[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 40, Volume 30]
[Revised as of July 1, 2004]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 40CFR1502.14]

[Page 755]
 
                   TITLE 40--PROTECTION OF ENVIRONMENT
 
               CHAPTER V--COUNCIL ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
 
PART 1502_ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 1502.14  Alternatives including the proposed action.

    This section is the heart of the environmental impact statement. 
Based on the information and analysis presented in the sections on the 
Affected Environment (Sec. 1502.15) and the Environmental Consequences 
(Sec. 1502.16), it should present the environmental impacts of the 
proposal and the alternatives in comparative form, thus sharply defining 
the issues and providing a clear basis for choice among options by the 
decisionmaker and the public. In this section agencies shall:
    (a) Rigorously explore and objectively evaluate all reasonable 
alternatives, and for alternatives which were eliminated from detailed 
study, briefly discuss the reasons for their having been eliminated.
    (b) Devote substantial treatment to each alternative considered in 
detail including the proposed action so that reviewers may evaluate 
their comparative merits.
    (c) Include reasonable alternatives not within the jurisdiction of 
the lead agency.
    (d) Include the alternative of no action.
    (e) Identify the agency's preferred alternative or alternatives, if 
one or more exists, in the draft statement and identify such alternative 
in the final statement unless another law prohibits the expression of 
such a preference.
    (f) Include appropriate mitigation measures not already included in 
the proposed action or alternatives.