Question:
Critically evaluate the Environmental Impact assessment system in either an Australian State or Country of your choice.
This essay clearly explains the concept of Environmental impact assessment (EIA), it procedure and the how it is assessed in South Australia. The EIA of South Australia will be then compared with the Environmental Impact assessment of UK. This essay follows a thought process of describing the concept and its procedures first and then discussing the way it is implemented. Environmental impact assessment is that process that identifies the social, environmental, and economic impacts of a proposal and helps in identification of right methods that can be used to reduce the impact. It facilitates submissions on that proposal. In section 46 to 48 of the development, act 1993 major development or projects are prescribed.
After the declaration of SA minister logged an application for the referral to the Development assessment commission. In this development process, DAC is responsible for determining the level of assessment that is required to be applied to the proposed development. Information gathering: screening, scoping consideration of alternatives are the steps in this segment, the companies before beginning a project has to understand what kind of impact the development will have on the environment as well as the significance of those impacts has to be analyzed. If the answer of the previous question is “yes” then EIA is required to be implemented. This is the screening process, next is scoping where the issues are discussed this stage deals with the second half of the aforementioned question. This process helps the company channelize the resources in the proper direction to keep up with issue.
Important assessment and mitigation measures: this involves the impact prediction and impact assessment followed by the mitigation process that is required. After collecting information the prediction of the alterations are analyzed followed by the assessment to make policies and formulate strategies to combat the issue. The assessment process helps to come to a conclusion and solution to the problem as well. Mitigation is the implementation of the measures. A mitigation measures design is regarded to be successful when it eliminates all the environmental impacts. The result of an EIA is usually in form of a formal document this is known as an environmental impact statement (EIS). On the other hand, In EIA procedure of United Kingdom the emphasis is given to the requirement of preliminary consultation by the developer with the bodies that take interest in the impact of the proposal of development. The intention behind the preliminary consultation is to avoid major issues that might become hindrance in the later stages of the development process (Environmental Impact Assessment – GOV.UK, 2017)
Review and report: In South Australia the relevant authority carries out the review process. The review procedure should allow the decision-maker to decide whether the EIS is sufficient for example: is the format legally compliant or not, whether the information is sufficient, and whether it is balanced. One thing that is different from the EIA procedure of South Australia is prior consultation is given importance. This done ensure that the site can be selected. The developers then put up an application for any development project. The developers and the authorities discuss the scope of the environmental statement before the project is started.
The federal EIA regime in South Australia has three stages the first being the referral, the second being the assessment and the third is approval
Actions proposed by any one which have a considerate impact on a particular matter that is protected under part 3 of EPBC Act, generally they are needed until the action has been dropped so that the details can be referred of actions to the federal environment minister. Whenever any referral is made it is very important that the minister approves the action. For this the minister has to determine that the action has significant impact on part 3 of the EPBC Act. This decision is called as controlled action decision and if it needs approval then it is called controlled action. While taking decisions there are three choices that the minister has, the action is a controlled action, the action is not a controlled action or the action is not a controlled action has been carried out in a certain way.
When the action is taken as a controlled action the minister needs to take a decision on how the action will be assessed. As per the EPBC act there are five options for assessment. Actions are also assessed by a method of another accredited federal process, or by state of territory process.
After the completion of assessment the minister is required to take decision on whether action can be approved or not. The minister considers the economic and social factors, that are related to the action and the impact it puts on the environment. After the action is given approval the minister attaches the enforceable conditions for protection, repair and to mitigation of damage to the issue that helped the approval requirement.
For EIA approval of any development proposal in UK a detailed “Environmental Impact Statement” has to be submitted to the Local planning authority. In environmental statement, the description of the impacts including the nature of the impacts has to be stated. The developer also needs to provide alternative approaches of the proposed development projects. Another important aspect of the EIA procedure of UK is that even if the local planning authority has adopted a scoping decision the developer is help responsible for the contents of the Environmental statement. The Planning authority has the power to seek additional information about the environmental statement if he thinks that the provided information is not adequate. In that case it is the responsibility of the developers to provide the required information. Before sending the environmental statement to the Secretary of State, in Wales, the National Assembly, it has be ensured that there should be no conflict or disagreement between the developer and the planning authority. It is the duty of the developers to see at the early stage that whether the assessment environmental impact is needed in any other European Community Directive like the Habitat Directive, the integrated pollution and control directive or the control of Major hazards Directive. The stages of EIA of UK are, Screening, Scoping, Preparation of Environmental statement, Making planning application and consultation and finally decision making (Environmental Impact Assessment – GOV.UK, 2017).
Otway basin South Australia is a region in South Australia that is a rich source for petroleum, the petroleum province covers both onshore and offshore parts of South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania. From early 1960s, seismic explorations have occurred in the basin, it has been the primary tool for petroleum. In the last 15 years initiatives were taken for raising awareness for environment, management in petroleum exploration and technological improvements.
The seismic activities lets the explorer, to check the surface below and find the regions where the oil and gas might have accumulated. The seismic technology requires energy sources like, vibrator trucks or buried explosive charges. Sound waves are caused by energy sources, these waves pass through the earth and are reflected back to the earth subsurface. The reflections are then recorded in digital format and then sent to the seismic data processing centre so that cross section of the layers of the earth crust is produced (Biswas & Agarwal, 2013).
Property management during surveys
Most of the land in the South East region that is used for cultivated, cleared for pastoral, horticultural and agricultural needs. In order to conduct an effective survey there is a need for detailed interaction with the land users. There are short term impact that are caused by the vehicles that cross the pastoral and agricultural lands which can be prevented or minimized with the help of a proper communication with the land users. There are no such long tern impact.
Activities in line preparation equipment
Seismic operations need ground along the lines in order to make way for the vehicles to pass along and for better installation of geophones so that one can get satisfactory outcomes. While carrying out the process the vegetation of the area has to be removed. The wheel tracks of the trucks cause ruts and soil compaction. The procedure of recording seismic data includes Planning, surveying, campsites, recording, weathering layer, line checking and line preparation.
Operation of drilling equipment
Large vehicles like, drilling rigs and water trucks that operate along the seismic lines and drill holes to depths of up to 30 m in the Otway Basin. If the depth has to be as per Dilwyn Formation is less than what is required then there are chances that aquifer can be breached. If the holes are not cemented properly there are chances that large animals might injure their legs.
Operation of energy sources
Operational processes that includes vibrator trucks causes nuisance and dust pollution.
Use of campsites
Campsite operations are risky to the land as it causes pollution from the oil spills, septic tanks and rubbish. These are minor impact because the site can be replaced to another location (Glasson, Therivel & Chadwick, 2013).
Operations on public roads
The vehicles used for seismic operations add to the local traffic thus adding to the pollution. There are risks to the public safety.
Drilling activities
Drilling activities cause soil disturbance and cause harm to the fauna because the holes are getting exposed due to the subsidence of tampering material.
Fuel and oil spills
Lubricating oils, hydraulic oils and fuels are elements that are required in daily operations, there are chances of oil and fuel spills, this occurs while refueling or servicing vehicles and when the vehicles breaks because of wear and tear (Bond et al., 2014).
Crew vehicles and footwear
New weeds are introduced along with other threats that occur in wherever there is presence of seismic crew in the natural environment.
Impacts on social and economic environment
Seismic operations cause disturbance to the local community and their resources are hampered, like the buildings are damaged due to the seismic activities. The movement of traffic is slowed because of the seismic lines crossing the public roads. Noise, air quality, groundwater pollution and diseases are some of the problems caused by seismic operations. If fire is not controlled it can cause severe damage to the community thus harming the lives of people and their resources. Other impact include disturbance to the aboriginal heritage, like archaeological and ethnographic. Cultural disturbances include, disturbances to geological monuments, buildings and community facilities (Bond et al., 2014).
Disturbance caused to nearby lands
Surveys do not cause long-lasting effect on a number of users of the nearby land during the seismic activities. The long-term impact is very less and it requires some rehabilitation. The impact can be reduced through consulting and cooperating with the land users. The impact depends upon the season and cycle of the agriculture. When there is cropping season the impact can be more severe, in harvesting season the crops can be affected by the pollution caused by seismic operations.
Impact on forestry
The forest owner has to decide how much of the land can be given for seismic operations. A significant increase in the areas that are planted with Tasmanian blue Gum with many non-local resident owners has caused difficulties, because the management requires space and operators as per the Petroleum and Geothermal Energy Act 2000. A significant amount of impact can be seen in the vineyard operations and horticulture.
Environmental Impact assessment of UK
An example of similar project can be taken to understand the difference of the EIA process of South Australia and UK. The first stage of EIA is the Scoping and Consultation. In Shafag Asiman Offshore Block 3D seismic Exploration Survey of UK internal scoping was done first. Since the developers were BP and SOCAR, State oil company of Azerbaijan. BP. did the internal scoping. An Environemntal and Social screening workshop was also conducted on 31st August 2010. Representatives from both UK and Azerbaijan were present in the workshops. The main objective for conducting the workshop was to identify the social and environmental impacts associated with Shafag Asiman seismic survey activities. The next step the assessment was scoping and Consultation with Authorities. A public consultation meeting was also held in Baku in the month of September 2011. (Environmental Impact Assessment – GOV.UK, 2017).
Conclusion
After comparing the procedure of Environmental Impact assessment of South Australia with that of UK it can be concluded that in the impact assessment process of UK is lot more detailed than South Australia. A lot of emphasis is given to the preliminary phases of the process. The local planning authority holds has the authority to accept or reject any proposal. Detailed information has to be given in the environmental impact statement. At times the developers are required to provide additional information if what provided is inadequate. While the EIA process of South Australia can be divided into three main stages, Referral, Approval and Assessment. The EIA of UK mainly tries to prevent complications in the later stages by focusing on the EIS in the initial stages. From the example of Shafag Asiman Seismic exploration, it is very clear that approach of UK and Azerbaijan for identifying the impacts were quite effective. Measures like internal scoping, environmental and social impact workshops and public consultation were taken. These measures were intended to identify the impacts of the seismic exploration. Similar measures are required to be followed by the EIA authorities of South Australia with the help of the developers or any project.
References
Biswas, A. K., & Agarwal, S. B. C. (Eds.). (2013). Environmental impact assessment for developing countries. Elsevier.
Bond, A., Pope, J., Morrison-Saunders, A., Retief, F., & Gunn, J. A. (2014). Impact assessment: Eroding benefits through streamlining?. Environmental Impact Assessment Review, 45, 46-53.
Deng, X., Hu, Y., Deng, Y., & Mahadevan, S. (2014). Environmental impact assessment based on D numbers. Expert Systems with Applications, 41(2), 635-643.
Environmental Impact Assessment – GOV.UK. (2017). Gov.uk. Retrieved 10 November 2017, from https://www.gov.uk/guidance/environmental-impact-assessment
Glasson, J., Therivel, R., & Chadwick, A. (2013). Introduction to environmental impact assessment. Routledge.
How major development applications are assessed. (2017). sa.gov.au. Retrieved 5 November 2017, from https://www.sa.gov.au/topics/planning-and-property/land-and-property-development/building-and-property-development-applications/major-development-applications-and-assessments/how-major-development-applications-are-assessed
Smith, L. G. (2014). Impact assessment and sustainable resource management. Routledge.
Vanclay, F. (2015). Changes in the impact assessment family 2003–2014: implications for considering achievements, gaps and future directions. Journal of Environmental Assessment Policy and Management, 17(01), 1550003.
Xia, T., Nitschke, M., Zhang, Y., Shah, P., Crabb, S., & Hansen, A. (2015). Traffic-related air pollution and health co-benefits of alternative transport in Adelaide, South Australia. Environment international, 74, 281-290.
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