Environmental law requires the assessment of adverse impacts associated with proposed projects. In California, such impact analysis is required for projects under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), which includes an assessment of the project impacts to site resources and their significance, and recommended measures to mitigate for those impacts. Impact assessments utilize recent scientific literature and field studies to analyze the impacts on sensitive plant, wildlife and fish resources by the proposed projects.

WRA has provided its clients with specialized services in the area of environmental impact assessment for required permitting and project planning, including producing biological sections of Environmental Impact Reports (EIRs) and Mitigated Negative Declarations. Staff members work closely with the sponsoring agencies to respond to comments and make public presentations.

WRA has worked on major environmental impact assessments including the BART Warm Springs extension, the Bolsa Chica wetland EIR, the Highway 37 improvements project, the Montezuma Slough mitigation bank EIR/EIS, the Tri-Valley transmission line EIR, and the Kinder Morgan Concord-Sacramento pipeline EIR.