Impact assessment

Exploration activities are potentially damaging to the environment. The cutting down of trees in preparation for an onshore seismic survey may result in severe soil erosion in years to come. Offshore, fragile ecological systems such as reefs can be permanently damaged by spills of crude or mud chemicals. Responsible companies will therefore carry out an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) prior to activity planning and draw up contingency plans should an accident occur. In Section 4.0 a more detailed description of health, safety and environmental considerations will be provided. 

If no prior drilling activities have been recently carried out in the area, usually an environmental impact assessment (EIA) will be carried out as a first step. An EIA is usually undertaken to ... 

The treatment of these issues will be discussed jointly with the health, safety and environment (HSE) departments within the company and with the process and facilities engineers, and their treatment should be designed in conjunction with an environmental impact assessment. Some of the important basic principles for waste management are to ... 

One particular common piece of legislation worth noting is the requirement for an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) to be performed prior to any appraisal or development activity. An EIA is used to determine what impact an activity would have on the natural environment (flora, fauna, local population), and will be used to modify the activity plan until no negative impact is foreseen. More details of the EIA are given in Section 4.0. 

Industry Cooperative Hydrogen Fluoride Mitigation and Mmbient Impact Assessment Program, Summary Report, National Technical Information Service, Aug. 1989. 

L. W. Bamthouse, R. J. Klauda, D. S. Vaughan, and R. L. Kendak, eds.. Science, Eaw, and Hudson Fiver Power Plants, A Case Study in Environmental Impact Assessment, American Fisheries Society Monograph 4, Bethesda, Md., 1988. 

The control strategy for environmental-impact assessment often focrrses on five alternatives whose prrrpose worrld be the redrrction and/or elimination of polhrtant emissions ... 

Site Selection Factors that must be considered in evaluating potential solid-waste-disposal sites are summarized in Table 25-71. Final selection of a disposal site usually is based on the results of a preliminary site survey, results of engineering design and cost studies, and an environmental-impact assessment. 

Is there a concern that untreated wastewater effluent could be creating adverse impacts to public health or the environment If yes, was an impact assessment (for example, through a paper study or actual monitoring of the receiving water) conducted to eliminate the concerns or to evaluate the impacts ... 

The initial direction of transport of pollutants from their source is determined by the wind direction at the source. Air pollutant concentrations from point sources are probably more sensitive to wind direction than any other parameter. If the wind is blowing directly toward a receptor (a location receiving transported pollutants), a shift in direction of as little as 5° (the approximate accuracy of a wind direction measurement) causes concentrations at the receptor to drop about 10% under unstable conditions, about 50% under neutral conditions, and about 90% under stable conditions. The direction of plume transport is very important in source impact assessment where there are sensitive receptors or two or more sources and in trying to assess the performance of a model through comparison of measured air quality with model estimates. 

An Environmental Impact Assessment is a technique by which information regarding the environmental effect of a project is collected, assessed and considered when reaching a decision on whether it should proceed. The assessment ... 

Rao, S. (1999) Impact Assessment of Hazardous Aquatic Contaminants, CRC Press. 

Air Pollution Dispersion Application of air dispersion modeling principles and EPA tools to assessing environmental impacts from stack and area releases of pollutants Dispersion theory Gaussian plume model Ground-level concentrations Worst case scenarios Air quality impact assessments Stationary source emissions... 

Chapter 5 describes simplified methods of estimating airborne pollutant concentration distributions associated with stationary emission sources. There are sophisticated models available to predict and to assist in evaluating the impact of pollutants on the environment and to sensitive receptors such as populated areas. In this chapter we will explore the basic principles behind dispersion models and then apply a simplified model that has been developed by EPA to analyzing air dispersion problems. There are practice and study problems at the end of this chapter. A screening model for air dispersion impact assessments called SCREEN, developed by USEPA is highlighted in this chapter, and the reader is provided with details on how to download the software and apply it. 

Carlson, D. D. and J. W., Hickman, Value-Impact Assessment of Alternate nent... 

Life cycle assessment is defined by ISO 14040 as compilation and evalu ation of inputs, outputs and the potential environmental impacts of a product system throughout its life cycle. The ISO standards regulate the procedural aspects of LCA. They do not, however, provide all the information required for carrying out an LCA study. The main phases of LCA are goal and scope definition, inventory, impact assessment, and interpretation. The various applications of LCA are not regulated by the standard (Fig. 15.1). 

Reference flow and the functional unit are defined for the entire product system, and the elementary flows are calculated in relation to these. The flow figures are normally aggregated, and the total flow of each substance recorded and used for impact assessment. 

Sometimes LCA stops at the end of the inventory step. There may be two explanations for this. One is that all emissions and resource depletion improve, when compared to a reference alternative. Tu this case an impact assessment is not required. 

FIGURE IS.4 Elements of the life cycle impact assessment procedure. 

When making an LCA for a product or technical concept, all these steps are not determined from the start at each occasion. It is common to use readymade lists of characterization and weighting factors. In this way, the impact assessment is speeded up. Examples from such lists are shown in Table 15.2. 

ISO, Environmental Management—Life Cycle Assessment—Life Cycle Impact Assessment (ISO/DIS 14042),... 

Environmental impact assessment (ElA) is normally used to evaluate the possible environmental constraints for an industrial plant or project. In some cases it is u.sed as part of a permit process for an industrial plant, road, or other project. The owner has to show that no major environmental impacts are caused by the plant or road, or if there are such impacts, to take remedial measures necessary to decrease and monitor the impacts or relevant indicators. 

Further information on the EIA can be found in Environmental Impact Assessment bv P. Wathern. ... 

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