Category : Key Documents

15.1. Past, Present, and Reasonably Foreseeable Future Actions ……………………….. 15-1 15.2. Defining the Study Area …………………………………………………………………………… 15-2 15.3. Significance Determination ………………………………………………………………………. 15-2 15.4. Mitigation ……………………………………………………………………………………………….. 15-2 15.5. Presentation of the Analysis Results …………………………………………………………. 15-3 The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) Regulations define a cumulative impact as “the impact on the environment which results from the incremental impact of the action when added to other past, present, and reasonably foreseeable future actions regardless of what agency (Federal or non-Federal) or person undertakes such other actions” (see 40 Code of Federal Regulations [CFR] § 1508.7). Cumulative impacts can be viewed as the total combined impacts on the environment of the proposed action or alternative(s) and other known or reasonably foreseeable actions. Cumulative impacts should be considered as early as possible in the project development process, as early identification of potential cumulative impacts may help in the design of alternatives or mitigation measures that minimize a project’s impacts on the environment. If it is determined that there would be no cumulative impacts, clearly document the basis for that conclusion. The depth of a cumulative impacts analysis should be commensurate with the potential for significant impacts. The scope and extent of the analysis will vary by project type, geographic location, potential to impact resources, and other factors such as the current condition of potentially affected impact categories. While significant impacts of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) actions tend to be primarily in the airport vicinity, the consideration of cumulative impacts is not limited to the…