The document discusses environmental impact assessment (EIA) and its integration with environmental management systems (EMS). It provides background on EIA, including its origins in the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, the tiered approach to assessments, and methods used in EIA like impact prediction and evaluation of alternatives. EIA aims to anticipate impacts of new projects at the planning stage, while EMS helps manage ongoing environmental impacts during construction and operation. The two tools are complementary and their integration can strengthen environmental protection.

1. Environmental Impact
Assessment
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2. Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)
Environmental impact assessment (EIA) can be defined
as the systematic identification and evaluation of the
potential impacts (effects) of proposed projects, plans,
programs, or legislative actions, relative to the physical–
chemical, biological, cultural, and socioeconomic
components of the environment.
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(Canter, 1999)

3. EIA and EMS
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EIA and EMS are environmental protection tools with
complementary purposes.
• The goal of EIA is to anticipate and mitigate the
environmental impacts of proposed new projects at the
planning and design stages,
• An EMS can help organisations to effectively manage
the day-to-day environmental impacts arising during the
construction, operation and decommissioning of such
projects.

4. EIA and EMS
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The integration of EIA and EMS
• At a basic level, these two tools could be linked if an EIA
recommended that an EMS be implemented during
project construction or operation and this commitment
was fulfilled by the site developer or operator(s)
• However, this link would be strengthened further if the
EIA findings directly informed the EMS

5. ENGI 9626
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EIA and EMS

6. EIA Background and
Overview
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7. Origins
The National
Environmental Policy Act
(NEPA) of 1969 (PL91–
190).
NEPA requires that all
agencies of the federal
government issue "a
detailed statement" on "the
environmental impact" of
"proposals for legislation
and other major federal
actions significantly
affecting the quality of the
human environment.”
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(Canter, 1999)

8. Origins
Section 102 of the NEPA has
three primary parts related to the
EIA process.
Part A specifies that all federal
government agencies will use a
systematic, interdisciplinary
approach, which ensures the
integrated use of the natural and
social sciences and environmental
design arts in planning and
decision making that may impact
the human environment.
(Canter, 1999)
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9. Origins
Part B requires agencies to
identify and develop methods
and procedures to ensure that
presently unquantified
environmental amenities and
values are considered in
decision making along with
economic and technical
considerations. This part has
provided impetus for the
development of environmental
assessment methods.
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(Canter, 1999)

10. Origins
Part C states the necessity
for preparing environmental
statements (called
environmental impact
statements or EISs) and
identifies basic items to be
included.
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(Canter, 1999)

11. Origins
The White House Office, the Council
on Environmental Quality (CEQ),
was established by NEPA to;
• to serve as advisor to the
President on environmental
policy matters;
• to coordinate the positions of the
various departments and
agencies of government on
environmental issues; and
• to carry out the provisions of
NEPA.
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https://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/ceq

12. Regulations
CEQ issued guidelines in
1971 and 1973 for federal
agencies to follow in
conjunction with EISs.
In 1978, the CEQ issued
regulations which became
effective in mid-1979 for
responding to the
requirements of the NEPA
(Council on Environmental
Quality 1978).
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http://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/nepapub/
nepa_documents/RedDont/Req-CEQ-Preamble.pdf

13. Tiered Approach
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14. Tiered Approach
A key feature is the concept of three
levels of analysis;
• Level 1 relates to a categorical
exclusion determination,
• Level 2 to the preparation of an
environmental assessment (EA)
and finding of no significant
impact, and
• Level 3 to the preparation of an
EIS
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(Canter, 1999)

15. Tiered Approach
A categorical exclusion refers to
a category of actions which do not
individually or cumulatively have a
significant effect on the human
environment and have no such
effect in procedures adopted by a
federal agency in implementation
of the CEQ regulations.
Neither an EA nor an EIS is
required for categorical
exclusions.
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16. Tiered Approach
An EA is a concise public document
that serves to provide sufficient
evidence and analysis for;
• determining whether to prepare
an EIS or a finding of no
significant impact (FONSI),
• aid an agency’s compliance with
the NEPA when no EIS is
necessary, or
• facilitate preparation of an EIS
when one is necessary.
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17. Tiered Approach
A FONSI is a document written by a
federal agency briefly presenting
the reasons why an action, not
otherwise excluded, will not have a
significant effect on the human
environment and for which an EIS
will not be prepared.
A mitigated FONSI refers to a
proposed action that has
incorporated mitigation measures to
reduce any significant negative
effects to insignificant ones.
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18. Tiered Approach
The key definition in the EIA process is significant impact
since a proposed action which significantly affects the human
environment requires an EIS.
Significantly as used in the NEPA requires considerations
of both context and intensity.
• Context means that significance must be analyzed
relative to society as a whole (human, national), the
affected region, the affected interests, the locality, and
whether the effects are short- or long- term.
• Intensity refers to the severity of impact.
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19. Tiered Approach
An EIS is a detailed written statement that serves as an action-forcing
device to ensure that the policies and goals defined in the NEPA are
infused into the ongoing pro- grams and actions of the federal
government.
It provides a full and fair discussion of significant environmental impacts
and informs decision makers and the public of the reasonable
alternatives which would avoid or minimize adverse impacts or enhance
the quality of the human environment.
An EIS is more than a disclosure document; it is used by federal officials
in conjunction with other relevant material to plan actions and make
decisions.
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20. Public Participation
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21. Public Participation
Public participation can be achieved in the EIA process in
three ways:
1. Via an early scoping process to determine the scope
of issues to be addressed and to identify the
significant issues related to a proposed action
2. Via a public participation program during the EIA
study
3. Via the review process for draft EISs
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(Canter, 1999)

22. Strategic Environmental
Assessment (SEA)
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23. Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA)
Strategic environmental assessment (SEA) refers to the
EIA process applied to policies, plans, or programs (Lee
and Walsh 1992).
While the NEPA includes the concept of applying the EIA
process to policies, plans, and programs, the majority of
EISs prepared in the first twenty-five years have been on
projects.
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24. Programmatic EIS
A programmatic EIS is analogous to an SEA.
Programmatic EISs (PEISs) can be used in the United
States to address the environmental implications of the
policies and programs of federal agencies.
PEISs can be used to address the impacts of actions
that are similar in nature or broad in scope, including
cumulative impacts (Sigal and Webb 1989).
Site-specific or local-action EAs and EISs can be
tiered from the PEIS.
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25. Impact
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26. Impact Categories
Environmental impact assessment (EIA) can be defined as
the systematic identification and evaluation of the
potential impacts (effects) of proposed projects, plans,
programs, or legislative actions, relative to the physical–
chemical, biological, cultural, and socioeconomic
components of the environment.
Effects (or impacts): These terms can be considered as
synonymous.
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(Canter, 1999)

27. Impact Categories
Impacts resulting from proposed actions can be considered in one or more of
the following categories:
• Beneficial or detrimental
• Naturally reversible or irreversible
• Reparable via management practices or irreparable
• Short term or long term
• Temporary or continuous
• Construction or operational phase
• Local, regional, national, or global
• Accidental or planned (recognized beforehand)
• Direct or primary, or indirect or secondary
• Cumulative or single
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28. Impact Categories
Direct effects are caused by the action and occur at the same time
and place.
Indirect effects are caused by the action and occur later or farther
removed in distance, but are still reasonably foreseeable.
Cumulative impact:
The impact on the environment which results from the incremental
impact of the action when added to other past, present, and
reasonably foreseeable future actions regardless of what agency
(federal or nonfederal) or person undertakes such other actions.
Cumulative impacts can result from individually minor, but collectively
significant, actions taking place over a period of time.
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29. Negative Impacts
Negative impacts fall into three categories:
1. insignificant,
2. significant but mitigable, or
3. significant but not mitigable
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30. Negative Impacts
Mitigation includes
(Council on Environmental Quality 1987):
1. Avoiding the impact altogether by not taking a certain action or
parts of an action
2. Minimizing impacts by limiting the degree or magnitude of the
action and its implementation
3. Rectifying the impact by repairing, rehabilitating, or restoring the
affected environment
4. Reducing or eliminating the impact over time by preservation and
maintenance operations during the life of the action
5. Compensating for the impact by replacing or providing substitute
resources or environments
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31. Significant But Mitigable
When potentially
significant negative
impacts are identified, and
if they can be reduced via
mitigation to something of
lesser concern, a
mitigated FONSI can be
prepared following an EA
and without doing a
comprehensive study
leading to an EIS.
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32. EIA METHODS
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(Lee1988).

34. Impact Prediction
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35. Techniques For Impact Prediction
A key technical element in the
EIA process is the prediction of
impacts (effects) for both the
without-project and with-
project conditions.
Preference for formalized and
repeatable methods with
predefined relationships, such
as mathematical equations,
physical models, and other
structured approaches.
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36. Classification of Prediction Techniques
The identified methods can
be divided into:
• Experimental Methods
• Mathematical Models
• Survey Techniques
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37. Classification of Prediction Techniques
Experimental methods
used for prediction include:
• physical models,
• field experiments, and
• laboratory experiments.
Physical models include scaled-down
representations, in two or three dimensions,
of the study area after an activity has been
implemented.
Field experiments refer to in situ tracer
experiments where tracers are used to
predict the behavior of releases to surface
waters (usually marine) or to groundwater.
Laboratory experiments refer to bioassay
methods to determine the effect of pollution
on a particular species. Laboratory
experiments are useful where no data exist
on the effect of a pollutant on plants or
animals.
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38. Classification of Prediction Techniques
Mathematical models refer to
predictive techniques which use
mathematical relationships between
system variables to describe the way an
environmental system reacts to an
external influence.
• The most sophisticated approach for
impact prediction involves the use of
mathematical models.
• Numerous types of mathematical
models account for pollutant
transport and fate within the
environmental setting.
• Other models describe
environmental features and the
functioning of ecosystems.
Mathematical models can be divided
into
• those models which are empirical or
“blackbox” models, where the
relationships between inputs and
outputs are established from analysis
of observations in the environment;
and
• those models which are internally
descriptive, that is, where the
mathematical relationships within the
model are based on some
understanding of the mechanisms of
the processes occurring in the
environment.
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39. Classification of Prediction Techniques
Survey techniques are based on the
identification and quantification of
existing or future aspects of the
environment that might be affected, in
terms of their sensitivity to change or
of the importance of their loss or
disturbance.
The three main groups of survey
techniques include
• inventory techniques,
• evaluation techniques, and
• visibility techniques.
Inventory techniques involve determining
the distribution of things which may be
affected by an activity (receptors) usually
because of their proximity to an activity.
Evaluation techniques refer to surveys to
determine the value of the environmental
aspect that will be lost or disturbed as the
result of an activity, and where possible its
change in value after the activity is
undertaken.
Visibility techniques form a group which
cannot easily be categorized in either of
the other types. These techniques are
used in landscape assessment for
determining the zone from which an
activity will be visible.
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40. Evaluating Alternatives
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41. Evaluating Alternatives
Environmental impact studies
typically address a minimum of
two alternatives, and sometimes
as many as ten.
Typical categories of alternatives:
• Site location alternatives
• Design alternatives for a site
• Construction, operation, and
decommissioning alternatives for
a design
• Project size alternatives
• Phasing alternatives for size
groupings
• No-project or no-action
alternatives
• Timing alternatives relative to
project construction, operation,
and decommissioning
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42. Evaluating Alternatives
Tradeoff Analysis
To achieve systematic
decision making among
alternatives, tradeoff
analysis should be used.
Tradeoff analysis involves
the comparison of a set of
alternatives relative to a
series of decision factors.
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43. Tradeoff Analysis
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(Canter, 1999)(Canter, 1999)

44. Decision-focused Checklists
Decision-focused checklists are
systematic methods for comparing and
evaluating alternatives
These checklists are useful for
comparative evaluations of alternatives,
thus they provide a basis for selecting
the preferred alternative.
These methods represent adaptations
of routinely used multicriteria or
multiattribute decision-making
techniques; such techniques are also
called decision-analysis techniques.
Battelle Environmental Evaluation
System (EES)
• weighting-scaling checklist developed
for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.
• It contains seventy-eight
environmental factors organized into
seventeen components and four
categories.
• An interdisciplinary team assigns
importance weights to each of the
categories, components, and factors.
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45. ENGI 9626
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46. Written Documentation
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47. Written Documentation
Perhaps the most important
activity in the EIA process is
preparing written reports
which document the impact
study findings.
The resultant document or
documents include EAs,
EISs, environmental impact
reports, environmental
impact declarations, and
FONSIs.
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48. Written Documentation
The CEQ regulations (1987) state in
paragraph 1502.8:
• Environmental impact statements shall
be written in plain language and may
use appropriate graphics so that
decision makers and the public can
readily understand them.
• Agencies should employ writers of
clear prose or editors to write, review,
or edit statements, which will be based
upon the analysis and supporting data
from the natural and social sciences
and the environmental design arts.
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49. Written Documentation
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50. Written Documentation
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51. Written Documentation
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52. Environmental Monitoring
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53. Environmental Monitoring
The CEQ regulations (1987)
enunciate the principle of
post-EIS environmental
monitoring in sections
1505.3 and 1505.2(c).
The CEQ regulations focus
on monitoring in conjunction
with implementing mitigation
measures.
Monitoring can also be used
to determine the
effectiveness of each of the
types of mitigation
measures.
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54. Environmental Monitoring
Three types of
environmental monitoring
associated with the life cycle
of a project, plan, or
program;
• Baseline Monitoring
• Effects Or Impact
Monitoring
• Compliance Monitoring
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55. Environmental Monitoring
• Baseline monitoring refers to the measurement of environmental
variables during a representative preproject period to determine
existing conditions, ranges of variation, and processes of change.
• Effects or impact monitoring involves the measurement of
environmental variables during project construction and operation to
determine changes which may have resulted from the project.
• Compliance monitoring is periodic sampling or continuous
measurement of levels of waste discharge, noise, or similar
emissions, to ensure that conditions are observed and standards
are met.
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56. Uses For Post EIS Monitoring
1. Provides information for documentation of the impacts
that result from a proposed federal action, with this
information enabling more accurate prediction of
impacts associated with similar federal actions.
2. Warns agencies of unanticipated adverse impacts or
sudden changes in impact trends
3. Provides an immediate warning whenever a preselected
impact indicator approaches a pre-selected critical level.
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57. Uses For Post EIS Monitoring
4. Provides information for agencies to control the timing,
location, and level of impacts of a project. Control measures
involve preliminary planning as well as the possible
implementation of regulation and enforcement measures.
5. Provides information for evaluating the effectiveness of
implemented mitigation measures.
6. Provides information to verify predicted impacts and thus
validate impact prediction techniques. Based on these
findings, techniques, such as mathematical models, can be
modified or adjusted.
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58. Post EIS Monitoring
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http://www.env.gov.nl.ca/env/
waterres/rti/stations.html

59. Post EIS Monitoring
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60. International Activities In EIA
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61. International Activities In EIA
The 1970 effective date of the NEPA
in the United States signaled the
beginning for many countries to adopt
laws analogous to the NEPA.
Over seventy-five countries now have
laws requiring impact studies on
proposed development projects.
While the resultant reports are not
always referred to as EISs, they do
represent the documentation of
studies similar in concept to those
conducted in the United States.
Terms other than EIS used by
other countries include:
• environmental impact
assessment reports,
• environmental assessment
reports,
• environmental impact
documents, and
• environmental impact reports.
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(Canter, 1999)

62. Canada
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http://www.ceaa-acee.gc.ca/default.asp?lang=En&n=B053F859-1#ceaa01

63. Canada
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(Canter, 1999)
http://www.ceaa-acee.gc.ca/Content/B/0/5/B053F859-4895-45A9-8A3A-
E74CBE58912A/EA_processes-Processus_EE.pdf

64. Canada
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(Canter, 1999)
http://www.ceaa-acee.gc.ca/Content/B/0/5/B053F859-4895-45A9-8A3A-E74CBE58912A/EA_processes-
Processus_EE.pdf

65. Newfoundland and Labrador
The Environmental Protection Act states that the
purpose of environmental assessment is to "protect
the environment and quality of life of the people of
the province; and facilitate the wise management of
the natural resources of the province".
It requires anyone who plans a project that could
have a significant effect on the natural, social or
economic environment to present the project for
examination.
The environmental assessment process ensures
that projects proceed in an environmentally
acceptable manner.
When the potential environmental effects of projects
are of concern, the process generates real benefits
by:
• (i) providing for comprehensive project planning and
design,
• (ii) maximizing environmental protection,
• (iii) enhancing government coordination,
accountability and information exchange, and
• (iv) facilitating permitting and regulatory approval of
projects.
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http://www.env.gov.nl.ca/env/env_assessment/index.html

66. Newfoundland and Labrador
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http://www.env.gov.nl.ca/env/env_assessment/
ea_guide.pdf

67. Emerging Issues In The EIA
Process
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68. Emerging Issues In The EIA Process
Cumulative Impact
considerations in the EIA
process are becoming
increasingly important as
projects are recognized as
not being constructed and
operated in isolation, but in
the context of existing and
other planned projects in the
environs.
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(Canter, 1999)

69. Emerging Issues In The EIA Process
Risk Assessment Integration
into the EIA Process is
increasing. Risk assessment is
a tool developed in the 1970s
primarily for evaluating
environmental regulatory
strategies.
Risk assessment provides not
only a focus on human health
concerns, but can also be
applied in ecological analyses.
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70. Emerging Issues In The EIA Process
Regional EIA process for
larger scale projects. EIA
process is being applied in a
more focused manner to
environmental permits and
specific environmental
remediation projects.
In contrast, interest is
increasing in considering
regional and broader issues
in the EIA process.
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71. Emerging Issues In The EIA Process
One example is the
delineated need for
addressing the impacts of
projects on biodiversity
(Council on Environmental
Quality 1993).
The implications for some
large-scale projects, in
terms of transboundary
impacts, acid rain as well as
global warming, may have
to be considered.
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72. References
• Larry W . Canter “Environmental
Impact Assessment” Ch 2 in
Environmental Engineers' Handbook,
CRC Press 1999
• http://www.epw.senate.gov/nepa69.pdf
•
https://www.whitehouse.gov/
administration/eop/ceq
• http://www.env.gov.nl.ca/env/
env_assessment/index.html
•
http://www.ceaa-acee.gc.ca/
default.asp?
lang=En&n=B053F859-1#ceaa01
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73. EIA Assignment 1
1. Summarize the EA process in NL in a flow chart.
Please show/cite all relevant legislation and regulations
(1 page).
2. Systematically describe the flow chart and thereby the
EA process in NL. (1-2 pages).
3. Compare the EA process in NL with the EIS process of
NEPA, highlight what is similar between the two and
what is different(1 page).
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74. EIA Assignment 1
• The assignment is due a week after the Guest
Presentation on the NL EA process.
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75. EIA Assignment 2
1. Please review and prepare a one
page summary of the paper on “
Multi-jurisdictional environmental
impact assessment: Canadian
experiences”
2. Please review and prepare a one
page summary of the paper on
“Risk assessment for improved
treatment of health considerations
in EIA”
3. Please review and prepare a one
page summary of the paper on
“Cumulative Impacts Are Not
Properly Addressed In
Environmental Assessments”
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76. EIA Assignment 2
• The assignment is due in two weeks.
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