Environmental Impact

Assessment (EIA)
Dr. M. Manshouri

 A project may bring physical benefits when,

previously polluted and derelict land is
brought back into productive use;

Sanitary Landfill
preparation and lining

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

Sanitary Landfill filling

process and closing

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

Orleans Sanitary landfill

28

Moundsville Sanitary Landfill

29

 Projects may also have immediate and direct

impacts that give rise to secondary and
indirect impacts later.
The direct and indirect impacts may
sometimes be connected with short-run and
long-run impacts.

30

 Impacts also have a spatial dimension.

One difference is between local and strategic,
the latter covering impacts on areas beyond
the immediate locality.
These are often regional, but may sometimes
be of national or even international
significance.
31

32

33

34

35

36

 Environmental resources cannot always be

replaced; once destroyed, some may be lost
for ever.

37

Great Smoky Mountains National Park in eastern Tennessee and

western North Carolina

38

39

40

41

Acid rain risk in Europe ( Hatier, Paris, 1993)

42

 Changes in the practice of Environmental

Impact Assessment (EIA) and advances in
information technology have greatly expanded
the range of tools available to the EIA
practitioner.
For example, map overlay methods, originally
pioneered by McHarg (1971), have evolved
into sophisticated Geographic Information
Systems (GIS).
43

 Expert systems, a branch of artificial

intelligence, have been developed to help in
screening, scoping, developing terms of
reference (TOR), and conducting preliminary
assessments.

44

 These systems use comprehensive checklists,

matrices, and networks in combination with
hundreds of impact rules developed by EIA
experts.
The global sustainable development has made
the analysis of costs and benefits an integral
part of EIA.
This has forced the expansion of factors to be
considered in traditional cost benefit analysis.
45

46

47

48

49

50

51

52

53

54

55

Map overlay method

56

57

* denotes Negligible

58

59

60

61

62

63

64

 As it was noted before these methods are not

neutral, and the more complex they are, the
more difficult it becomes for the general
public to participate in the EIA process.

65

The quality of assessments

Many EISs fail to meet even minimum
standards.
They did not appear to contain the required
nontechnical summary, that, in a quarter of the
cases, they were judged not to contain the data
needed to assess the likely environmental
effects of the development, and that in many
cases, the more complex, interactive impacts
were neglected.
66

 Quality may vary between types of project.

It may also vary between countries operating
under the same legislative framework.
In some areas of the world (e.g. California and
Western Australia), the monitoring of impacts
is mandatory, and monitoring procedures
must be included in an EIS.
67

A summary of NEPA procedures

The process of EIA established by NEPA,
and developed further in the Council on
Environmental Quality (CEQ) regulations, is
summarized in next Figure.

68

69

Process of EIA under NEPA. (Adapted from Legore 1984.)