Assignment 2

Subject: ​Energy Science and Technology (ME-211)

Name: DEEPJYOTI DEKA
Scholar ID: 1812055
Section: ​ME(A)
B.Tech., 4th Semester, 2nd Year,
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
NIT Silchar.
Q. Describe Environmental impact assessment of india.

ANS--
The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is a management tool to minimize
adverse impacts of developmental projects on the environment and to achieve
sustainable development through timely, adequate, corrective and protective
mitigation measures.​Environment Impact Assessment or EIA can be defined as the
study to predict the effect of a proposed activity/project on the environment. A
decision making tool, EIA compares various alternatives for a project and seeks to
identify the one which represents the best combination of economic and
environmental costs and benefits.

Introduction
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is the formal process used to predict the
environmental consequences (positive or negative) of a plan, policy, program, or project
prior to the decision to move forward with the proposed action. Formal impact assessments
may be governed by rules of administrative procedure regarding public participation and
documentation of decision making,and may be subject to judicial review. An impact
assessment may propose measures to adjust impacts to acceptable levels or to investigate
new technological solutions (Encyclopedia, 2015). Itis anticipatory, participatory, and
systematic in nature and relies on multidisciplinary input(Glasson, Therival, & Chadwick,
1994).U.K. Department of Environment defined EIA as ‘‘The term environmental assessment
describes the technique and process by which the information about the environmental
effects of the project is collected both by the developer and other sources and taken into
account by the planning authority informing their judgement whether the development should
go ahead.’’The International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA) defines an EIA as
‘‘The process of identifying, predicting, evaluating and mitigating the biophysical, social, and
other relevant effects of development proposals prior to major decisions being taken and
commitments made.’’EIAs commenced in the 1960s, as part of increasing environmental
awareness. The USA was the first country to enact legislation on EIA. In the United States,
EIAs obtained formal status in1969, with enactment of the National Environmental Policy
Act. This was the first time that EIA became the official tool to be used to protect the
environment. The United Nations Conference on the Environment in Stockholm in 1972 and
subsequent conventions formalized EIA (Ogola, 2007).EIAs have been used increasingly
around the world. They have also been recognised in various international instruments.

Phases involve in the EIA Process:

Some important as well as integral phases of EIA are discussed below:

Screening​: Project screening is the 1​st ​stage of EIA. In this stage list of all projects are
made and tried to identify those projects which have considerable environmental impacts
and hence required EIA. Guidelines for whether or not an EIA is required are country specific
depending on the laws or norms in operation. Legislation often specifies the criteria for
screening and full EIA.In many countries there is a readymade list of different projects and
investment proposal which comes under preview of EIA.

Scoping​: Consideration of issues and impacts for EIA can be defined as a scoping stage.
This stage is very wide and extensive because consultations, discussions, experts’ opinions
etc. are very important, useful and essential at this stage. It should involve all interested
groups such as the proponents and planning or environmental agencies and members of the
public. The results of scoping will determine the scope, depth and terms and reference to be
addressed within the environmental statement.
Selection of Alternatives:​ In the scoping stage also selection of alternatives are
considered. This include alternative sites or location, technology, commodity and process
which are determine on the basis of collecting data and information from various possible
sources. The developer considers both environment and economic criteria while choosing
the alternatives. So far as environmental consideration is concern there are two types of
alternative- No Action Alternative and In Action Alternative. No action alternative refers to
environmental considerations if the project did not go ahead. It takes more careful discussion
and thinking while in action alternatives are positive indicators for the project.
Mitigating measures​: Mitigation can be defined as a process of removing or reducing
the adverse hazardous environmental impact of the project. This reveals the action taken to
prevent, avoid or minimize the actual or potential adverse effect of project. These measures
include the abandoning or modifying of a proposal, substitution of technique etc. this should
include the various pollution abatement techniques that would be require to reduce pollution
to the legal limit. A package programme may be needed for this. It includes tax, fees,
tradable pollution permits etc.

Environmental statement (ES):

It is defined by the International Chamber of Commerce as a management tool comprising a
systematic, documented, periodic and objective evaluation of how well environmental
organizations, management and equipment are performing with the aim of helping to
safeguard the environment. This is the final stage of an EIA and is now often required by law
before a new project can proceed. Most national environmental laws have specified what the
content of ES should have. Ideally, the content of an ES should have the following:
Executive summary; Policy,legal and administrative framework; Description of the
environment; Description of the proposed project in detail; Significant environmental impacts;
Identification and analysis of alternatives;
Mitigation action/mitigation management plan; Environmental management plan; Monitoring
program; Knowledge gaps; Public involvement; List of references; Appendices including
Reference documents, photographs, unpublished data, Terms of Reference, Consulting
team composition; Notes of public consultation sessions.
The ES is submitted to designate authority for scrutiny before the final decision. The
authority, together with technical review panel determines the quality of ES and gives the
public further opportunity to comment. Based on the outcome of the review, the designated
authority or lending institution will accept, reject or make further modifications to avoid future
confrontation. The decision making process should be autonomous so that the outcome of
the review is seen as fair enough. The duration of this process is usually set in the EIA legal
framework.

Present Status of EIA in India

In India, EIAs of development projects were first started in 1977-78 when the Department of
Science and Technology took up environmental appraisal of river valley projects.
Subsequently, various other projects were brought under the purview of EIA. It was,
however, in 1994 when EIA was made mandatory in India under the Environmental
Protection Act of 1986. The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), Government of
India, has prepared environmental guidelines, to help the project proponents to work out an
EIA. Guidelines have been prepared to bring out specific information on the environment
required for environmental clearance. The agencies, which are primarily responsible for the
respective sectors are closely involved in preparing the guidelines. River valley projects,
thermal power projects, mining projects and industries, ports and harbours, development of
beaches, highway/railway projects are the sectors for which guidelines have already been
prepared. These guidelines basically consist of aspects regarding planning and
implementation of development projects. Projects where EIA is mandatory and requires
clearance from central government as of now, EIA clearance is required for 30 categories of
industries. The project proponent is require to submit an application along with duly filled up
questionnaire, EIA and environment management report, public hearing proceeding and the
No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the statement pollution control board.

The MoEF has set up five multidisciplinary expert committees in the areas of industry,
thermal power, river valley, mining and infrastructure and miscellaneous project to evaluate
the environmental impact of proposed project.The committee evaluate the environmental
impacts of the proposed project and wherever necessary, site visits and independent
assessment of environmental aspects are also undertaken. Based on such examination the
committee make recommendation for the approval or rejection of the proposal which are
then processed in the ministry for approval or rejection. In case of site specific project, such
as mining, river valley, ports and harbours etc the project proponent has to obtain sit
clearance before applying for environmental clearance of the project. In India, public
consultation have been made compulsory component of EIA by an amendment dated April
10, 1997 to the EIA notification 1994. The State Pollution Control Board and concern
district collectors are responsible for the public consultation process through duly constituted
public hearing panel.
The members of a public hearing panel are: (i) Representative of State Pollution Control
Board (ii)District Collector or his nominee (iii) Representative of State Government dealing
with the subject of Power (iv) Representative of Department of State Government dealing
with Environment (v)Not more than three representatives of the local bodies such as
Municipalities or Panchayat (vi) Not more than three senior citizens of the area nominated by
the District Collector.

Issues involve in EIA process

The EIA experience in India indicates that the lack of timely availability of reliable and
authentic environmental data has been a major bottle neck in achieving the full benefits of
EIA. The environment being a multi-disciplinary subject, a multitude of agencies is involved
in collection of environmental data. However, no single organization in India tracks available
data from these agencies and make it available in one place in a form required by
environmental impact assessment practitioners. Further, environmental data is not available
in enhanced forms that improve the quality of the EIA. This makes it harder and more
time-consuming to generate EIAs and receive timely environmental clearances from
regulators (Encyclopedia, 2015).In some instances where public participation is required by
EIA legislation, such participation could be limited in practice. For example, the law in India
required that a public hearing is conducted; however, NGOs often considered the public
hearing as staged process that appeared to involve citizens when the decision had already
been made (Naber, 2012).When the EIA is linked to the licensing process, it may become a
tool for rent-seeking and could be a source of illegal influence on the responsible authorities.

Effects of industrial development on environment

At the same time, industrial processes can have negative environmental impacts, causing
climate change, loss of natural resources, air and water pollution and extinction of species.
These threaten the global environment as well as economic and social welfare.
Industrial Pollution in Indian Industries
Industrial pollution is one of the most evident environmental problems experienced by now in
industrialized countries and majority of the newly industrializing economies are facing it
today.India's industrial structure has gone through various changes especially since the
economic reforms. However, in India no major environmental reforms were initiated to take
into consideration the impact of changing industrial pattern on environment. Therefore, there
is a need for analyzing the environmental impacts of industrial sector in India. Since different
industries have different pollution intensity, this paper has first taken a look at the
composition ofindustrial structure. Using the Industrial Pollution Projection model of World
Bank for calculating pollution load in developing countries where continuous industrial
pollution data is not available, we have calculated the changes in the pollution load of Indian
industries. Finally, we conclude by suggesting policy reforms that are needed to encourage
more efficient use of resources and substituting away from scarce resources and adoption of
technologies and practices that minimize environment impact.

Fig. Industrial pollution in Indian industries

Conclusion
The EIA process is an interdisciplinary and multi-step procedure to ensure that
environmental considerations are included in decisions regarding projects that may impact
the environment. Simply defined, it is a formal process use to predict the environmental
consequences of any developmental project. From the above study it is clear that before
implementation of a particular project, which has potential threat to environment as well as to
human life, a proper scrutiny has been made. Thus, it ensures that the potential problems
are foreseeing and addressed at an early stage at/ in the project planning and designing.
India’s battle to reduce dangerous levels of air pollution is at a turning point. In a major step
at the national level, the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC)
recently launched the National Clean Air Program (NCAP).At the local level, cities across
India are fed up with air pollution and are starting to fight back.Both national and city level
actions are a major topic at the World Sustainable Development Summit. India’s battle to
reduce dangerous levels of air pollution is at a turning point. In a major step at the national
level, the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) recently
launched the National Clean Air Program (NCAP). At the local level, cities across India
are fed up with air pollution and are starting to fight back. Both national and city level actions
are a major topic at the World Sustainable Development Summit.