Project Development - Environmental
Federal and state laws require a formal review of projects that may affect the environment. The federal law, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), requires the preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and the state law, the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), requires the preparation of an Environmental Impact Report (EIR).
Draft EIS/EIR
In 2002, VTA distributed a Notice of Preparation (NOP) to advise interested agencies and the public that an EIR would be prepared on the BART Extension Project. Soon after, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) published a Notice of Intent in the Federal Register stating that an EIS would be prepared for the BART Extension Project. A combined draft EIS/EIR was circulated for public review and comment, and three public hearings were held in the cities of Milpitas, San Jose and Santa Clara.
Final EIR/Supplemental EIR
The draft EIS/EIR was initially written as a combined federal/state document in accordance with the NEPA and CEQA requirements. However, subsequent to the public review of the final EIS/EIR, VTA withdrew the BART Alternative from the federal environmental review and preliminary engineering process. VTA agreed with FTA to address funding and project cost effectiveness issues before proceeding with the federal process. In December 2004, the VTA Board of Directors certified the Final Environmental Impact Report.
As the design of the project advanced, several policy and technical matters emerged requiring some changes in the project definition. In response to these changes, VTA decided to update the 2004 EIR. In 2006, VTA distributed a NOP that a draft supplemental EIR (SEIR) would be prepared to address proposed project changes since certification of the Final EIR in 2004. Potential environmental impacts from 57 changes to the 2004 approved project were evaluated. VTA released a Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Report (Draft SEIR) in January 2007. Subsequently, in June 2007, the VTA Board of Directors certified the Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Report and approved a revised BART Extension Project.
Revised Draft EIS
As the state environmental process was concluding, VTA requested of the FTA to be allowed to re-enter the federal EIS phase of project development. VTA proposed to complete NEPA environmental review of the BART Extension Project, redesigned the Silicon Valley Rapid Transit (SVRT) Project. FTA concurred and published a Notice of Intent to prepare a Revised Draft EIS in the federal register in September 2007. To initiate the preparation of the federal Environmental Impact Statement, VTA and FTA conducted public and agency scoping meetings in October 2007. Meeting materials include the meeting presentation, meeting notice and the notice of Intent. The Revised Draft EIS is scheduled for release in early 2009.
Environmental Reference Documents:
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