ABSTRACT
When applying the sliding-scale approach to performing the analysis for an EA, the preparer should analyze issues and impacts with an amount of detail generally commensurate with their importance. The term “scale” refers to the spectrum of signi™cance of environmental impacts. Proposals with clearly small environmental impacts usually will require less depth and breadth of analysis either in identifying alternatives or analyzing their impacts (though the analysis still must satisfy all
NEPA requirements). Conversely, as proposals fall increasingly closer to the high end of the continuum of potential environmental impacts, the depth and breadth of analysis will increase. Application of the slidingscale approach is not, however, a rationale for preparing an EA (even a complex EA) rather than an EIS for a proposal with potentially signi™cant environmental impacts. While some EAs need to be more complex than others, proposed actions with the potential for signi™cant environmental impacts normally require an EIS.
