An EIS is a detailed and comprehensive document that analyzes the impacts of Federal actions that will have a significant effect on the human environment and mitigation measures cannot reduce the impact(s) below significant levels, as required under Section 102(2)(C) of NEPA . An EIS describes the purpose and need for a proposed action, describes the affected environment, discusses alternatives to a proposed action, and analyzes environmental impacts and ways to mitigate them. For this project, it is consistent with those actions that have been found by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to usually have significant environmental impacts.
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) develops comprehensive long-term decisions through land use planning to guide resource management decisions and actions on public lands. A land serves as the framework for the management of public lands. A land use plan amendment also known as a Resource Management Plan Amendment (RMPA) is identified when there is “a need to modify management or accommodate a project that may result in a change in the scope of resource uses or a change in the terms, conditions, and decisions of the approved plan.” These changes may be to a specific resource area. This usually results in changes to existing management decisions, while decisions for other issues, resources, uses or areas are not modified or amended. For this project, the BLM has determined that it will evaluate the need for an RMPA. The RMPA to modify the Visual Resource Management class is being considered in order for the BLM to evaluate the established Ivanpah Transportation and Utilities Corridor (Public Law 107-282), which will require amending the existing 1998 Las Vegas RMP.
The resulting document will be a combined EIS/RMPA. The FAA and BLM as Joint Lead Agencies are managing the preparation of the EIS/RMPA.
