Conceptual facets of EIA

Environmental impact assessment (EIA) is a study of the probable environmental

impacts of a development project or any activity or any legislative action. Environ-
ment (Protection) Act requires such studies prior to proceeding with any project
located anywhere across the globe as per the environmental laws of respective coun-
try.
In EIA, existing data related to the environment are col- lected based on which
the predictions are made about the emissions and pollution levels, from the
proposed projects and activity of development. These predicted values are
superimposed on the existing values using different models to predict the level of
pollution after the project commences. Thus, the future values help to make the deci-
sion whether the proposed project would be environmentally sustainable in the region
or not. Since other sustainable factors are also considered in EIA, it gives a complete
picture of a region after the implementation of the project.

1.1 Definition of EIA

Environmental impact assessment (EIA) can be defined as the systematic identifica-
tion and evaluation of the potential impacts (effects) of proposed projects, plans, pro-
grams, or legislative actions relative to the physical, chemical, biological, cultural,
and socioeconomic components of the total environment.

. Ministry of Environment and Forests

(MoEF), Government of India, defined EIA as a process of identifying, predicting,
evaluating and mitigating the biophysical, social and other relevant effects of devel-
opment proposals prior to major decisions being taken and commitments made. These
studies integrate the environmental concerns of development activities into the
decision-making process.

1.1.1 Environmental concerns

EIA has been developed as a result of the failure of the traditional project appraisal
tech- niques to account for the environmental impacts.
involves a number of procedures and stages like
identification of projects requiring EIA,
identification of the key issues to be addressed in an EIA,
impact assessment and evaluation, impact mitigation and mon- itoring, review of
the completed environmental impact statement, and public partic- ipation in issuing
the environmental clearance.
 Table 1.1 Tools of preventive management
Management-based tools Process-based tools Product-based tools

Environmental management Environmental technology Industrial ecology

system
Environmental performance
evaluation
Environmental audits
Environmental reporting and
communication
Total cost accounting
Law and policy
Trade and environment
Environmental economics
assessment
Toxic use reduction Extended producers
responsibility
Best operating practices Eco-labeling
Environmentally best Design for environment
practice
Best available technology Life cycle assessment
Pollution prevention
Cleaner production
Clear technology
Eco-efficiency

1.1.2 Environmental indicators

Indicators can be classified into two types. The first one is environmental performance
indicators, and the second is environmental condition indicators.
The environmental performance indicators can be further divided into two catego-
ries, namely, operational performance indicators and management performance indi-
cators. The operational performance indicators are related to the process and other
operational activities of the organization and would typically address the issue of
raw material consumption, energy consumption, water consumption in the organiza-
tion, quantities of wastewater generated and other solid wastes generated, and emis-
sion from the organization. Management performance indicator, on the other hand, is
related to management efforts to influence the environmental performance of organi-
zation operations.

To illustrate operational performance indicators, let us consider two indicators,

namely, water consumption and air emission control systems in a thermal power
project based on coal and coal washery rejects located in Adavimallela village of
Khammam district, Andhra Pradesh state, India.

Baseline ambient air quality data

Parameter Concentration range (μg/m3)
PM2.5 13.8–22.5
PM10 23.9–37.6
SO2 5.2–10.4
NOX 6.2–12.5
CO 175–415
4 Environmental Impact Assessment

Table 1.5 AAQ monitoring stations

S. No. Monitoring site Direction w.r.t site Distance w.r.t site

1. Project site – –
2. Adavimallela SSE 1.0
3. Lankapalli NE 4.1
4. Kuppenkuntla SE 5.0
5. Kottur SSW 1.7
6. Penuballi NW 3.4
7. Gollagudem NE 1.5
8. Nayakulagudem NW 2.0

Fig. 1.3 Air emission control systems proposed.

Table 1.2 Breakup of water requirement for thermal

power project based on coal and coal washery rejects
Requirement
S. No. Purpose (m3/day)

1. Cooling tower makeup 445

2. Boiler makeup 140
3. Diesel motor regenerating 23
4. Air conditioning and service water 75
5. Clarifier sludge 3
6. Domestic water 10
7. Reservoir evaporation loss 54
Total 750
Conceptual facets of EIA 5

Table 1.3 Wastewater generation

Wastewater
S. No. Source (m3/day)

1. CT blowdown 200
2. Clarifier sludge 3
3. Boiler blowdown 28
4. DM plant regeneration 23
5. Service water 25
6. Sanitary waste 8
Total 287

Fig. 1.2 Effluent treatment plant.

Table 1.4 Treated effluent characteristics

pH 6.5–8.5

Free available chlorine <1.0 mg/L

Copper <1.0 mg/L
Zinc <1.0 mg/L
Chromium <0.2 mg/L
Iron <1.0 mg/L
Phosphates <5.0 mg/L
Conceptual facets of EIA 7

1.2 Types of EIA

EIA can be classified based on the purpose and the theme of development.

1.2.1 Strategic EIA (SEIA)

Strategic EIA refers to systematic analysis of the environmental effects of develop-
ment policies, plans, programs, and other proposed strategic actions. for example,
the EIA related to Hyderabad metro railway project.

1.2.2 Regional EIA

EIA in the context of regional planning integrates environmental concerns into the
development planning for a geographic region, normally at the subcountry level. Such
an approach is referred to as the economic-cum-environmental (EcE) development
planning.

1.2.3 Sectoral ElA

Instead of project-level EIA, an EIA should take place in the context of regional and
sectoral level planning.

1.2.4 Project level EIA

Project-level EIA refers to the developmental activity in isolation and the impacts it
exerts on the receiving environment.

1.2.5 Life cycle assessment (LCA)

This approach recognizes that environmental concerns enter into every step of the
process with respect to the manufacturing of the products and thus examines
environmental impacts of the product at all stages of the product life cycle. This
includes the product design, development, manufacturing, packaging, distribution,
usage, and disposal. LCA is concerned with reducing environmental impacts at all
these stages and looking at the total picture rather than just one stage of the production
process. Through utilizing this concept, firms minimize the life cycle environmental
costs of their total product system. LCA gives sufficient scope to think about the alter-
natives, which are lower at cost.

1.3 Grouping of environmental impacts

Environmental impacts resulting from proposed actions can be grouped into the
following categories:
l
Beneficial or detrimental
l
Naturally reversible or irreversible
l
Repairable via management practices or irreparable
l
Short term or long term
l
Temporary or continuous
l
Occurring during construction phase or operational phase
l
Local, regional, national, or global
l
Accidental or planned (recognized before hand)
l
Direct (primary) or indirect (secondary)
l
Cumulative or single

1.3.1 Direct impacts

Direct impacts occur through direct interaction of an activity with an environmental,
social, and/or economic component. For example, a discharge of any industry or an
effluent from the effluent treatment plant (ETP) from the industrial estates into a river
may lead to a decline in water quality in terms of high biological oxygen demand
(BOD) or dissolved oxygen (DO) or rise of water toxins.

1.3.2 Indirect impacts

Indirect impacts on the environment are those that are not a direct result of the project
and often produced away from or as a result of a complex impact pathway. The indi-
rect impacts are also known as secondary or even third-level impacts. For example,
ambient air SO2 rise due to stack emissions may deposit on land as SO4 and cause
acidic soils.

1.3.3 Cumulative impacts

Cumulative impact consists of an impact that is created as a result of the combination
of the project evaluated in the EIA together with other projects causing related
impacts.

Fig. 1.4 Types of impacts.

1.3.4 Induced impacts
The cumulative impacts can be due to induced actions of projects and activities that may
occur. The action under assessment is implemented such as growth-inducing impacts
and other effects related to induced changes to the pattern of future land use or additional
road network, population density, or growth rate.

1.4 EIA principles and process

1.4.1 EIA principles

Fig. 1.5 EIA concept and eight

guiding principles.

1.4.2 EIA process

l
Project screening: Not all development projects require EIA. Project screening will help to
identify the ones that actually do. This section describes the various screening criteria.
l
Scoping: The process of scoping helps determine the coverage or “scope” of the EIA. The
methods of scoping are elaborated in this section.
l
Baseline data collection: A brief explanation on the concept of baseline data collection, its
purposes, source of collection of baseline data, and derivation of primary data are given in
this part of EIA process.
l
Identification of environmental impacts: Described here are the various types of environ-
mental impacts of development projects both beneficial and adverse.
l
Impact prediction comparison of alternatives and determination of significance: This sec-
tion covers the considerations for impact prediction, uncertainties in impact prediction, and
comparison of alternatives for impact prediction.
l
Mitigation measures: Described briefly under this section are the concept and objectives,
types, and interesting points of mitigation measures.
l
Public consultation and participation: Public participation is a necessary component of the
EIA. “Who are the public?”, “How to involve them?”, and “What are the benefits/
disbenefits?” The answers can be found under this section. This mainly constitutes the report
on the socioeconomic environment.
l
Environmental monitoring: As one of the most important aspects of EIA, “environmental
monitoring” is defined here along with explanations on monitoring principles, types, and
institutional aspects.
l
Environmental auditing: You will find under this section the various types of environmental
auditing and when it should be carried out during the EIA.

1.4.3 EIA benefits and flaws

Table 1.6 EIA benefits and flaws
Benefits Flaws

Provides systematic methods of impact Time-consuming

assessment
Estimates the cost/benefit trade-off of Costly
alternative actions
Facilitates the public participation Little public participation in actual
implementation
Provides an effective mechanism for Unavailability for reliable data (mostly in
l
coordination, developing countries)
l
environmental integration,
l
negotiations,
l
feedback.
Top-level decision-making Too focused on scientific analysis
(sometimes)
Triggers an institutional building Poor presentation of EIA report (bulky
volumes, scientific explanation, difficult to
understand)
Achieve a balance between the impact of Compliance monitoring after EIA is seldom
developmental and environmental carried out
concern

There are three primary parts related to the environmental impact assessment pro-
cess.
The first part specifies that all agencies of the government must utilize a system- atic,
interdisciplinary EIA approach to ensure integrated use of the natural, social, and
environmental issues in planning and decision-making that may have an impact on the
human environment.
The second part requires agencies to identify and develop methods and procedures
that will ensure that presently unquantified environmental amenities and values can
be given appropriate consideration in decision-making along with economic and
technical considerations. This has provided impetus for the development of
environmental assessment methods.
The third part indicates the necessity for preparing environmental impact statements
(EISs) and identifies basic items to be included.
1.5 Environmental impact statement (EIS)
An EIS is a detailed written statement that serves as an action-forcing device to ensure that
policies and goals defined are infused into the ongoing programs and actions of the central
government.
To aid the implementation of the EIS requirement, the EP Act has provided the
provision, to create the environmental impact assessment authorities (EIAA), within
the executive office of the government. This authority has taken the role of providing
overall coordination to the EIA process in India. The formation of this EIAA, its
duties, provisions, rules and regulations of evaluating the EIA, procedures to follow,
and other issues related to EP Act are explained in Chapter 14.

1.5.1 Draft EIS

The draft EIS is the document prepared by the lead agency proposing an action. It is
circulated for review and comment to the line departments, state and local bodies, and
public and private interest groups like nongovernmental offices.

1.5.2 Final EIS

The final EIS is the draft EIS modified to include a discussion of problems and objec-
tions raised by the reviewers. The final statement must be on file with the environmen-
tal protection agency for at least a 30-day period prior to initiation of construction on
the project. The format for an EIS is given in EIA notification of 2006 for Indian con-
ditions.

1.5.3 Supplemental EIS

Lead agencies are to prepare supplements to either draft or final EISs if authority
makes substantial changes in the proposed action that are relevant to environmental
concerns and there are significant new circumstances and information relevant to
environmental concerns and bearing on the proposed action and its impacts.

1.7 Objectives of EIA

Some of the sample objectives as listed in the manual are given below:
l
To ensure that the environmental considerations are explicitly addressed and incorporated
into the development and decision-making process
l
To anticipate and avoid, minimize, or offset the adverse significant biophysical, social, and
other relevant effects of development proposals
l
To protect the productivity and capacity of natural systems and the ecological processes that
maintain their functions
l
To promote development that is sustainable and optimizes resource use and management
opportunities
 Table 1.1 Content of an EIS for US federal proposals as required by CEQ (1978).

1.6 Environmental Due Diligence (EDD) process

Environmental due diligence (EDD) is the collection and assessment of data relative to
the environmental conditions and impacts prior to a transaction to identify and quantify
environment-related financial, legal, and reputational risks.
1.6.1 Procedure to EDD
1.8.2 The stages of environmental impact analysis
There are four broad levels or stages for environmental impact analysis or assessment:
“local level,” “recognition level,” “national level,” and “global level” or stage. Some
effects or impacts of a project or action will be confined to the location or site of the
project or action. A study of such effects or impacts would constitute the local level
EIA. There will be some effects that spread over a wider area around the project. Such
impacts are analyzed under “regional” level EIA. When the whole country is affected
by the project or action, then the EIA level will be “national,” and when the entire
world is affected as in the case of ozone layer depletion, then it will be global
EIA. Between “national” and “global” stages, we may have “international” level
EIA as a part of the global level. For example, forest depletion in Nepal may affect
the climate and stream water out flow on India and Bangladesh. It requires interna-
tional cooperation to study such impacts.

1.8.3 Stages of development

The perception of environmental impacts to a great extent depends on the degree of
economic development of the countries and/or individuals. In less developed coun-
tries, we find widespread poverty. A large number of people in these countries do
not have adequate quantity of food to eat, shelter to live, medical facilities for treat-
ment, education for skill development and old age security, etc. The lack of economic
development may be viewed as a major cause of overall poor quality of life in the less
developed countries. Their “human-development-index” rankings as we see from the
reports of the UNDP for various years are extremely low as compared with the devel-
oped countries. Poor quality of environment is tolerated in these countries because the
focus of the people is on quantity of goods and services and not on their quality. This
situation is often termed as “pollution of poverty.”

In the developed countries, they may face environmental pollution because of

“too much development.” Technology, typical consumption patterns, social
tensions, and several other factors might cause environmental pollution, which is
often termed as “pollution of affluence.” Both the types of environmental
pollutions are to be avoided,