Where and how to search for Environmental Impact Statements
- EPA's EIS Database (free resource)Includes
- Records of all EISs received by EPA since 1987
- EPA comment letters on EISs since 2001
- Electronic (PDF) versions of EISs received by EPA since October 2012
- Science.gov"An interagency initiative of 16 U.S. government science organizations within 12 Federal Agencies."
Content is not limited to Environmental Impact Statements (EISs), but contains thousands of records for Draft and Final EISs as well as Findings of No Significant Impact (FONSIs).
Includes online full text for many documents.
Covers 1970 (the year NEPA was signed into law) to date.
Offers browsable "clusters" within your search results to allow you to explore and narrow your search.
- WorldCat This link opens in a new windowFind an EIS in any library. Enter your zipcode to find materials in the nearest library. Use Interlibrary Loan to request items from other libraries. Sample search: "environmental impact statement" in WorldCat
- National Technical Information Service (NTIS) This link opens in a new window Indexes technical government documents, including some EISs and related documents.
- Library Catalog
This link opens in a new window
More than 4,000 EISs are cataloged in the University Library collection, and more than 6,000 in I-Share. You can toggle between searching our local catalog and searching all I-Share Libraries. Ebooks are included in the local catalog. Many records have links to online full text. Learn how to find an EIS in at the UI or in I-Share in the box below.
NWU Transportation Library's EIS Collection
One of the world's largest collections of EISs is held in the Transportation Library of Northwestern University, Evanston, IL. This is a near comprehensive collection of all of the EIS's issued by federal agencies since 1969, most in both draft and final form. These are available for Interlibrary Loan, and can be requested through WorldCat, or using your ILLiad Interlibrary Loan account.
- Search the Transportation Library's EIS Collection Search limited to EIS documents in the Northwestern University Transportation Library
- About the Transportation Library Library information, policies and procedures for visiting researchers.
Search Strategies and Tips
Title / keyword search: In library catalogs, Environmental Impact Statements typically contain the words environmental impact statement in the title or somewhere in the record, but the words may not appear as an exact phrase in all cases.
Subject searches:
- "Environmental Impact Statements" is a Library of Congress Subject Heading frequently applied to EIS records in library catalogs.
- "Environmental Impact Analysis" is sometimes applied to EIS records in the catalog. Note that it is a broader subject, however, that is also applied to works about procedures for determining environmental impact.
Narrowing a search:
- Add a geographic location (e.g., a state) to search for EISs in that area.
- Add a specific project name to see if there are EIS documents for that project.
EIS Numbers: The Environmental Protection Agency assigns unique sequential numbers to Draft and Final Environmental Impact Statements. These numbers appear in the records of the EPA's free EIS Database as the EIS Number, and in some other database records as the EPA number.
Don't Forget FONSIs! Not all projects require a formal EIS, there may be only a brief Environmental Assessment with a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI). See Background tab for information on various levels of environmental analysis required by NEPA, and Finding a FONSI for tips on locating reports on projects that did not result in a formal EIS.