EIS System 1978 

Abstract

An environmental impact statement (EIS) is a document that identifies and describes the effects that a proposed action will have on the environment. This report deals with the environmental impact statement system that was instituted in the State of Hawaii as the result of the passage of Act 246 by the 1974 Legislature. The study on which it was based was undertaken at the request of, and with the support of, the State Office of Environmental Quality Control. Act 246 (1974) and the Regulations of the Environmental Quality Commission, which was established under the Act to administer the EIS system, are incorporated in this report as Appendices A and B. Considering the purposes of the study in developing the report, we have addressed first, the background and purposes of the system; second, aspects of the system in which it differs from other similar systems or to which alternatives have been proposed; and third, modifications of the system that would result in its improvements with respect to its objectives.