From: "Friends of Transit NEWS" To: Subject: Final Environmental Impact Statement Approval Date: Saturday, June 01, 2002 1:59 AM To: LRT Project employees, participating city staff From: Steve Beard, Assistant Project Director Date: May 31, 2002 Re: Final Environmental Impact Statement Approval On May 28, 2002, Leslie Rogers, Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Deputy Project Manager for Region IX, signed the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the Central Phoenix/East Valley Light Rail Transit Project. The document was approved with no comments, reflecting the quality of the work of our Project team. Project team members who worked hard on the FEIS should be proud of this extraordinary accomplishment. The next immediate steps will be the delivery of the FEIS to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on June 14 and the publication of the Notice of Availability on June 21. There will be a 30-day period for public circulation of the FEIS. FTA's approval of the FEIS is one of the most important milestones we have achieved to date and helps set the stage for the upcoming Record of Decision, approval to enter Final Design and Full Funding Grant Agreement. The importance of the FEIS approval is paramount, because it is required before the Project can receive a Record of Decision (ROD) on our environmental process from the FTA, which is expected in mid-August. After receiving the ROD, the cities involved in the project will be able to acquire properties along the alignment and the Project is eligible to receive approval from the FTA to move into the Final Design stage. A ROD is also one of the requirements for a Full Funding Grant Agreement (FFGA), which we anticipate receiving in Fall 2003. We are making exciting progress in meeting our current Project schedule. Congratulations are in order for all members of our Project - each of whom had a hand in achieving this important milestone.