EIA Tutorial 03

Q1. Describe in details Environmental Clearance & Process for a New Plant.

The environmental clearance process is required for 39 types of projects and covers aspects
like screening, scoping and evaluation of the upcoming project. The main purpose is to
assess impact of the planned project on the environment and people and to try to
abate/minimise the same.

The process consists of following steps:

• Project proponent identifies the location of proposed plant after ensuring compliance with
existing siting guidelines. If project site does not agree with the siting guideline, the
proponent has to identify other alternative site for the project

• The project proponent then assesses if the proposed activity/project falls under the purview
of environmental clearance. If it is mentioned in schedule of the notification, the proponent
conducts an EIA study either directly or through a consultant. If the project falls in B
category, the project goes to state government for clearance which further categorise into B1
and B2 projects. B2 projects doe not require preparation of EIA reports.

• After the EIA report is ready, the investor approaches the concerned State Pollution
Control Board (SPCB) and the State Forest Department (if the location involves use of
forestland). The SPCB evaluates and assesses the quantity and quality of effluents likely to
be generated by the proposed unit as well as the efficacy of the control measures proposed
by the investor to meet the prescribed standards. If the SPCB is satisfied that the proposed
unit will meet all the prescribed effluent and emissions standards, it issues consent to
establish (popularly known as NOC), which is valid for 15 years.

• The public hearing is a mandatory step in the process of environmental clearance for
certain developmental projects. This provides a legal space for people of an area to come
face-to-face with the project proponent and the government and express their concerns.

The process of public hearing is conducted prior to the issue of NOC from SPCB. The
District Collector is the chairperson of the public hearing committee. Other members of the
committee includes the official from the district development body, SPCB, Department of
Environment and Forest, Taluka and Gram Panchayat representative, and senior citizen of
the district, etc. The hearing committee hears the objections/suggestions from the public and
after inserting certain clauses it is passed on to the next stage of approval (Ministry of Forest
and Environment).

• The project proponent submits an application for environmental clearance with the MoEF if
it falls under Project A category or the state government if it falls under project B category.
The application form is submitted with EIA report, EMP, details of public hearing and NOC
granted by the state regulators.

• Environmental appraisal: The documents submitted by an investor are first scrutinised by a

multi-disciplinary staff functioning in the Ministry of Environment and Forests who may also
undertake site-visits wherever required, interact with the investors and hold consultations
with experts on specific issues as and when necessary. After this preliminary scrutiny, the
proposals are placed before specially constituted committees of experts whose composition
is specified in the EIA Notification. Such committees, known as Environmental Appraisal
Committees have been constituted for each sector such as River Valley, Industries, Mining
etc. and these committees meet regularly to appraise the proposals received in the Ministry.
In case of certain very special/controversial projects, which have aroused considerable
public interest, the committee may also decide to arrange for public hearings on those
projects to ensure public participation in developmental decisions. Announcements for such
public hearing shall be made atleast 30 days before through newspapers. On the basis of
the exercise described in the foregoing paragraphs, the Appraisal Committees make their
recommendations for approval or rejection of particular projects. The recommendations of
the Committees are then processed in the Ministry of Environment and Forests for approval
or rejection.

• Issues of clearance or rejection letter: When a project requires both environmental

clearance as well as approval under the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980. Proposals for both
are required to be given simultaneously to the concerned divisions of the ministry. The
processing is done simultaneously for clearance/rejection, although separate letters may be
issued. If the project does not involve diversion of forest land, the case is processed only for
environmental clearance.

Once all the requisite documents and data from the project authorities are received and
public hearings (where required) have been held, assessment and evaluation of the project
from the environment angle is completed within 90 days and the decision of the ministry
shall be conveyed within 30 days thereafter. The clearance granted shall be valid for a
period of five years for commencements of the construction or operation of the project.

The process is summarised in Figure 2.1: Environmental clearance process in India.

Industrial projects located in any of the following notified ecologically fragile/sensitive
areas would require environmental clearance irrespective of the type of project:
• Religious and historic places
• Archaeological monuments
• Scenic areas
• Hill resorts
• Beach resorts
• Coastal areas rich in mangroves, corals, breeding grounds of specific species
• Estuaries
• Gulf areas
• Biosphere reserves
• National parks and sanctuaries
• National lakes and swamps
• Seismic zones
• Tribal settlements
• Areas of scientific and geological interest
• Defence installations, specially those of security importance and sensitive to pollution
• Border areas (international)
• Airports

PUBLIC HEARING
Involvement of the public is one of the fundamental principles of a successful EIA process. It
not only provides an opportunity to those directly affected by a project to express their views
on the environmental and social impacts of the proposal but also brings about transparency
in the environmental clearance system. Nearly all EIA systems make some sort of provision
for public involvement. This could be in the form of public consultation (or dialogue) or public
participation (which is a more interactive and intensive process of stakeholder engagement).

Most EIA processes are undertaken through public consultation rather than participation.
Public consultation refers to the process by which the concerns of the local people regarding
the adverse impacts of a project are ascertained and taken into account in the EIA study.
This concept was legally introduced in India in the form of ‘public hearing’ in 1997. Since
then the public hearing process has been conducted as a mandatory step of environmental
clearance for most projects and activities.

The public consultation process ensures an equitable and fair decision-making process
resulting in better environmental outcomes. The type of consultation, whom to consult during
EIA activities, when and how to do so and who should do it all vary significantly from project
to project. This depends on the needs of the project. However, it is an important component
for all kinds of project. This is because public consultations help allay the concerns of the
local community, and reduce inaccurate information in the EIA report.

Ideally public consultation should start from when the idea of the project is conceived and
continue throughout the course of the EIA. The five main stages when public involvement
can take place in the EIA process are screening, scoping, impact analysis and mitigation,
review of EIA quality, and implementation and follow up.

In India, the role of the public in the entire environment clearance process is quite limited.
Public consultation happens at a very late stage when the EIA report is already prepared
and the proponent is about to present it to the review committee for clearance. This means
that the EIA study is unable to take into account the concerns and issues important to public.
Even if the members of the community raise certain issues in the public hearing process,
they have no means of knowing if it actually gets addressed in the final EIA report as they
have no access to it. There are several weaknesses in the public hearing process as it exists
now. Instead of becoming a participatory forum it has become a mere procedure.

There was a chance to address some of these weaknesses in the new notification and give
more teeth to the entire public hearing process. However, there is very little improvement in
the new notification, instead it has now added a provision which makes it possible to
completely forego the public hearing process if the situation is not conducive for conducting
hearing as felt by the local administration. This provision can be misused to further limit the
role of the public in the entire process.

There have been several cases in the past that have shown that the public hearing process
has failed to meet its objective of effectively involving people in the clearance process.
Several means have been devised to keep the public away such as poor circulation of
notice, politics, etc.

Q2. Write steps of Battle Environmental Evaluation System (BEES) with some light on
value function graph.

The Battelle Environmental Evaluation System (EES) is a methodology for

conducting environmental impact analysis developed at Battelle Columbus
Laboratories by an interdisciplinary research team under contract with the U.S.
Bureau of Reclamation (Dee et al., 1972; Dee et al., 1973). It is based on a
hierarchical assessment of environmental quality indicators.
The system is based on a classification consisting of four levels:
• Level I: Categories,
• Level II: Components,
• Level III: Parameters, and
• Level IV: Measurements.
Each category (Level I) is divided into several components, each component (Level
II) into several parameters, and each parameter (Level III) into one or more
measurements. The EES identifies a total of four (4) categories, eighteen (18)
components and seventy-eight (78) parameters.
EES assessment of the environmental impacts of water resources development
projects is based on commensurate "environmental impact units" (EIU). Two EIU
scores are produced, one 'with' and another 'without' the proposed project. The
difference between the two scores is a measure of the environmental impact. The
scores are based on the magnitude and importance of specific impacts.
In addition to the EIU scores, the EES labels major adverse environmental impacts
with a "red flag." These flags point to fragile elements of the environment, for which
more detailed studies are warranted.
Major features of the EES are:
1. Its hierarchical classification system;
2. Its commensurate unit of measure (EIU); and
3. Its flaging of environmentally sensitive areas.

The EES methodology is based on the assignment of an importance unit to each

parameter. Collectively, these "importance units" are referred to as "parameter
importance units" or PIU's. A total of 1000 PIU's is distributed among the 78
parameters based on value judgments [of the system development team].
Each PIUI or wi requires a specific quantitative measurement. The methodology
converts different measurements into common units by means of a scalar or "value
function." A scalar has the specific measurement in the x-axis and a common
environmental quality scale or "value" in the y-axis. The latter varies in the range 0 ≤
Vi ≤ 1. A value of Vi = 0 indicates very poor quality, while Vi = 1 indicates very good
quality. Figure below shows an example of a typical scalar, that of dissolved oxygen
(DO) In this figure, Vi (environmental quality) varies in the range 0-1 as a function of
DO concentration (mg/L).

Values of Vi = Vi, 0 are obtained for conditions 'without' the project, and Vi = Vi, 1 for
conditions 'with' the project. The condition 'without' the project represents the current
condition, while that 'with' the project represents the predicted future condition.
The environmental impact EI is evaluated as follows:
EI = ∑ [ Vi, 1 wi ] - ∑ [ Vi, 0 wi ]
for i = 1 to n, where n = number of parameters (78).
For EI > 0, the situation 'with' the project is better than 'without' the project, indicating
that the project has positive environmental benefits. Conversely, for E I < 0, the
situation 'with' the project is worse than 'without' the project, indicating that the
project has negative environmental benefits, i.e., certain negative impacts. A large
negative value of EI indicates the existence of substantial negative impacts.
The assigned weights or PIU's represent the relative importance of each parameter
within the overall system. Once established by society, they should be kept constant;
otherwise, the environmental impact assessment would be difficult to replicate.
The potential problem areas are represented by those parameters for which the
Vi value changes significantly in the adverse direction, as measured by the following
relation (in percent):
ΔVi (%) = 100 (Vi, 0 - Vi, 1) / Vi, 0
These parameters are tagged with 'red flags' to indicate potential problems which
may warrant more detailed attention. For parameters in the ecology category, a
minor red flag applies when 5% < ΔVi < 10%; a major red flag when ΔVi > 10 %. In
all other categories, a minor red flag applies when ΔVi < 30%, or ΔVi < 0.1 (in
absolute value, per unit); a major red flag when ΔVi ≥ 30%, or ΔVi ≥ 0.1 (in absolute
value, per unit).
 Variation of environmental quality index
as a function of DO concentration (mg/L)

Q3. What is the factored index for forest land protected?

Tropical forests are threatened due to forest clearing and fragmentation which lead to a
decrease in forest cover area and landscape connectivity, while also increasing edge effects.
These impacts affect biodiversity and ecosystem service provision which are essential for
humanity’s well-being. Protected areas are created to minimize these effects on biodiversity,
but many of them are threatened due to forest fragmentation in the surrounding areas. Thus,
forest restoration is needed to ensure the suitability of protected areas in the landscape.
However, restoration planning needs to adopt an ecological landscape approach to ensure
the recovery of the biodiversity and the ecological processes. This study developed a forest
sustainability index (FSI) which represents the forest patch potential in facilitating landscape
restoration in a protected area and its surroundings. A land-use/land-cover map was used to
calculate landscape metrics at two levels: landscape and patch. Landscape metrics were
subsequently selected to create the index. The tested landscape presents a great number of
fragments with most of them being small in size and having irregular shapes. The focus
areas for forest restoration are located close to forest fragments with higher FSI values, as
these can facilitate natural restoration and guarantee the maintenance of the ecosystem
processes.

Q4 Write EIA of (UPMRC) Kanpur metro, Uttar Pradesh.

Impacts Due to Project Location

During this phase, those impacts, which are likely to take place due to the
layout of the project, have been assessed. These impacts are:

• Displacement and loss of livelihood of Project Affected People (PAPs)

 • Change of Land use
• Impact on/loss of wildlife/trees/forest
• Utility/Drainage Problems
• Impact on archaeological monuments.

1. Displacement and loss of livelihood of Project Affected People (PAPs)

People who have their properties along the alignment will be affected due to
the acquisition of land for proposed Kanpur Metro corridors.

2. Change of Land Use

Land will be required permanently for stations, Depot, Ramp and running
section. Both government and private land will be acquired for the project
the details of which are given in the section on Civil Engineering.

3. Impact on/loss of wildlife/trees/forest

The proposed corridors are in urban/city area and will not pass through any
forests. There are approximately 1450 trees along the two corridors and in
three depots. These trees are likely to be cut during construction. Trees are
major assets in purifications of urban air, which by utilizing CO2 from
atmosphere, release oxygen into the air. Therefore with removal of these
trees, the process for CO2 conversion will get adversely affected and the
losses are reported below:
• Total number of Trees : 1450
• Decrease in CO2 absorption due to loss of trees : 31,610kg/year
• Decrease in Oxygen production due to tree loss : 71,050 kg/year
The above loss of oxygen production is equivalent to loss of oxygen
requirement of about 390 people round the year.

4. Utility/Drainage Problems
The proposed Metro corridors are planned to run through the urban area
above the ground i.e. Gkp elevated in less densely populated and underground in
populated and sensitive areas. The alignment will cross drains, large number
of sub-surface, surface and utility services, viz. sewer, water mains, storm
water drains, telephone cables, overhead electrical transmission lines,
electric pipes, traffic signals etc. These utilities/ services are essential and
have to be maintained in working order during different stages of
construction by temporary/permanent diversions or by supporting in
position. Cost of such diversions is covered in the section on Civil
Engineering.
5. Impact on archaeological monuments
No archaeological monuments will be lost as a result of the proposed
development.
Impacts due to Project Design
Impacts due to project design are seen in following ways:
• Consumption of energy and water at stations and vibration impact of
underground line in trade off with visual intrusion.
• Inter-modal integration will lead to increased use of metro while
avoiding congestion outside stations. Impacts Due to Project Construction
Environmental hazards related to construction works are mostly of temporary
nature. Appropriate measures should be included in the work plan and
budgeted for.
The most likely negative impacts related to the construction
works are-
✓ Soil erosion and pollution
✓ Traffic diversion and risk to existing buildings
✓ Excavated Soil Disposal and Debris Disposal
✓ Pollution Generation due to transportation of earth and material
✓ Increased water demand
✓ Labour Camp
✓ Welfare of Labour on construction site
✓ Safety of labor
✓ Impact due to Supply of Construction Material
✓ Impact of construction near archaeological monuments
✓ Impact on ground and surface water quality
✓ Noise and vibration

Q5. Write EIA of (UPMRC) Lucknow metro, Uttar Pradesh.

The LMRC has considered the different alternative. The final alternative was fixed
based on Technical Feasibility, Socio-economic acceptability, and Environmental
sustainability for Metro Corridors. The environmental study is carried out for the final
alignment proposed by LMRC. The approach is to follow the sequence of steps
adopted in an EIA study. The basic concept is to ascertain the existing baseline
conditions and assess the impacts as a result of construction and operation of the
project. The changes likely to occur in different components of the environment viz.
physical, biological / ecological, environmental and socio-economic etc. have been
studied, analyzed and quantified, wherever possible. The identification of parameters
for data generation and impact assessment are important. The accurate analysis of
assessment depends upon the reliable data generated/ available on environmental
attributed. The baseline data for various parameters of physical (physiographic and
soils), ecological (forestry, fisheries and wildlife), and environmental pollution (air,
water, noise, and solid waste) are documented. The impacts are assessed for
various phases of project cycle namely:
• Impacts due to project location,
• Impacts due to project design,
• Impacts due to project construction, and
• Impacts due to project operation.
The impacts are categorized as negative and positive. The cost of management and
monitoring programs were estimated and budgeted for.

Q6. What is role of public participation in EIA? List benefits of public

participations for success of the projects.

EIA and Public Participation

EIA is defined as “an activity designed to identify and predict the impact on the
biophysical environment and on man’s health and well-being, of legislative
proposals, policies, programmes, projects and operational procedures, and to
interpret and communicate information regarding the effects” Munn.
EIA requires, among others things, the preparation and publication of an
environmental report outlining the potential significant impacts of the proposed
activities. The objective of an EIA is to inform the decision-makers of the likely
environmental effects of activities. This helps to ensure that such activities are only
undertaken in an acceptable manner, through amendment of development proposals
and mitigation of potential adverse effects. Thus, the ultimate goal of EIA is to
promote sustainable.
Within the EIA, consultation and public participation are key elements of forward
planning and participatory environmental management tools.
Participation plays a role in raising public awareness and consciousness with regard
to environmental issues.
The need for Public Participation Process in EIA
Participation and communication should be an integral part of the EIA, allowing
interests groups and the general public to express their views in the EIA stages listed
below-
• Determining the scope of the EIA (screening and scoping)
• Providing specialists with knowledge about the site (scoping)
• Evaluating the relative significance of the likely impacts (scoping)
• Proposing mitigation measures (assessment and report)
• Ensuring that the EIA is objective, truthful and complete (assessment and
report)
• Monitoring any conditions of the development agreement (follow-up)

Q7. A truck emits 120dBA, 150 dBA, 170 dBA, 190 dBA at distances of 12, 15,
19, 24m. What will be noise level at distances of 100m and 190m.

Using formula

L2= L1 - (20log (r2/r1))

When L1 = 120dBA

L2’= 120-(20 log (100/12)) = 101.59

When L1 = 150 dBA

L2’’= 150 - (20log (100/15) =133.52

When L1 = 170 dBA
L2’’’= 170- (20log (100/19) =155.57

When L1 = 190 dBA

L2’’’’=190-(20log (100/24) =177.6

on putting the values, we get

L eq = 177.6 dBA