ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT

History & evolution

• EIA started as a mandatory regulatory procedure originated in the early 1970s with the implementation of the National Environment Policy Act(NEPA) 1969 in the US.
• In 1989, the World Bank adopted EIA for major development projects.
• At present EIA, is a formal project in more than 100 countries.
• The Environmental Impact Assessment concept in India came in 1994.
• MoEFCC(ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change) notified new EIA legislation.
• The notification makes it mandatory for various projects like mining, river valleys, thermal power plants, roads, highways, harbours, airports and industries including very small electroplating or foundry units to get environment balance.
• The new legislation put the onus of clearing projects on the state government depending on the size/capacity of the project.

Policies

• The government of India enacted the Environment (Protection) Act in 1986.
• To achieve the objectives of the Act, one of the decisions that were taken is to make environmental impact assessment statutory.
• Restricting location of industries, mining operations and regulating other activities in Doon Valley.
• Prohibiting location of industries except those related to tourism in a belt of 1 km from the high tide mark from the Revdanda Creek up to Degarh point as well as in a 1km belt along the banks of Rajpuri Creek in Murud Janjira in the Raigarh district of Maharashtra.
• Regulating activities in the coastal stretches of the country by classifying them as coastal regulation zones and prohibiting certain activities.
• Restricting the location of industries and regulating other activities in Dahanu, Maharashtra.
• Regulating industrial and other activities, which could lead to pollution and congestion in an area northwest of Numaligarh, Assam.

1. EIA process

The EIA process comprises of following steps

• Screening is required to check whether a project needs environmental clearance or not as per the statutory notifications.
• Screening is based on scales of investment, type of development, and location of development.
• A project needs statutory environmental clearance only if the provisions of EIA notification and one or more statutory notifications are mentioned in the primary column.

• Scoping is a process of detailing the terms of reference of EIA. It has to be done by the consultant with the project proponent and guidance, from Impact Assessment Agency.
• The MoEF published guidelines which outline the significant issues which have to be addressed in the EIA studies.
• Quantifiable impacts are to be assessed based on magnitude, prevalence, frequency, duration and non-quantifiable impacts, significance is commonly determined through the socio-economic criteria.
• After the areas, where the project has a significant impact are identified, the baseline status of these should be monitored. The likely changes in these on account of the construction and operation of the proposed project should be predicted.

4. Impact prediction: Impact prediction is a way of mapping the environmental consequences of the significant aspects of the project and its alternatives. Environmental impact can never be predicted with absolute certainty and this is the reason to consider all possible factors and take all possible precautions for reducing the degree of uncertainty.

Components to be assessed

The EIA process looks into the following components of the environment.

• Air environment: Quality of ambient air present and predicted, Quantity of emission likely from the project, Impact of the emission on the area and Pollution control desires, and air quality standards.
• Noise- Levels of noise present and predicted from vehicles, equipment and Effect on fauna and human health.
• Water environment: Existing ground and surface water resources, their quality and quantity within the zone and the Impact of the proposed project on water resources.
• Biological environment: Deforestation, shrinkage of animal habitat and Potential damage due to project, due to effluents, emissions, and landscaping.
• Land environment: Study of soil characteristics, land use, and drainage pattern, Changes in riverbank, shoreline and their stability and Impact on rare and endangered species, endemic species, and migratory path of animals.

5. Assessment of Alternatives, delineation of Mitigation Measures, EIA report

For every project, possible alternatives should be identified and environmental attributes compared. The alternative should cover both project location and process technologies.

Once alternatives have been reviewed, a mitigation plan should be drawn up for the selected option and supplemented with an Environmental Management Plan(EMP) to guide the proponent towards environmental improvements.

6. Public Hearing: The law requires that the public must be informed and consulted on a proposed development after the completion of the EIA report. Anyone affected by the proposed project is entitled to have access to the executive summary of the EIA. The affected persons may include local associations, bonafide local residents, environmental groups, or any other person located at the project site, or sites of displacement. They are to be allowed to make oral/written suggestions to the State Pollution Control Board.

• Delineation of unmitigated impacts.
• Physical planning includes a work program, schedule and locations for putting mitigation and compensation systems in place.
• Delineation of mitigation and compensation measures for all the identified significant impacts.
• Delineation of a financial plan for implementing the mitigation measures in the form of budgetary estimates and demonstration of its inclusion in the project budget estimates.

9. Clearance conditions:  Monitoring should be done during both the construction & operation phases of a project. Not only to ensure that the commitments made are compiled but also to observe whether the predictions made in the EIA reports were correct or not.

Corrective actions should be taken when the impacts exceed the predicted levels. Monitoring will enable the regulatory agency to review the validity of predictions and the conditions of implementation of the EMP.

Main participants of EIA

EIA applies to public and private sections. The six main players are-

1. Those who propose the project
2. The environmental consultant who prepares EIA on behalf of the project proponent.
3. Pollution Control Board.
4. The public has the right to express their opinion.
5. The impact assessment agency.
6. Regional centre of the Ministry of Environment and Forest.

Composition of the expert committees

The committees will consist of experts in the following disciplines

• Ecosystem management
• Water/ air pollution control
• Water resource management
• Land use planning
• Flora/ fauna conservation and management
• Social sciences/ rehabilitation
• Project appraisal
• Ecology and environmental health
• Subject area specialist
• Representatives of NGOs/ persons concerned with environmental issues
• A representative of the impact assessment agency will act as a member secretary.
• The chairman will be an outstanding and experienced ecologist environmentalist or technical professional with wide managerial experience in the relevant department.
• The membership of a committee shall not exceed 15 members.

2. Salient features of the 2006 amendment to EIA notification

• The Environmental Impact Assessment Notification of 2006 has decentralized the environmental clearance projects by categorizing the developmental projects into two categories- Category A(National-level appraisal)  and Category B(state-level appraisal).
• Category A projects are appraised at the national level by the Impact Assessment Agency (IAA) and the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) and Category B projects are appraised at the state level.
• State-level environment impact assessment authority and state-level expert appraisal committee or constituted to provide clearance to category B process.

 After the 2006 amendment, the EIA cycle comprises four stages

1. Screening
2. Scoping
3. Public hearing
4. Appraisal

Key elements of an initial project description & scoping: The key environmental issues to be considered about project characteristics are discussed in sectoral guidelines published by MoEF. An Initial Project Description (IPD) should at the very least, provide the reviewer with all the information necessary to enable project screening and scoping.

Specific information that must be covered by the IPD includes:

• Location, current land use along with contours and whether it conforms to the development plans proposed for that area.
• Outlining the key project elements during the pre-construction, the construction and the operation phases etc. as per the list of documents to be attached with the questionnaire.
• Details of proposed project activity including the project cost.

The IPD may also include

Off-site activities, associated activities, expected project-induced activities, and project activities as per chart and process with input-output.

This would facilitate the reviewer's task. The project proponent after suitable scoping should provide environmental information for consideration in detailed EIA. The reviewer while assessing the report should focus on the crucial aspects involving project location and characteristics.

Project Location

• The site selection can be an effective approach in minimizing the requirement of mitigation measures.
• Proposed project locations should be reviewed based on regulatory and non-regulatory criteria.
• Project siting restrictions depend on the sensitivity of the surrounding environment. Sensitivity should be assessed about the proximity of the project to the places listed in the identified ecologically sensitive zones (ESZ) notified by MoEF.

Siting criteria delineated by MoEF include

• Land acquired should be minimal but sufficient to provide for a green belt wherein the treated wastewater, if suitable, could be utilized from wastewater treatment systems.
• As far as possible prime agricultural land may not be converted into an industrial site.
• Enough space may be provided for storing solid wastes. The space and the waste can be made available for possible reuse in future.
• Associated township of the project if any to be created must provide space for a photo-graphic barrier between the project & the township and should take into account predominant wind direction.
• The layout and form of the project must conform to the landscape of the area without unduly affecting the scenic features of that place.

In addition, the following distances should be maintained

Estuaries: At least 200 meters from the estuary boundaries.

Flood Plains of the Riverine systems: At least 500 meters from the flood plain or modified flood plain or by flood control systems.

Coastal areas: At least 500km from the high tide line, within 0.5km of the High Tide Line(HTL), specified activities as per CRZ notification, 1991 are permitted.

Transport-communication system: At least 500 meters from highway and railway. Major settlements i.e., 3lakh population at least 25km from the projected growth boundary of the settlement. In addition to the siting criteria listed, the proposed project location should be reviewed about the following-

• Natural disaster-prone areas
• Critically polluted areas
• Ambient air, water and noise quality standards
• Ecologically sensitive areas
• Availability of water and other critical infrastructures like electricity, and roads with adequate width and capacity.

Process of public Hearing: A person who applies for environmental clearance of projects, shall submit to the concerned State Pollution Control Board.

Notice of public hearing

All persons including bonafide residents, environmental groups and others located at the project sites, and displacement sites likely to be affected can participate in the public hearing. They can also make oral/written suggestions to the State Pollution Control Board.

The State Pollution Control Board shall cause notice for environmental public hearing which will be published in at least two newspapers widely circulated in the region around the project, one of which shall be in the local language of the locality concerned. SPCB shall mention the date, time and place of the public hearing. Suggestions, views, comments and objections of the public shall be invited within thirty days from the date of publication of the notification.

Composition of Public Hearing Panel

The composition of the Public Hearing Panel may consist of the following, namely :

• District collector or his nominee
• Representative of the State Pollution Control Board
• Representative of the Department of the State Government dealing with the Environment
• Representative of state government dealing with the subject
• Not more than three representatives of the local bodies like Municipalities or panchayats.
• Not more than three senior citizens of the area nominated by the District Collector.

EIA in the Indian system

Drawbacks: Several projects with significant environmental impacts are exempted from the notification either because they are not listed in the schedule, or their investments are less than what is provided for in the notification.

Composition of expert committees and standards: It is being found that the team formed for conducting EIA studies is lacking expertise in various fields including environmentalists, wildlife experts, anthropologists and social scientists. There is a lack of exhaustive ecological and socio-economic indicators for impact assessment.

Public Hearing

• Public comments are not taken into account at the early stage, which often leads to conflict at the later stage of project clearance.
• The documents to which the public is entitled are seldom available on time.
• Several projects with significant environmental and social impacts have been excluded from the mandatory public hearing process.
• The data collectors do not pay respect to the indigenous knowledge of local people.

Quality

• At present EIA reports are extremely weak when it comes to assessment of the biological diversity of a project area and the consequent impacts on it. It needs to be plugged through specific guidelines and necessary amendments.
• EIA needs to focus on the conservation of natural resources rather than on the exploitation and utilization of natural resources.
• All EIA reports should clearly state the adverse impacts of a proposed project. This should be a separate chapter and not hidden within technical details.
• The checklist includes impacts on agricultural biodiversity, biodiversity-related traditional knowledge and livelihoods.
• The sub-components should be made publicly accessible as stand-alone reports with EIA. This should be available on the websites of the MoEF.
• A national-level accreditation for environment consultancy should be adopted.
• EIA should be based on full studies carried out over at least one year. Single-season data on environmental parameters like biodiversity is done for several rapid assessments which is not adequate to gain an understanding of the full impact of the proposed project.

Grant of clearance

The prior informed consent of local communities, urban wards or residents' associations needs to be made mandatory before the grant of environmental clearance. The consent should be from the full general body.

The notification needs to make it clear that the provision for site clearance does not imply any commitment on the part of the impact assessment agency to grant full environmental clearance.

Expert communities: The process of selection of those committees should be open and transparent. The minutes, decisions and advice by these committees should be open to the public. The present executive committees should be replaced by experts from various stakeholder groups, who are reputed in environmental and other relevant fields.

Monitoring-Institutional Arrangements

• Strategic industries like nuclear energy projected, the EMPs are kept confident for political and administrative reasons.
• Details regarding the effectiveness and implementation of mitigation measures are often not provided.
• Emergency plans are not discussed in sufficient detail and the information is not disseminated to the communities.

Applicability: No industrial developmental activity should be permitted in ecologically sensitive areas. All those projects where there is likely to be a significant alternation of ecosystems need to go through the process of environmental clearance.

Public Hearing: Public hearing should apply to all hitherto exempt categories of projects which have environmental impacts.

Recommendations

• Sector-wide EIA is needed.
• Independent EIA Authority.
• Creation of an information desk.
• Creation of a centralized baseline data bank.
• Dissemination of all information related to projects from notification to clearance to local communities and the general public.

Redressal:  Citizens should be able to access the authority for redressal of all violations of the EIA notification as well as issues relating to non-compliance. The composition of the NGT needs to be changed to include more judicial from the field of environment.

Capacity Building

Civil society groups, NGOs, and local communities need to build their capacities to use the EIA notification towards better decision-making on projects that can impact their local environments and livelihoods.

Capacities can be built to proactively and effectively use the notification rather than respond in a manner that is seen as negative or unproductive.

Environmentally sensitive places

• Archaeological sites, and monuments.
• Religious sites and historic places.
• Mountains, hill resorts.
• Beach and health resorts.
• Coastal areas rich in corals, mangroves, and breeding grounds of specific species.
• Estuaries rich in mangroves, and breeding ground-specific species.
• Biosphere reserves
• National park, and wildlife sanctuaries.
• Natural parks, swamps, seismic zones, tribal settlements.
• Defense installations, especially those of security importance and sensitive to pollution.
• Areas of scientific and geological interests.
• International border areas, airports, railway lines, highways, urban agglomeration.
• Tiger reserves, elephant reserves, turtle nestling grounds, habitat for migratory birds.
• Lakes, rivers, reservoirs, dams, streams, estuaries, seas.

3. ESP-Environment Supplement Plan

• An Environment Supplement Plan(ESP) is an environmentally beneficial project or activity that is not required by law, but that an alleged violator of EIA Notification, 2006 agrees to undertake as part of the process of environmental clearance.
• Environmentally beneficial means an ESP remediates, improves, protects the environment or reduces risks to public health or the environment.

Proposals under ESP

• ESP should allow violator companies to continue their activities by paying a financial penalty.
• This would then be invested in an environmentally beneficial project for an affected target group of stakeholders.

Pros

• The bad loans issue currently plaguing the banking sector can be substantially resolved through reviving the stalled projects.
• Many developmental projects were currently been stalled due to non-compliance with the EIA regime or for preparing an improper EIA. ESP would enable reviving these projects.

Cons

• ESP is a clever attempt to legalize EIA violations and gain corporate confidence, thereby allowing violators to damage the environment and circumvent the EIA process.
• Among all cases filed in the National Green Tribunal(NGT), around 41% are cases where the NGT found faults with an EIA assessment. Thus, EIA violation is a major in developmental projects.
• Many experts argue that this indirectly allows the pardoning of violations. Rather than building upon the polluters pay principle, the ESP looks like an attempt to promote corporate development by using a contradictory pay and pollute principle.
• Valuation of environmental loss cannot be compensated by pecuniary payment by the violator.
• MoEFCC stated the notification has a legal basis in two judgements, one by NGT and the other by the Jharkhand High Court. But neither of the two judgements condones EIA violations to be regularized post facto nor does it prescribe a way out of these for violators.
• ESP provides an escape mechanism to violators. Instead of following the path of an EIA clearance, they can get away by paying a penalty through specific investment activities.

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