Environmental Impact Assessment I

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Environmental Impact Assessment III

Per Christensen Environmental Management, 1st of
March 2002
Mitigation
Monitoring
Assignment II
Prediction
Assignment I
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Introduction to assignment I

• The aim of this assignment is to have the groups
  discuss the meaning of quality related to the
  Environmental Impact Statement. Thus, the key
  questions addressed in this assignment are
• 1. How do you determine if an Environmental
  Impact Statement is of good quality?
• 2. Which factors have an influence on obtaining a
  good quality statement?
• Presentation Friday the 1st of March, 9.00 -
  10.00.

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Lets have a BREAK !
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The steps in the EIA process

• Screening
• Scoping
• Impact prediction
• Alternatives
• Mitigation measures
• EIS report
• Monitoring

Public participation
Decision making
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Public participation - what is that ?

• The purpose of public participation are to
• give information
• get information
• establish credibility
• resolve conflicts

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Types of effects
Recapitulate

• Physical, socio-economic
• Direct and indirect
• Short-term and long-term
• Local, regional..global
• Positive and negative
• Qualitative and quantitative
• Distribution on communities and/or areas
• Actual or estimated
• etc.

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Methods for scoping
Recapitulate

• Guidelines
• Existing environmental statements of relevance
  for the specific action
• Checklists
• Consultation of
• (environmental)authorities, NGOs, the public and
  so on
• Consultants and experts

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Methods for impact prediction
Recapitulate

• Examples
• Checklists
• Matrices
• Cause-effect flow diagram
• Mass balance models describes physical changes
  (e.g. water in a stream)
• Physical, image or architectural models
• Analogue models compares with existing
  developments
• Remember The whole EIA is about prediction!

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Prediction and significance

• Magnitude
• - Short-term/long-term
• - Direct/indirect etc. Assessment Significance
• - Regulation
• Sensitivity of the - The public opinion
• affected environment - cost benefit
• - The number of people being affected - multiple
  criteria
• - The type of area/environment etc.

Subjective methods (Value judgements)
Objective methods
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PredictionLiving with uncertainty

• EIA process Main type of Final certainty by Way
  of
• element uncertainty reduction
• Information Uncertainty of Implementation Researc
  h
• information
• Approach Uncertainty of Decision taking e.g.
  negotiation
• values
• Decision Uncertainty of Evaluation Co-ordination
  
• related decision
• ( Wathern, 1988)

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Mitigation

• ..the measures envisaged to prevent, reduce and
  where possible offset any significant adverse
  effects on the environment
• ( Ministry of the Environment and Energy,
  Ministerial order., 2000)
• Mitigation measures may include
• process alterations to reduce emissions
• altering pollution control equipment to render it
  more effective
• adjusting the hours of operation of a plant
• changing site layout to reduce visual, noise or
  air pollution impacts
• the requirement of fencing and walls
• the provision of mounding and planing
• the creation of replacement habitat etc.

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Different mitigation measures
Compare with the list of different alternatives
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Types of alternatives

• The proposed alternative
• e.g. coal fires power plant
• The zero alternative
• e.g. no power plant
• Alternative locations
• Alternative technological production processes
• Alternative ways of achieving the same end
• e.g. wind energy and bio mass
• Demand reduction alternative
• e.g. energy saving

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Guidelines for drafting effectivemitigation
measures

• WHY State the objective of the mitigation
  measure and why it is recommended
• WHAT Explain the specifics of the mitigation
  measure and how it will be designed and
  implemented
• WHO Identify the agency, organisation, or
  individual responsible for implementing the
  measure
• WHERE Identify the specific location of the
  mitigation measure
• WHEN Develop a schedule for implementation.

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Lets have a BREAK !
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Monitoring

• The Environmental Impact Statement is no more
  than a record of the forecast impacts of the
  action as it is designed at a particular point in
  time!
• Further design work will take place
  modifications
• The life-cycle of a project may cover a long
  period.

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Implementation monitoring

• Involves checking that
• the project has been implemented in accordance
  with the approval
• that mitigation measures correspond with those
  required
• that conditions imposed upon action (e.g. noise
  emission limits) have been met.
• May involve
• physical inspection (e.g. of waste storage)
• measurement (e.g. noise emissions)

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Impact monitoring

• Involves
• measurement of the environmental impacts that
  have occurred as a result of implementing the
  project
• Serves two purposes
• Where monitoring of the environment reveals
  unexpected or unacceptable impacts further design
  changes or management measures may be necessary.
• Impact monitoring can provide useful feedback for
  the assessment of other similar projects by
  helping to ensure that relevant areas of concern
  are identified.

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Assignment II
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Reading for next lecture

• Glasson, Therivel Chadwick Introduction to
  Environmental Impact Assessment, chapter 5 7
  (pp. 113-39 166-81). You find it in the copies
  you got last week.
• Therivel Partidario The practice of strategic
  environmental assessment, pp. 1-14
• look at www.environmental management.dk for the
  powerpoint presentation
• Next lecture is on Friday the 8th of March,
  900-1200