There are two steps in EIA. The two stages are
1. Preliminary Assessment: Carried out in the early stages of planning
2. Detailed Assessment: Carried out during project planning until the project plan is completed and are reported formally as an Environmental Statement.
There are five stages in the Environmental Assessment process.
* SCOPING
* SCREENING & ALTERNATIVES
* MITIGATING MEASURES, DEALING WITH UNCERTAINTY & ENVIRONMENTAL STATEMENTS
What is Scoping?
Scoping is used to identify the key issues of concern at an early stage in the planning process. Scoping should be carried out at an early stage in order to aid site selection and identify any possible alternatives. The scoping process should involve all interested parties such as the proponent and planning or environmental agencies and members of the public. The results of scoping will form determine the scope, depth and terms of reference to be addressed within the Environmental Statement.
Why carry out Scoping?
* To identify the key issues and concerns of the interested parties.
o Who is concerned?
o What are their concerns?
o Why are they concerned?
o What is the threshold of concern where change becomes unacceptable?
When ineffective scoping occurs delays are caused by additional time being required to assess unidentified impacts.
Once the site for development has been selected the scoping angle changes. There will be a decrease in the number of issues and an increase in attention to detail .
Scoping should be an ongoing exercise throughout the course of the project.
An assessment for this module envolves carrying out a scoping exercise on a site near Keighley.
Mitigating Measures
This re
views the action taken to prevent, avoid or minimise the actual or potential adverse effects of a project. The measure could include the abandoning or modifying of a proposal, substitution of techniques using BATNEEC (Best Available Technology Not Entailing Excessive Costs). This would include the various pollution abatement techniques that would be required to reduce emissions to the legal limits.
Uncertainty
If the uncertainties are great, with the possibility of grave consequences and no mitigating measures then the development plan is rejected.
If there are uncertainties that might me reduced by further studies then the applicationis deferred until further studies are carried out.
Environmental Statements
The EIA is the process required to produce the Environmental Statement.
The EIS is a comprehensive document that reports the findings of the EIA. This is the final stage of the EIA process and is now often required by law before a new project can proceed.
A typical EIS can be broken down into three parts with different levels of detail:
Volume 1 - a comprehensive and concise document drawing together all relevant
information regarding the project;
Non-Technical Summary (NTS) - a brief report of volume one in non-technical language so
that it can easily be understood by the public;
Volume 2 - a volume which contains detailed assessment of the significant environmental
effects. (This is not necessary if there are no significant effects either before or
after mitigation).
Screening & Alternatives
Scoping
Assessment details
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