The cumulative analysis should address whether thresholds could be exceeded because of the contribution of the proposed action to other cumulative activities affecting resources. Subsistence resources make up a large part of the diet of some native communities. Therefore, the potential risk to the health of indigenous people who consume these resources should be a significant issue in the analysis for projects that could add to the contaminant levels of subsistence resources. In these cases, the cumulative analysis should identify thresholds for contaminants in selected subsistence resources. The cumulative analysis should describe additive and synergistic effects.
Additive effects are similar in nature to the effects of the proposal but are greater in magnitude.
Synergistic effects do not occur from a single activity but are the result of the interaction of two or more activities. For more information, contact Dick Wildermann .