EIS Cost Estimator Calculator

This calculator estimates what it costs a federal agency (or the applicant funding the study) to produce an Environmental Impact Statement under NEPA, built from five cost components that stack additively. A base cost anchors the estimate by project scale — $300k for something like a road widening up to $4M for a large dam or energy facility — reflecting the baseline documentation effort regardless of complexity. Each environmental resource area you need to analyze (air quality, water, biology, cultural resources, and so on) adds a per-area cost that also scales with project size, and that resource-analysis total is then multiplied by an alternatives factor: NEPA requires evaluating at least two alternatives including no-action, and each additional alternative adds 18% more analysis work since every resource area has to be re-evaluated under every alternative. Public involvement cost is tiered by controversy level, from $50k for a routine comment period up to $350k for a high-controversy project needing extensive hearings and comment-response volume, and each expected agency review cycle adds its own re-submission cost.

If litigation risk is flagged, the calculator tacks on an additional 12% of the base cost for extra legal defensibility review. Timeline follows a similar additive logic — base months by scale, plus time for resource areas, public process, and review cycles — reflecting NEPA's often multi-year reality (CEQ data puts the average EIS at roughly 4.5 years). Staff hours and cost-per-page are back-calculated from the total cost at a blended $175/hour consultant rate and typical page counts, so they're derived figures for context, not independent estimates — real EIS costs vary enormously by agency, litigation history, and project-specific controversy.