What Is Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)?
In the past 40 years, interest in protecting the environment and preserving natural resources has been a major issue. The impact that construction of any type may have on the land, vegetation and animals has been included as a design factor for highways, buildings, changes in rivers, cutting of timber and so on. The need to include this factor has resulted in a formal process call the environmental impact assessment (EIA).
There is, in fact, an association whose focus is environmental impact. This organization has representatives from several nations around the globe. They are charged with the task of identifying possible impact and, if possible, reducing the negative effects of human development and construction. However, the biological and environmental effects are not the only items to be considered. Development projects must also take social impact into account, negative or positive as it may be.
One of the immediate results of an environmental impact assessment is the use of methods to prevent negative impact or to enhance positive impact. Developers, construction companies and government entities must also put the proper liability insurance in place as part of the process.
Agencies of the federal government are required to conduct an environmental impact assessment and issue a formal environmental impact statement. The law passed in 1970 (National Environmental Policy Act) doesn’t specifically prevent harm to the environment or negative social impact. It does, however, require that those involved in a project assess the possible effects and state clearly that they are aware of these effects. The language of the law includes a requirement that projects move forward with all parties being “fully informed.”
The first step in the process is usually a draft of the assessment or a document that states what the impact of a project might be. The details are there for participants and citizens to study and then comment on. Only after this public-comment period can the supervising agency proceed with a final EIA or statement. Public hearings and written comment are generally required in the EIA process.
A completed assessment document must then be made available for public inspection. It is sometimes necessary for the agency to put together a follow-up document, commonly known as a supplemental assessment. This may occur if major changes are made in project plans or in the environment that could be affected.
If any individual or group feels that the EIA is not adequate, the assessment can be challenged. The hearings on this challenge will take place in a federal court, under the federal law of 1970 (and subsequent law changes). It is possible that a project will be stopped by such a challenge, even before the first steps are taken to start development or construction, for example. Well-known examples of the court-ordered blockage have involved development along major rivers and changes in highways that affected the landscape.
It is possible that individual states may require environmental impact assessments and reports under their own laws. California has had several projects blocked or altered because of state-level assessments. Europe also has assessment regulations in place, some of which apply jointly to a number of countries.
Category: Environment, Science