Before You Begin Viewing Comments

A systematic approach was developed to review, analyze, and document comments on the Draft PEIS in a manner that is both meaningful to the public and to the decision process. From 540 commenters, 766 comments were received from the public; municipal, county, state, and federal agencies; and associations and special interest groups. Each comment was assigned a tracking number and was entered verbatim into the project database, which provided an automated tool for documenting and analyzing comments. Every effort was made to transfer comments exactly as they were presented in the comment sheet, letter, or testimony received. Any errors that may have occurred during the transcription of comments into the database were not intentional.

All comments were read, evaluated, and reviewed for discrete issues that related to a particular concern, resource consideration, or project alternative (referred to as a “concern”). The content and reasoning of each concern were reviewed to identify substantive concerns. Each substantive concern was then categorized by alternative, topic, and sub-topic. From the 766 original comments that were received on the Draft PEIS, 2,055 specific concerns were recognized.

Once specific concerns were categorized, the entire database was then reviewed and sorted by topics and sub-topics presenting similar themes. From this review, 9 topics and 57 subtopics emerged. Through the analysis of these themes, more than 500 common concern statements were developed, identifying the questions, problems, suggestions, and interests expressed by the commenters. Common concern statements are not intended to replace actual comments. Rather, they help guide the reviewer to comments on the specific topic in which he or she may be interested. Please note that some comments require specific responses separate from common concern statements.

The table below identifies topic and subtopic codes that you will encounter when viewing comments.

The comments received on the Draft PEIS, after being categorized into the topics listed above, were organized into common concern statements. This framework provides reviewers with an understanding of the scope of comments received and organizes these concerns within the structure of the sections of the Draft PEIS.

To View Comments

In the menu on the left, click Comments. Select an individual/agency from the drop-down list, and click Show Comment List. All comments associated with that individual/agency are displayed.

For original comments, information that is displayed includes the comment ID number, the commentor name, affiliation (such as public, state agency, federal agency, county, municipality, and association/special interest group), date comment was submitted, original comment, and method by which the comment was submitted (such as online, written, form, transcript, email, and accompaniment to oral comment).

To view the original comment as it was categorized, click the Categorized Comment button. The following information is displayed: the comment ID number; sub ID (subpart number of the categorized comment, such as a, b, c, d); commentor name; topic and subtopic under which the comment was categorized; comment; common concern statement associated with the categorized comment and the chapter/section of the Final PEIS where the response will be located; duplicate comment ID number (representing those comments that were submitted in multiple forms; for example, in a transcript, an email, a comment form, or a letter); and a link to any references and attachments that may have been mentioned in or submitted with the comment.

Viewing Categorized Comments by Subtopic

To view all comments submitted on a particular subtopic, in the menu on the left, click Categorized Comments by Subtopic. Select a subtopic from the Find Comments By SubTopic drop-down list, and click Show Comment List. All parts of comments categorized under the selected sub-topic are displayed.

Viewing Common Concern Statements

In the menu on the left, click Common Concern Statements. The Common Concern Statements page is displayed.

In the Choose Sub-Topic drop-down list, select the name of the group of common concern statements that you would like to view. The following information is displayed: the common concern statement ID number, the title of the common concern statement, and the common concern statement.