9.  Coordination Best Practices  9.1. Scoping Process  9.2. Air Quality Assessment Protocol  Another useful means of enhancing agency coordination is the development and application of  an “Air Quality Assessment Protocol”. The overall purpose of the protocol is to document the  scope, establish the endpoints, and resolve any areas of uncertainty regarding the assessment  prior to its undertaking. An example of the contents of such a protocol follows:  78$_{ }$ Aviation Emissions and Air Quality Handbook  This section discusses the opportunities, objectives, and methods of conducting coordination in support of the airport air quality assessment process. Such coordination between  the FAA, the reviewing agencies and other stakeholders will help foster understanding towards meeting the goals of the assessment and help to avoid unnecessary delays  and setbacks. For the purposes of this discussion,  three common methods for conducting this  coordination are addressed: (i) the Scoping Process, (ii) the Air Quality Assessment Protocol,  and (iii) the Coordination and Review Process.  Under NEPA, “scoping” is an early and open process for determining the scope of issues to be  addressed in an EIS and identifying the significant issues related to a  project/action. Typically,  the responsible FAA official (or representative) takes the lead in the scoping process, inviting the  participation of affected federal, state and local agencies and any other interested Although there is no standard approach to public scoping, it is  also traditional that scoping  facilitate public participation in the process. If appropriate, a scoping meeting(s)  is/are held to  collect this feedback from agencies and the public. Consultation with appropriate agencies  having jurisdiction by regulation or special expertise is usually initiated at this point as well.  Scoping serves the additional purpose of identifying those  environmental impact categories that  do not require detail ed analysis and for such things as setting the temporal/geographic  boundaries for those that do require an assessment.  In the case of air quality, scoping provides an opportunity for reviewing agencies and the public  to submit comments and provide suggestions on the overall scope of the assessment, including  the analysis methods, the endpoints, and any other particular concerns or expectations among the  respondents.  • Project Description  - This section provides a general overview of the purpose and scope  of the project/action, including the alternatives.  • Regulatory Setting  - This section provides information pertaining to regulatory conditions  in the project area. For example, information on  attainment/nonattainment designations,  SIPs, and applicable regulatory criteria and/or thresholds that will be applied to results of the air quality assessment can be included.  • Air Quality Assessment  - This section describes the overall approach, s pecific  methodologies and models, data sources and assumptions, and other information that will be used in conducting the air quality assessment. 