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Unit 4: EIA Documentation and Processes
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Lecture 4
EIA Documentation and
Processes
STRUCTURE
Overview Learning Objectives 4.1 Preliminary Stages of EIA 4.1.1 Project screening 4.1.2 Scoping 4.1.3 Consideration of alternatives 4.1.4 Establishing the environmental baseline 4.1.5 Impact identification 4.2 Impact Prediction, Evaluation and Mitigation 4.2.1 Prediction 4.2.2 Evaluation 4.2.3 Mitigation 4.3 Impact on Decisions 4.4 Participation, Requisites and Review 4.4.1 Public participation 4.4.2 Requisites for a good EIS 4 .4.3 Review of EIA report 4.5 EIA Monitoring and Auditing Summary Suggested Readings Model Answers to Learning Activities
OVERVIEW
In Unit 3, we discussed environmental impact assessment (EIA) as a preventive environmental management and decision-making tool. We also touched upon EIA report, known as environmental impact statement (EIS). In that context, we said that EIS is an outcome of a EIA study and documents the environmental consequences of a specific development proposal. We also said that its purpose is to facilitate a full accounting of environmental
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effects, along with economic and social factors, in decisions as to whether a project should proceed, be modified to ameliorate consequences or be abandoned. We will discuss these in detail in the present Unit, i.e., Unit 4.
In this Unit, we will discuss the processes involved in the preparation and review of EIS. We will begin the Unit by discussing the processes involved in EIA documentation. We will then explain how EIS should facilitate impact predictions, evaluation, and mitigation.
We will then discuss the impact the report can have on decision- making. We will also touch upon the importance of involving the problems in EIA reporting in order that it forms acceptability and EIA monitoring and auditing.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After completing this Unit, you should be able to:
discuss EIA process management and EIA stages; explain environmental impact predictions, evaluation and mitigation; discuss how EIA reports or EIS contribute to decision-making; review, monitor and audit EIA reports for decision-making.
4.1 PRELIMINARY STAGES OF EIA
Before we discuss the stages of EIA, let us spend a few minutes on EIA process management.
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The management team has to co-ordinate the resources, i.e., information, people and equipment, to achieve a EIA study of quality, on time and within its budget.
In Subsection 3.1.2 (Unit 3), we listed the steps in the EIA process. In what follows in the present Section, we will discuss some of these steps in detail.
The preliminary stages of an EIA consist of the following steps:
Project screening.
LEARNING ACTIVITY 4.
Explain in no more than 50 words, what will happen if the project proponent prepares the EIA report. Note : a) Write your answer in the space given below. b) Check your answer with the one given at the end of this Unit.
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Scoping. Consideration of alternatives. Establishment of environmental baseline. Impact identification.
In Subsections 4.1.1 to 4.1.5 we will discuss each of these steps.
4.1.1 Project screening
The number of projects that could be subjected to EIA is potentially very large. Yet, many projects have no substantial or significant environmental impacts. A screening mechanism seeks to focus on those projects with potentially significant adverse environmental impacts or where the impacts are not fully known. Those with little or no impacts are screened out and are allowed to proceed to the normal planning permission/administrative processes without any additional assessment and without additional loss of time and expense.
Screening can be partly determined by the EIA regulations operating in a country at the time of the assessment. In countries like the UK, there are some projects that will always be screened out for full assessment, by virtue of their scale and potential environmental impacts (e.g., a crude oil refinery, a sizeable thermal power station, a special road, etc.). There are many other projects where the screening decision is less clear. In this scenario, two examples of the project may be screened in different ways (one „in‟, one „out‟ for full assessment) based on a combination of criteria, including project scale, sensitivity of proposed location and expectation of adverse environmental impacts.
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category, but maybe potentially significant, are added to the initial category of other potentially significant impacts. This refining of focus onto the most significant impacts continues throughout the EIA process.
Scoping is carried out generally in discussions among the developer, the competent authority, other relevant agencies and ideally the public. It is often the first stage of negotiations and consultation between a developer and other interested parties. It is an important step in EIA because it enables the limited resources of the team preparing a EIA to be allocated to the best effect, and prevents misunderstanding among the parties concerned about the information required in the report. Scoping can also identify issues that should later be monitored.
Scoping should begin with the identification of individuals, communities, local authorities and statutory consultees likely to be affected by the project.
A good practice is to bring them together in a working group and/or meetings with the developer. Other key issues could include particularly valued environmental attributes; those impacts perceived to be of particular concern to the affected parties; and social, economic, political and environmental issues related to the specific locality. Reference should be made to relevant structure plans, local plans, subject plans and government policies and guidelines. The end result of this process of information collection and negotiation should be the identification of key issues and impacts, an explanation of why other issues are not considered significant and, for each key impact, a defined temporal and spatial boundary within which the impact will be measured (Glasson, et al., 1994).
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4.1.3 Consideration of alternatives
The question of options is particularly important to decide whether or not the selected option is really justified. In other words, by considering alternatives, the worth of the option is determined with other credible alternatives, in environmental, functional, economic and social terms. The rigorous comparison of viable alternatives:
strengthens decision-making; strengthens public credibility;
LEARNING ACTIVITY 4.
What are the advantages of scoping in the EIA process? Note : a) Write your answer in the space given below. b) Check your answer with the one given at the end of this Unit.
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feasible in all cases. For example, a comparison of the social, cultural or visual impacts of project options must be inevitably the outcome of subjective judgements.
At the simplest level of quantitative comparison, there is the quantified volume of earthwork for two optional road routes, or the measured area of forest eliminated, or the number of stream crossings involved. These all will give some primary guidance as to the extent of the impact that will perhaps be sufficient for a preliminary assessment. Each of the impacts would have to be followed further in a formal EIA. For example, while earthwork quantity may give a first order assessment of possible damage, the effect on water table may be related to depth of cutting. The options may have different visual significance, and therefore, the location and effects of soil dumps may also have to be considered. The area of forest removed does not (but should) take into account forest composition effects, or the presence or absence of rare plants.
Note that this step, i.e., consideration of alternatives, is not a requirement in some countries. This is, in other words, more of a voluntary action than of a mandatory requirement in these countries.
LEARNING ACTIVITY 4.
Do you feel that the procedure for EIA can be defined as a procedure for designing engineering systems? Justify your answer in no more than 50 words. Note : a) Write your answer in the space given below. b) Check your answer with the one given at the end of this Unit.
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4.1.4 Establishing the environmental baseline
The establishment of environmental baseline includes both the present and likely future state of the environment, assuming that the project is not undertaken, taking into account changes resulting from natural events and from other human activities (Glasson et al., 1994). For example, the population of a species of fish in a lake may already be declining even before the potential introduction of an industrial project on the lakeshore.
Initial baseline studies may be wide ranging, but comprehensive overviews can be a waste of resources. The studies should focus as quickly as possible on those aspects of the environment that may be significantly affected by the project, either directly or indirectly. The rationale for the choice of focus should be explained with reference to the nature of the project and to initial scoping and consultation exercises. Although the studies would normally take the various environmental elements separately, it is also important to understand the interaction between them and the functional relationship involved – flora, for example, will be affected by air and water quality and fauna will be affected by flora. This will facilitate prediction.
Baseline studies can be presented in the EIS in a variety of ways. These often involve either a brief overview of both the physical and socio-economic environments of the area of study, following the project description, with the detailed focus studies in subsequent impact chapters (e.g., air quality, geology, employment). Alternatively, a more comprehensive set of detailed studies is presented at an early stage, providing a point of reference for future and often briefer impact chapters. A framework for analysing each baseline sub-element is given in Table 4.1.
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Sub- Element Objectives
Required Information/ Specialist(s) Methodology
Findings/ Measurements aesthetic values.
The final step, i.e., impact identification is the most important and explains the various methodologies used in EIA. Before we discuss this step, let us do Learning Activity 4.5.
4.1.5 Impact identification
Impact identification brings together project characteristics and baseline environmental characteristics with the aim of ensuring that all potentially significant environmental impacts (adverse or favourable) are identified and taken into account in the EIA process. A wide range of methods has been developed for the purpose.
Many of the methods were developed in response to the NEPA and have since been expanded and refined. The simplest involves the use of lists of impacts to ensure that none has been left out.
LEARNING ACTIVITY 4.
List the months that are important for baseline data collection for establishing ambient air quality, surface water quality and ground water quality. Note : a) Write your answer in the space given below. b) Check your answer with the one given at the end of this Unit.
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The most complex include the use of interactive computer programmes, networks showing energy flows and schemes to allocate significance weightings to various impacts.
In choosing a method, however, the analyst needs to:
ensure compliance with regulations; provide a comprehensive coverage of a full range of impacts including social, economic and physical; distinguish between positive and negative, large and small, long-term and short-term, reversible and irreversible impacts; identify secondary, indirect and cumulative impacts as well as direct impacts; distinguish between significant and insignificant impacts; allow comparison of alternative developmental proposals; consider impacts within the constraints of an area‟s carrying capacity; incorporate qualitative as well as quantitative information; be easy and economical to use; be unbiased and to give consistent results; be of use in summarising and presenting impacts in the EIS.
Environmental impact assessment methodologies
There is no single “best” methodology for environmental impact assessment. Characteristics of a methodology such as the type of impacts or projects covered and the resources required may be virtues in one, but vices in another. Only the user can determine which tools may best fit a specific task. In selecting the most appropriate tools, the following key considerations may be useful:
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(v) Familiarity: How familiar is the analyst with both the type of action contemplated and the physical site? Generally, familiarity will improve the validity of a more subjective analysis of impact significance.
(vi) Issue significance: How big is the issue in terms of controversy and scope? All other things being equal, the bigger the issue the greater the need for explicitness, quantification, and identification of key issues and the less appropriate is the arbitrary significance weights or specific formulas for trading-off one type of impact (e.g., environmental) against another type (e.g., economic).
(vii) Administrative constraints: Are choices limited by the agency procedural or format requirements? Specific agency policy or guidelines may rule out some tools by specifying the range of impacts to be addressed, the need for analysing trade-offs, or the time frame of analysis.
Categorising methodologies
The various methodologies examined can be divided into the following five types based on the way impacts are identified: (i) Ad hoc: These methodologies provide minimal guidance to impact assessment beyond suggesting broad areas of possible impacts (e.g., impacts on flora and fauna, impacts on lakes, forests, etc.), rather than defining specific parameters to be investigated.
(ii) Overlays: These methodologies rely on a set of maps of environmental characteristics (physical, social, economic, aesthetic, etc.) for a project area. These maps are overlaid to produce a composite characterisation of the regional environment. Noting the impacted environmental
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characteristics lying within the project boundaries identifies impacts.
(iii) Checklists: These methodologies present a specific list of environmental parameters to be investigated for possible impacts but do not require the establishment of direct cause- effect links to project activities. They may or may not have guidelines on how parameter data are to be measured and interpreted. The basic categories of checklists are:
simple checklists (these consist of lists of environmental, economic and social factors, which may be affected by specific project actions) and Questionnaire checklists (these present a series of questions relating to the impacts of a project. Note that a sample questionnaire checklist is given below). Note that this questionnaire checklist was developed by the US Agency for International Development (1980). The method was designed for the assessment of rural development projects in developing countries. The questions are listed under generic categories such as terrestrial ecosystems and disease vectors. Those assessing projects must attempt to answer all the questions and three answers are possible, depending upon how much is known about a particular impact.
(iv) Matrices: These methodologies incorporate a list of project activities in addition to a checklist of potentially impacted environmental characteristics. These two lists are related in a matrix, which identifies cause-effect relationships between specific activities. Matrix methodologies may specify the actions and the corresponding impact on environmental characteristics or may simply list the range of possible
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non-domesticated: Food plants? Medicinal plants? Wood products? Fiber? Fur? Food animals?
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
No No No No No No
Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown Unknown e. Will the project require clearing or alteration of: Small areas of land in these ecosystems? Moderate areas of land in these ecosystems? Large areas of land in these ecosystems?
Yes Yes Yes
No No No
Unknown Unknown Unknown
f. Does the project rely on any raw mat erials (wood, fibre) from these ecosystems?
Yes No Unknown
g. Will the project decrease use of products from these ecosystems by producing or providing substitute materials?
Yes No Unknown
h. Will the project cause increased population growth in the area, bringing about increased stress on these ecosystems?
Yes No Unknown
Estimated Impact on Terrestrial Ecosystems... ND..HA..MA..LA..O..LB..MB..HB
Legend
ND - Not determinable HA - High adverse MA - Medium adverse LA - Low adverse O - Low or insignificant LB - Low benefit MB - Medium benefit HB - High benefit
Note that the EIA process is set within an institutional context and the context will vary from country to country. The various steps in the process can be taken in different sequences, and some may even be missing in certain countries.
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Having discussed the preliminary stages, let us now focus on the central steps of impact prediction, evaluation and mitigation.
4.2 IMPACT PREDICTION, EVALUATION AND
4.2 IMPACT PREDICTION, EVALUATION AND
MITIGATION
EIA is all about prediction and is needed at the earliest stages when the project, including alternatives, is being planned and designed, and this continues through to mitigation, monitoring and auditing. Evaluation follows from prediction and involves an assessment of the relative significance of the impacts. The methods of evaluation range from intuitive to the analytical, from qualitative to quantitative, and from formal to informal. Cost benefit analysis, monetary valuation techniques, and multi-criteria/multi- attribute methods, with their scoring and weighting systems, provide a number of ways for the evaluation issues. Mitigation of significant adverse effects involves the measures to avoid, reduce,
LEARNING ACTIVITY 4.
Can you name a project where preliminary EIA should be carried out? Justify your answer in no more than 50 words. Note : a) Write your answer in the space given below. b) Check your answer with the one given at the end of this Unit.
