EIA Planning
An environmental impact assessment (EIA) is a process that examines the potential economic, social and environmental impacts -- both negative and positive -- of a planned development. For federal U.S. agencies, this is governed by the National Environmental Policy Act.
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Function
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EIAs are used to determine potential harm to the environment from a proposed development. This could include construction of housing, a waste incinerator, new road or shopping mall. The EIA process looks at what damage would occur to various aspects of the area under development including wildlife, vegetation, health of community residents and ground water.
Time Frame
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Communities may delay an EIA process if they feel wildlife will be harmed. An EIA process must be carried out before a government gives final approval for the development to proceed. Depending upon the nature of development, community protests may delay the process significantly. In many cases, ongoing monitoring of the development is required to ensure there aren't any unanticipated consequences.
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Mitigation
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Even when potential negative impacts have been determined, the project may still receive development approval if the benefits outweigh the risks or if the developer can create alternatives to mitigate the negative impact, for example creating a wildlife habitat nearby to replace one lost in the development.
EIA Contents
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Each type of development requires different aspects of an EIA plan. However, common components include a description of the activity to be undertaken, an explanation of how sites were chosen, potential positive and negative impacts and their significance, mitigation plans, alternatives and monitoring plans. Details of a public consultation plan must also be included.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit air pollution image by weim from Fotolia.com disgust image by Qdigits from Fotolia.com
