PRACTICAL METHODOLOGY FOR DETERMINING THE SIGNIFICANCE OF IMPACTS ON THE WATER ENVIRONMENT

There is currently limited guidance available in the UK for predicting the significance of the impacts of developments on the water environment. This may be partly due to the disparate nature of the components of the water environment, which are covered by a range of scientific and engineering disciplines. This paper reviews the current status of Environmental Impact Assessment for the water environment in the UK and identifies key methodologies and guidance. Proposals are made for a more detailed approach to determining the significance of impacts on rivers, stillwaters (lakes and ponds), groundwater and floodplains, building on methodologies previously developed for highways schemes. Account is taken of the Environment Agency's ongoing work to classify water features to meet the requirements of the Water Framework Directive.     

Environmental impact assessment of river valley projects in upper Teesta basin of Eastern Himalaya with special reference to fish conservation: a review

Teesta river basin in Eastern Himalaya is being subjected to cascade hydropower development. To assess the impacts of this developmental activity on fish fauna of the basin, fish habitats of the four largest tributaries in the basin were selected for the present study. A total of 18 large hydroelectric projects are planned on these rivers. Here, a total of 11 EIAs and 2 carrying capacity studies in Teesta basin were reviewed. Our investigations show that after commissioning all the projects, 52–88% of the free-flowing river stretches will be diverted and 7.6–24% of the riverine ecosystems will be converted into semi lacustrine ecosystems in different rivers. The cascade hydropower development is likely to affect more than 100 fish species. All the EIA reports reviewed have investigated fish species richness, impacts on fish fauna and fishery management plans. EIA studies and management plans, however, do not adequately address important ecological and conservation issues due to various limitations. An integrated fish conservation plan for the upper Teesta basin is suggested in this contribution.     

Evidence of learning processes in EIA systems

Learning is recognized as an important component of environmental impact assessment (EIA) in particular, due to its potential to transform individual, social, and organizational values, standards and practices to support a sustainable development. Nevertheless, only a few models developed to describe learning processes in EIA systems seem to be grounded on the combination of both theoretical aspects and empirical evidence of learning, which requires further investigation. This paper is based on the development of a conceptual model to understand learning processes through the practice of EIA, and evidence-gathering of learning in EIA systems focused on the role played by the leading organization. The outcomes were based on literature review and empirical research using two EIA regulatory agencies in Brazil as case studies. Data collection and analysis were supported by participant observation, personal interviews and qualitative content analysis. Although specific to the context, the evidence produced have corroborated the implicit feature of learning in EIA systems and, we believe, reinforced the relevance of the conceptual model as developed in the paper.     

Resource and revenue potential of California residential load participation in ancillary services

Increasing penetrations of intermittent renewable energy resources will require additional power system services. California recently adopted an energy storage mandate to support its renewable portfolio standard, which requires 33% of delivered energy from renewables by 2020. The objective of this paper is to estimate the amount of energy storage that could be provided by residential thermostatically controlled loads, such as refrigerators and air conditioners, and the amount of revenue that could be earned by loads participating in ancillary services markets. We model load aggregations as virtual energy storage, and use simple dynamical system models and publicly available data to generate our resource and revenue estimates. We find that the resource potential is large: 10–40 GW/8–12 GWh, which is significantly more than that required by the mandate. We also find that regulation and spinning/non-spinning reserve revenues vary significantly depending upon type of load and, for heat pumps and air conditioners, climate zone. For example, mean regulation revenues for refrigerators are $11/year, for electric water heaters are $24/year, for air conditioners are $0-32/year, and for heat pumps are $22–56/year. Both consumer choices, such as appliance settings, and policy, such as the design of ancillary service compensation and appliance standards, could increase revenue potentials.     

A computer-based system for environmental impact assessment (EIA) applications to energy power stations in Turkey: ÇEDINFO

Environmental impact assessment (EIA) is a tool for decision makers to take into account the possible effects of a proposed project on the environment and is also a process for collecting the data related to a project design and project area. Different techniques are used for the EIA process. In recent years, including the design and development of databases, classification systems, computer models and expert systems have been used extensively in impact assessment studies. Knowledge-based systems referred to as expert systems and different computer-based systems are an emerging technology in information processing and are becoming increasingly useful tools in different applications areas including EIA studies. Their use for EIA has been quite limited in developing countries, because of the constraints on resources, particularly in expertise and data.

In this study, a knowledge-based software—ÇEDINFO—developed by authors was introduced. ÇEDINFO to be used for EIA practices on energy-generating stations was designed based on the legal EIA process in Turkey. According to the EIA Regulation enacted in Turkey in 1993, energy-generating stations (thermal power station, hydraulic station, nuclear station) in different categories require mandatory EIA reports duly approved by The Ministry of Environment and Forestry before their construction. ÇEDINFO primarily aims to provide educational support for EIA practices and decision-makers on energy-generating stations.     

Addressing climate change through environmental impact assessment: international perspectives from a survey of IAIA members

The 2001 Framework for Conducting Environmental Assessments of Trade Negotiations is being applied to multilateral, regional and bilateral trade negotiations and foreign investment promotion and protection agreements. This article provides an overview of the challenges and lessons learned during these assessments from the perspective of the environmental assessment of the Trade Secretariat for the Government of Canada. Recent efforts have focused on application of the Framework to investment negotiations, improving consultations and communications, and addressing the ongoing challenge of data limitations. The article closes with a discussion of some issues that require continued consideration by environmental experts and trade negotiators working in impact assessment of trade and investment negotiations.     

Environmental assessment: a third division subject at the university

High-quality environmental assessments (EA) require expert practitioners. These need to be adequately educated, trained and have professional experience. The basic education place currently is the university. Several studies have focused on EA university programmes, but none of them has looked at the lecturers who teach this subject. We have analysed 200 EA lecturers from 104 courses in 46 universities in Spain, concluding that their specialization in EA is low, none has knowledge in more than two-thirds of EA-related topics and only 2.5% of them have published in 1 of the 3 main refereed EA journals in the last 10 years. We suggest that this is connected with the controversial selection criteria of lecturers, and to a fragmentation of EA teaching, divided among the most varied departments. EA must stop being a third division subject at the university and become an independent branch of knowledge, which will result in better education of students and an increase in specific scientific production.     

Great differences in the ways of implementing the new EIA Directive – the offerings of the EIALAW 2018 conference

On the 23 March 2018, the most recent developments of the environmental impact assessment (EIA) law were examined by experts in Helsinki. The main theme of the conference was the comparison of the implementation experiences of various countries concerning the reformed EU EIA Directive. The European EIA debate was reflected against experiences in Canada. This paper examines the key points of the conference presentations and the lessons of the event.     

Development of environmental management program in environmental impact assessment reports and evaluation of its robustness: an Indian case study

The degree of robustness of environmental management program in the EIA reports of 56 green-field and 28 brown-field environmentally approved projects was found to be low, revealing that it is not considered seriously by the EIA consultants and the decision-makers. EMPg, akin to EIA follow-up, specific to a project at a given location, is the most important output of the EIA process especially for the developing countries where priority is on the economic development by way of development projects and the EIA process has inherent weaknesses. A meticulously prepared, implemented, operationalized, monitored, periodically audited and continually improved EMPg in different life-cycle phases of a project could possibly offset limitations of the EIA process. Considering lack of guidelines available on the development of EMPg, elaborate guidelines are proposed. EMPg could be prepared as a separate document to facilitate development of project manual. TOR for brown-field projects need a totally different approach. Amending the currently followed EIA process and introducing an additional stage of mandatory approval of EMPg, and third party audit would improve its robustness.