What is EIA?

Environmental impact assessment(EIA) is a process of

identifying, predicting, evaluating, and mitigating the
biophysical, social, and other relevant effects of proposed
projects and physical activities prior to major decisions and
commitments being made.
• The environmental impact assessment (EIA)process is an
interdisciplinary and multistep procedure to ensure that
environmental considerations are included in decisions
regarding projects that may impact the environment.

• The EIA process helps identify the possible environmental

effects of a proposed activity and how those impacts can be
mitigated.
Objectives of EIA

•Foresee potential environment problems.

•Address them in the planning and design stage.

Essential Elements
•Identification of possible positive or negative impacts of the project.
•Quantifying impacts with respect to common base.
•Preparation of mitigation plan to offset the negative impacts.
Who prepares an EIA?

• Depending on the EIA system, responsibility for producing

an EIA will be assigned to one of two parties:
(1) the government agency or ministry, or
(2) the project proponent.

If EIA laws permit, either party may opt to hire a consultant

to prepare the EIA or handle specific portions of the
EIA process, such as public participation or technical
studies.
Elements of EIA Process

• Screening

• Scoping

• Impact mitigation

• EIS preparation
Step 1:-Identifying and Defining the Project or
Activity:

• The goal of this step is to define the project with enough

specificity to accurately determine the zone of possible
impacts and to include activities that are closely connected
with the proposal so that the entire scope of environmental
impacts is evaluated.

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 Step 2:-Screening
To determine whether or not a proposal should be subject to EIA
Screening is done to see whether a project requires environmental
clearance as per the statutory notification. Screening Criteria are
based upon:

Scales of investment;
Type of development; and,
Location of development.

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 List of Environmentally Sensitive Places

Religious and historic places

Archaeological monuments / sites

Scenic areas

Hill resorts / mountains / hills

Health resorts

Coastal areas rich in corals, mangroves,

breeding grounds of specific species

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 List of Environmentally Sensitive Places

Estuaries rich in mangroves, breeding ground of

specific species

Gulf areas

Biosphere reserves

National park and Wild Life Sanctuaries

Natural lakes, Swamps, Seismic zones Tribal

Settlements

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 List of Environmentally Sensitive Places

Areas of scientific and geological interests

Defense installations, specially those of security

importance and sensitive to pollution

Border areas (international)

Airport

Tiger reserve / Elephant reserve / Turtle nestling

grounds

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 List of Environmentally Sensitive Places

Habitat for migratory birds

Lakes, reservoirs, dams

Streams / rivers / estuary / seas

Railway lines

Highways

Urban agglomeration

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Screening

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List of projects requiring environmental clearance from the Central Government

1. Nuclear power and related projects such as Heavy Water Plants,

nuclear fuel complex, Rare Earths.

2. River Valley Projects including hydel power, major Irrigation and

their combination including flood control.

3. Ports, Harbours, Airports (except minor ports and harbours).

4. Petroleum Refineries including crude and product pipelines.

5. Chemical Fertilizers (Nitrogenous and Phosphatic other than

single superphosphate).

6. Pesticides (Technical).

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 List of projects requiring environmental clearance from the
Central Government

7. Petrochemical complexes (Both Olefinic and Aromatic) and

Petro-Chemical intermediates such as DMT, Caprolactam, LAB etc.
and production of basic plastics such as LLDPE, HDPE, PP, PVC.

8. Bulk drugs and pharmaceuticals.

9. Exploration for oil and gas and their production, transportation

and storage.

10. Synthetic Rubber.

11. Asbestos and Asbestos products.

12. Hydrocyanic acid and its derivatives.

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 List of projects requiring environmental clearance from the
Central Government

13. (a) Primary metallurgical industries (such as production of Iron

and Steel, Aluminium, Copper, Zinc, Lead and Ferro Alloys).
(b) Electric arc furnaces (Mini Steel Plants).

14. Chlor alkali industry.

15. Integrated paint complex including manufacture of resins and basic

raw materials required in the manufacture of paints.

16. Viscose Staple fibre and filament yarn.

17. Storage batteries integrated with manufacture of oxides of lead and

lead antimony alloys.

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 List of projects requiring environmental clearance from the
Central Government

18. All tourism projects between 200m-500 metres of High Water Line
and at locations with an elevation of more than 1000 metres with
investment of more than Rs. 5 crores.

19. Thermal Power Plants.

20. Mining projects *(major minerals)* with leases more than 5

hectares.

21. Highway Projects **except projects relating to improvement work

including widening and strengthening of roads with marginal land
acquisition along the existing alignments provided it does not pass
through ecologically sensitive areas such as National Parks,
Sanctuaries, Tiger Reserves, Reserve Forests**

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List of projects requiring environmental clearance from the
Central Government

22. Tarred Roads in the Himalayas and or Forest areas

23. Distilleries.

24. Raw Skins and Hides.

25. Pulp, paper and new sprint.

26. Dyes.

27. Cement.

28. Foundries (individual).

29. Electroplating.

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30. Meta amino phenol.
 Step 3:-Scoping

Scoping is a process of detailing the terms of reference of

EIA.

•Begins once screening is completed

•The most important step in EIA
Purpose:
• To identify important issues and impacts and eliminate

those of little concern

•Establishes the content and scope of an EIA report

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Outcome:
• Identifies key issues and impacts to be considered

• lays the foundation of an effective process, saves time and money,

and reduces conflict

• Define the issues which need to be addresses.

• Scoping is a very key stage of the EIA process in which those impacts
which might have significant effect on the environment, to be
addressed in the EIA, are determined.

• A process of interaction between government agencies and project

proponents

• Terms of Reference (TOR)

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• Who does the scoping?
• Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) in the case of Category ‘A’ projects
or activities

• State level Expert Appraisal Committee (SEAC) in the case of Category

‘B1’ projects

Steps to be considered during scoping

• Develop a communication plan(decide who to talk to and when).

• Assemble information that will be the starting point of discussion.

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• Make the information available to those whose views are to be
obtained.

• Find out what issues people are concerned about.

• Look at the issues from a technical or scientific perspective in

preparation for further study.

• Organize information according to issues including grouping and

setting priorities.

• Develop a strategy for addressing and resolving each key issue,

including information requirements and terms of reference for
further studies.
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Terms of reference(ToR)
• The Terms of Reference serve as a roadmap for EIA
preparation and should ideally encompass the issues and
impacts that have been identified during the scoping process.
• ToR sets out what is expected of a practitioner or a consultant
when carrying out an EIA.
• ToRs can be simple or elaborate but elaborate ToRs are usually
not recommended.
• There are no universal formats for terms of reference, which
will be suitable for every study.
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However, there are general rules, which should be observed
when preparing ToR for the EIA.

❖ The ToR should commence with a brief description of the program or

project. This should include a plan of the area that will be affected
either indirectly or directly.

❖ The study should ensure that the consultants or practitioners focus on

the major issues and the most serious likely impacts identified during
scoping e.g. air emission, waste water discharge etc. The opportunities
for enhancing any positive benefits from the project should also be
highlighted. This component of ToR is usually submitted to designated
authority for scrutiny and approval.
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❖ The ToR should contain explicit references to which safeguard policies
may be relevant and which legal requirements should be applied.

❖ The ToR should give an indication of the team considered necessary for
the study and a team leader identified. Depending on the scope of the
study this may be multi- disciplinary. However, as the team should not be
rigidly imposed on the consultant.

❖ If international experts are doing the EIA, it is important to make

provision for local capacity building in the ToR.

❖ The expected date of commencement and time limit should be given and
consultants program of work must be within the given time limit.

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❖ The budget limit should be given in the ToR. Any assistance to be
provided by the Client to reduce costs should be clearly stated in the ToR.

❖ Consultant payments proposal should be made and tied to specific

milestones e.g. the consultant will be paid 20% of their fee upon receipt of
draft report by client etc.

❖ Reporting requirements should be clearly stated and should comply with

local or international reporting guidelines. The format of EIS must be clear
and the number of copies in soft and hard must be stated.

❖ ToR should make provision for the consultants to improve the terms of
reference in order to improve the quality of EIA.
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 Step 4:-Baseline Data collection
Baseline data described the existing environmental status of the identified
study area. The site-specific primary data should be monitored for the
identified parameters and supplemented by secondary data if available.

Expected Outcome:
Assessment of existing environmental conditions and social settings in
the project area

Helps to determine the carrying capacity of the environment.

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Coverage of baseline data

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 Step 5:-Impact Prediction

Air
Noise
Water

Land
Socio-Economic

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LAND

Landforms including coastal zone

Litho logy and geomorphology

Soil composition and characteristics

Slope stability

Subsidence and compaction

Seismicity / seismic zone characteristics

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LAND

Floodplains / swamps

Land use

Engineering and mineral resources

Buffer zones (Part of National Park and Wild

Life habitats)

Soil erosion

Catchment area treatment

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SURFACE WATER

Shoreline

Bottom interface

Flow variation / Ocean currents

Drainage pattern / water logging

Water balance

Flooding

Existing and planned future use

Siltation
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GROUND WATER POTENTIAL

Water table

Flow regime

Water quality

Recharge rate

Aquifer characteristic

Existing use and proposed plans

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ATMOSPHERE NOISE AND VIBRATION

Air quality Intensity

Visibility Duration

Meteorology Frequency

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SPECIES AND POPULATION HABITATS AND COMMUNITIES

Terrestrial flora / fauna Terrestrial

Other terrestrial vegetation Aquatic / marine / estuarine

communities including spawning,
Aquatic / marine flora / fauna breeding and nesting grounds

Fish Migratory path

Other aquatic / marine fauna Benthic flora and fauna

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HEALTH AND SAFETY
SOCIO-ECONOMIC

Physical Agricultural Land

Psychological Employment / Training

Occupational Housing

Parasitic diseases Education

Communicable diseases Utilities

Water borne diseases Amenities (water, sanitation,

electricity, transportation)
Psychological diseases

Community health
Disease Vectors
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AESTHETIC \ CULTURAL

Landscape

Wilderness

Climate

Tranquillity / Sense of community

Community structure

Religious places and structures

Historic / Archaeological places or structures

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 Step 6:-Impact Mitigation

Mitigation
The implementation of measures designed to reduce the undesirable
effects of a proposed action on the environment.Negative impacts on the
environment identified during the EIA can be alleviated through mitigation
measures
The objectives of mitigation are to:
•find better alternatives and ways of doing things;
•enhance the environmental and social benefits of a project
•avoid, minimise or remedy adverse impacts; and
•ensure that residual adverse impacts are kept within acceptable levels

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Types of Mitigation In EIA :
1. The source of the effect (for instance, noise emitting equipment, a
toxicant, a tall structure);
2. The receptor (that is, the environmental entity likely to be adversely
affected); and
3. The pathway (the route by which a receptor could be exposed to
the effect)
Adverse effect can only occur when all three components are
simultaneously present in the Surrounding environment.

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 Mitigation hierarchy

Avoid Reduce Remedy Compensate Enhance

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 Step 7:-Public Hearing

This aims to assure the quality, comprehensiveness and effectiveness of

the EIA, as well as to ensure that the public’s views are adequately taken
into consideration in the decision-making process.
Public hearing body include:-
•Bonafied local residents

•Local associations

•Environmental groups: active in the area

•any other person located at the project site / sites of displacement.

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 Step 8:-EIS preparation

• The environmental impact statement (EIS) provides

documentation of the information and estimates derived from
the various steps in the EIA process.

• The information contained in a EIS provides the

decision-makers/regulators with valuable information that could
ultimately contribute to either the abandonment or substantial
modification of a proposed development action

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A typical EIS contains the following three parts:
Part 1 – Methods and key issues: This part deals with the statement of
methods used and a summary of key issues.
Part 2 – Background to the proposed development: This part deals with
preliminary studies (i.e., need, planning, alternatives, site selection, etc.), site
description/baseline conditions, description of proposed development and
construction activities and programmes.
Part 3 – Environmental impact assessments on topic areas: This part deals
with land use, landscape and visual quality, geology, topography and soils,
hydrology and water quality, air quality and climate, terrestrial and aquatic
ecology, noise, transport, socio-economic and interrelationships between
effects.

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OUTLINE FOR CATEGORY A REPORT

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 Step 9:-Review

This involves a systematic appraisal of the quality of the EIS, as

a contribution to the decision-making process.

A proper review and evaluation of EIS requires a triple;

•A test of appropriateness(coverage of key issues and
impacts
•adequacy(i.e,impact analysis)
•action ability(i.e,does the report provide the basis for informed
decision making

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 Step 10:-Decision making

Decision making process involves consultation between

the project proponent (assisted by a consultant) and the

impact assessment authority (assisted by an expert

groups if necessary)

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 Step 11:-Monitoring the Clearance Condition

• Monitoring should be done during both construction and operation

phases of a project.

• This is not only to ensure that the commitments made on reports were
correct or not. Where the impact exceed the predicated levels,
corrective action should be taken.

• Monitoring will enable the regulatory agency to review the validity of

predictions and the conditions of implementation of the Environmental
Management Plan (EMP)

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 Participants in the EIA Process

The Project Proponent

The Environmental Consultants

The State Pollution Control Board / Pollution Control

Committee (PCCs).

The Public

The Impact Assessment Agency

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Dimension of environment in EIA

Multi dimensional aspects of

environment are considered in the EIA.
EIA in 1990s is emerged as a multi
dimensional approach and involved
application of both qualitative and
quantitative models.

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 Summary of EIA process and
Rough Timelines Who does it?

Submission of application (Form 1, prelim reports) Investor

Stage 1: Screening; Decide project A, B1 or B2

Expert
60 days
Committee
Stage 2: Scoping; Come up with Terms of Reference (TOR)

Prepare preliminary EIA report Investor

State Pollution
45 days Stage 3: Public consultation (2 components) Control Board
Update EIA report (Investor)
Expert
60 days Stage 4: Appraisal
Committee
15 days
Regulatory
30 days Final Decision Authority 53