The New York State Legislature has recently passed a bill which was signed into law by the Governor requiring that, beginning February 26, 2006, municipalities must post all Environmental Impact Statements, required under SEQRA, on the world wide web. The address of all postings must be included in all notices regarding an Environmental Impact Statement.
As part of the new requirements the Environmental Impact Statement must be posted for a period of time after all permits mentioned in the Impact Statement have been issued.
The purpose of the law is to provide greater public access to these documents and to facilitate the ability of the public to comment on the project proposed in the Environmental Impact Statement.
It has been suggested that municipalities modify local regulations to require that Impact Statements be provided in digital, as well as printed, format so as to assist in posting on a publicly available web site.