangeline/draft-environmental-impact-report-deir/ |url-status=live }}</ref>