(1) The SEPA process should be integrated with department activities at the earliest possible time to ensure that planning and decisions reflect environmental values, to avoid delays later in the process, and to seek to resolve potential problems.

(2) The department shall prepare its threshold determination and environmental impact statement, if required, at the earliest possible point in the planning and decision making process, when the principal features of a proposal and its environmental impacts can be reasonably identified.

(3) Appropriate consideration of environmental information shall be completed before the department commits to a particular course of action.