Environmental Impact Assessment (2)

Environmental Impact Assessment (2).

In this document Public Policy and Planning include the Federal, state and county governments. Each of them have regulatory authority over general land management and development in the Study Area, primarily through enacting laws and establishing policies that protect environmental features. The local governments have primary regulatory jurisdiction with respect to land development and management, principally through zoning, and local laws and ordinances. Otherwise In New York State, the primary responsibility for zoning land use regulations rests with local municipalities, including towns and incorporated cities or villages. In this document there is described main Federal Law and Policy acts.

The significance thresholds for environmental justice impacts are established at the county level. For this analysis of baseline conditions of the existing environment, individual Census Block Groups are assumed to contain disproportionately high percentages of minority or low-income populations if the percentage of minority or low-income persons in the Census Block Group exceeds 50 percent of the population within a Census Block Group, or if the percentage is meaningfully greater than the associated county. The percentage of minority populations in Suffolk County is 29.0 percent and the percentage of individuals below the poverty level is 6.4 percent (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. "Fire Island Inlet to Montauk Point Reformulation Study Draft Environmental Impact Statement").