What is a Scoping Meeting?

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There are several steps involved, including a public meeting to gather input on the scope of the environmental review (i.e., the scoping meeting). This meeting allows TRPA staff to identify the issues that concern the community. In our opinion, TRPA is not planning to impose strict standards or requirements on Barton and this project. Instead, they leave it up to the public to influence the scope of the assessment, which is why this meeting is so important.

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If we do not voice our thoughts and concerns, TRPA will proceed with a very limited Environmental Assessment (EA). However, if we raise valid concerns, TRPA would be compelled to require a much more thorough Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). It is crucial to share any and all concerns about this project and its potential environmental impact.

Once these concerns are raised, Barton will likely hire a company to manipulate the data and messaging to navigate the approval process. Nonetheless, we firmly believe that this project warrants a more comprehensive Environmental Impact Report/Statement. At this point, however, TRPA has determined that only an Environmental Assessment is necessary.

 

A scoping meeting is a normal feedback/input gathering session that precedes Environmental Assessment/Environmental Impact Report or Statement analyses.  Final decisions about the scope of environmental review will still be made later at a TRPA staff level – not at the scoping meeting itself.  

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Tahoe Event Center (EA)  (EIR/EIS) not required by TRPA

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Barton has already funded a traffic study indicating that vehicle miles traveled (VMT) will decrease with this new hospital location. TRPA considers this information to be accurate. It is up to us to push TRPA to apply common sense and mandate a more comprehensive VMT study.  We need to force TRPA to do the job they are supposed to do.

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Let's use the current issues with VMT and the Tahoe Event Center as an example of TRPA not getting it done (link to article)

• Retiring TRPA legal counsel John Marshall said the plan was to implement vehicle counters using Bluetooth at several locations before the center opened in September 2023.

• However, the Tahoe Douglas Visitors Authority, which owns the center, never installed the devices.

 

Sound familiar?  This was the exact plan TRPA had for the Barton Hospital project until we got involved.

Since favoring development and tourism the Lake has succinctly been described as “sick.” Today, the agency relies on a simplistic “Initial Environmental Checklist” for substantial projects with no mention of threshold attainment. (Waldorf Astoria Crystal Bay’s troubled developer merely checked “no impact.”)  - Click for link to article 
 

 

It’s not good when it takes a formal letter from a Nevada legislative committee chair to pry loose a required environmental update from the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA). 

This letter, sent Oct. 16, followed months of public testimony at the state capitol and TRPA headquarters in Stateline, Nevada. Just days later, California’s Attorney General’s office also sent a letter advising TRPA’s Governing Board that the agency failed, again, to meet a reduction in one of its key environmental milestones: Vehicle Miles Traveled. The correspondence referenced several previous warning letters. California’s Department of Justice further noted TRPA’s latest environmental threshold pivot was a “confusing mix of apples and oranges.”  - Click for link to article

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​​​​​Environmental Assessment

An EA is a concise public document that serves to provide:

• Sufficient evidence and analysis regarding the significance of environmental impacts of the proposed action

• Alternatives to that proposal to aid in decision-making when there is an unresolved conflict in the use of resources.

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An EA must address and document those areas where there is a potential to significantly affect the environment and provide the public an opportunity for involvement and input in the decision process in accordance with the law. The EA concludes with a one of two decision documents, either a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) or the Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)

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Environmental Impact Statement

An Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is a detailed analysis and evaluation of all of the impacts of the proposed project and all reasonable alternatives. This document usually provides more detailed and rigorous analysis than an EA and provides for formal public involvement. An EIS is concluded with a decision document, the Record of Decision (ROD), that provides for an explanation of the reasons for selecting a particular action and environmental mitigation associated with that action.

EA and EIS Info Pulled From FEMA Website

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