ABSTRACT
Traditionally, the primary reason for preparing an EA has been to determine whether a proposed action would signi™cantly impact environmental quality or could qualify for a ™nding of no signi™cant impact (FONSI). Yet, an EA can also be used as a tool for planning actions and determining an optimum course of action. For example, in one recent case, an agency had already made a decision to take some kind of action to avoid an environmental ™ne. An EA was prepared to evaluate “all reasonable alternatives.” The agency reported that this EA provided an effective planning tool for speci™cally determining the best course of action to take.2
