Hannemann: Environmental Impact Statements Average 14 Years
Honolulu shaved an incredible nine years off of the typical 14-year average that it takes to complete an Environmental Impact Statement.
That’s what former mayor Mufi Hannemann claimed about the EIS for the city’s proposed rail project.
In a televised debate on KHNL Monday night, Hannemann said: “The EIS that was done was completed in five years. It normally takes a city 14 years.”
Hannemann was referring to the done by the city to determine how the proposed rail-transit system might impact Oahu’s environment.
But does it really take close to a decade and a half for the average city to complete an EIS report?
Not according to a published by .
Not even close.
“The number of final EISs made available annually from 1998 through 2006 was comparable to the 20-year average calculated from US Environmental Protection Agency data,” the report found.
“The time to prepare an EIS ranged from 51 days to 6,708 days (18.4 years). The average time for all federal entities was 3.4 years.”
The Cambridge report performed the study between Jan 1, 1998 and Dec. 31, 2006. Their research spanned 53 federal executive branch entities and 2,236 EIS statements.
So, according to this research, not only was Hannemann’s claim incorrect, but Oahu actually went beyond the average amount of time generally required to complete an EIS.
