1

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT

ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
ENGINEERING
 2

Environmental Impact Assessment

• A process that involves predicting and evaluating the likely impacts
of a project (including cumulative impacts) on the environment
during construction, commissioning, operation and abandonment.

• To ensure that decision makers consider the environmental impacts

when deciding whether or not to proceed with a project.
 3

The Philippine Environmental Impact Statement System

• provides the legal and procedural framework for conducting

Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) for projects likely to
have significant environmental impact
 4

Laws under the

Philippine
Environmental Impact
Statement System
 5

Presidential Decree No. 1151:

Philippine Environmental Policy
• Defines the general policies on the pursuit of a better quality of
life for the present and future generations and mandates the
undertaking of environmental impact assessments for all
projects which may significantly affect the environment
 6

Presidential Decree No. 1586:

Environmental Impact Statement System
• The purpose of this PD is to attain and maintain a rational and
orderly balance between socio-economic growth and environmental
protection
• Empowered the president to declare certain areas and project as
environmentally critical
 7

Presidential Proclamation No. 2146

• Defined the project within the scope of Environmental Impact

Statement System
– Environmentally Critical Project
– Environmentally Critical Areas
 8

DENR Administrative Order No. 30-2003

• Emphasized the preparation of an Environmental Management Plan
(EMP) as a component of the EIS
• Emphasized the use of EIA as a planning tool
 9

Revised Procedural Manual for

Administrative Order No. 30-2003
• Derived its legal basis from Section 8.1 of DAO 2003-30
• Integrates new DENR-EMB policies to further promote EIA as a
planning and decision-making too
 10

Environmentally
Critical Projects
Heavy Industries 11

Environmentally Critical Projects

Non-ferrous metal industries

•
• Iron and steel mills
• Petroleum and petro-chemical industries including oil
and gas
• Smelting
Resource Extractive Industries 12

Environmentally Critical Projects

• Major mining and quarrying projects

• Forestry projects
Infrastructure Projects 13

Environmentally Critical Projects

• Major dams
• Major power plants
• Major reclamation projects
• Major
 14

Environmentally
Critical Areas
 15

Environmentally Critical Areas

 All areas declared by law as national parks, watershed reserves, wildlife
preserves and sanctuaries;
 Areas set aside as aesthetic potential tourist spots;
 Areas which constitute the habitat for any endangered or threatened
species of indigenous Philippine Wildlife (flora and fauna);
 Areas of unique historic, archaeological, or scientific interests;
 Areas which are traditionally occupied by cultural communities or
tribes;
 16

Environmentally Critical Areas

 Areas frequently visited and/or hard-hit by natural calamities (geologic
hazards, floods, typhoons, volcanic activity, etc.);
 Areas with critical slopes;
 Areas classified as prime agricultural lands;
 Recharged areas of aquifers;
 Water bodies characterized by one or any combination of the following
conditions;
•tapped for domestic purposes
•within the controlled and/or protected areas declared by
appropriate authorities
•which support wildlife and fishery activities
 17

Environmentally Critical Areas

 Mangrove areas characterized by one or any combination of the
following conditions:
•with primary pristine and dense young growth;
•adjoining mouth of major river systems;
•near or adjacent to traditional productive fry or fishing grounds;
•which act as natural buffers against shore erosion, strong winds and
storm floods;
•on which people are dependent for their livelihood.
 Coral reefs characterized by one or any combinations of the following
conditions:
•With 50% and above live coralline cover;
•Spawning and nursery grounds for fish;
•which act as natural breakwater of coastlines.
 18

PROJECT
CATEGORIES
 19

GROUP I: ECPs in either ECAs or NECAs

Environmentally Critical Projects in either Environmentally Critical
Areas or Non-Environmentally Critical Areas
• ALL Golf Course projects; Heavy Industries, Fishery, Logging and Grazing
projects with EIS requirement (with highest potential level of significance of
impact);
• ALL projects introducing exotic fauna in public and private forests;
• MAJOR wood processing;
• MAJOR mining and quarrying projects and MAJOR listed infrastructure
projects.
 20

Group II: NECPs in ECAs

Non-Environmentally Critical Projects in Environmentally Critical
Areas
• These are Heavy Industries, Fishery, and Logging projects with IEE as the
highest documentary requirement (with moderate to nil significance of impact);
• MINOR wood processing projects, MINOR mining and quarrying projects,
• MINOR infrastructure projects
 21

Group III: NECPs in NECAs

Non-Environmentally Critical Projects in NonEnvironmentally Critical
Areas
 22

Group IV (Co-located Projects in either ECA or NECA)

• A co-located project is a group of single projects, under one or more

proponents/locators, which are located in a contiguous area and managed by one
administrator, who is also the ECC applicant.
 23

Group V (Unclassified Projects)

• projects using new processes/technologies with uncertain impacts.

 24

EIA REPORT TYPES

 25

EIA REPORT TYPES

Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)
Programmatic EIS (PEIS)

Initial Environmental Examination Report (IEER)

IEE Checklist (IEEC)

Project Description Report (PDR)

Environmental Performance Report and Management Plan (EPRMP

Programmatic EPRMP (PEPRMP

 26

Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)

• a document prepared to state the effects or environmental impact of a proposed
project.
 27

Programmatic EIS (PEIS)

• The purpose of the PEIS is to provide an analysis of potential environmental
effects associated with the implementation of proposed types of restoration
 28

Initial Environmental Examination Report (IEER)

• intended as a low cost environmental evaluation that uses informations which
are already available, and are conducted for relatively smaller subprojects
 29

IEE Checklist (IEEC)

• The IEE Checklist consists of a series of questions related to the operation of the
project and its corresponding impact to the environment.
 30

Project Description Report (PDR)

• ECAs (Group II) and NECAs (Group III) for the issuance of a Certificate of
Non-Coverage. Group V projects (unclassified projects) are also required to
submit PDR.
 31

Environmental Performance Report and Management Plan

(EPRMP)
• for single project application
 32

Programmatic EPRMP (PEPRMP)

• for co-located project applications
 33

 
CONTENTS OF
TYPICAL EIA
REPORT
These documents include substantive analysis, key
findings, and conclusions on environmental
characterization, comparison to Philippine
statndards, typical baseline environmental values,
and country statistics or other reference standards.
 34

Project Description
 including its location, scale and duration, rationale, alternatives, phases and
components, resource requirements, manpower complement, estimate of waste
generation from the most critical project activities and environmental aspects,
project cost
PAGE LIMIT: 350 PAGES
 35

Baseline Environmental Description

 focused on the sectors and resources most significantly affected by the proposed
action

PAGE LIMIT: 250 PAGES

 36

Impact Assessment
• focused on significant environmental impacts (in relation to pre-construction,
construction/development, operation and decommissioning stages), taking into
account cumulative, unavoidable and residual impacts

PAGE LIMIT: 150 PAGES

 37

Environmental Management Plan

• specifying the impacts mitigation plan, areas of public information, education
and communication, social development program proposal, environmental
monitoring plans (with multi-sectoral public participation for EIS-based
projects) and the corresponding institutional and financial requirements/
arrangements
PAGE LIMIT: 75 PAGES
 38

DECISION
DOCUMENTS
 39

Environmental Compliance Commitment

(ECC)
 contains specific measures and conditions that the project proponent has to
undertake before and during the operation of the project, and in some cases,
during the project’s abandonment phase to mitigate identified environmental
impacts.
certifies that the proponent has complied with all the requirements
of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) System and has
committed to implement its approved Environmental Management
Plan.
 40

Certificate of Non-Coverage
(CNC)
• The CNC is issued by the EMB certifying that, based on the submitted project
description, the project is not covered by the EIS system and is not required to
secure an ECC.
 41

Denial Letter
• shall include an explanation as to why the application of EIA was disapproved
and a guidance on how the application of EIA in the next process be improved to
be order to be accepted.
 42

EIA process
 43

SCREENING
• determines if the project is covered or not covered by the PEISS.
• DENR-EMB classifies a project into 4 categories: single project, co-
located project, new undertakings project and existing project.
 44

SCOPING
• identifies the most significant issues/impacts of a proposed project, and
then, delimits the extent of baseline information to those necessary
to evaluate and mitigate the impacts.

Three-levels of scoping
1st level – project briefing with review team
2nd level – Public scoping with community/stakeholders
3rd level – Technical scoping with review team
 45

Review of environmental assessment

report and evaluation
It consists of two stages: procedural review and substantive review.
• Procedural review – conducted by DENR-EMB staff whose primary job is is to check for
completeness and ensure that submitted documents are clear and legible.
• Substantive review - consists of meetings with review team, site visit and public
consultation. Maximum of 3 review team meetings.
• If the DENR cannot come up with a decision within a total of 120 working days, . The
environmental compliance certificate application is deemed automatically approved
• The entire EIA review and evaluation process is summarized in Review Process Report
(RPR)
 46

DECISION MAKING
• to approve or deny the project through the issuance of an ECC, CNC or
denial letter.
• Deciding Authority: DENR Secretary, DENR-EMB Director and
DENR-EMB Regional Directors, depending on the project category.
 47

FOLLOW-UP AND MONITORING

• covers compliance of the environmental management plan and the
environmental compliance certificate conditions.
 48

Other PEIA
features
 49

Timing of conduct of Environmental

Assessment
• As of DAO 2003-30, EIA should be conducted simultaneously with the
project feasibility study.
 50

Public participation
• Consultations are held at various stages in EIA process including
scoping, EIA study, EIA review and evaluation, and compliance
monitoring.
 51

Social acceptability

• constitutes a major factor in the decision to grant or deny an environmental compliance

certificate. It is one of the most contentious requirements in the EIS System.
 52

Accountability of the proponents

• the DENR requires environmental assessment report preparers and
project proponents to sign a legal undertaking making them liable to
any deliberate misinformation in the environmental assessment report.
 53

Sanctions and penalty

• fines amounting to PhP50,000 for every violation; Cease And Desist
Order to prevent significant damage to the environment; and/or
cancellation of the environmental compliance Certificate
 54

Environmental Guarantee Fund

• fund to be set up by a project Proponent which shall be readily
accessible and disbursable for the immediate clean-up or rehabilitation
of areas affected by damages in the environment and the resulting
deterioration of environmental quality as a direct consequence of a
project’s construction, operation or abandonment.
 55

Monitoring,
Validation and
Evaluation/Audit
Procedures
 56

Objectives
To ensure the judicious implementation of sound environmental
management
Specifically aims to ensure:
1. Project compliance with the conditions set in the ECC
2. Project compliance with the Environmental Management
Plan (EMP)
 57

Objectives
3. Effectiveness of environmental measures on prevention or
mitigation of actual project impacts in relation to the predicted impacts
used as basis for the EMP design
4. Continual updating of the EMP for sustained responsiveness to
project operations and project impacts.
 58

Roles and Responsibilities

• Project Proponent/Company: Proponents issued ECCs are primarily responsible
for monitoring their projects.
 a Proponent, through its Environmental Unit or Environmental Officer, is
required to submit to the designated monitoring EMB office on a semi- annual
frequency.
 59

Multi-partite Monitoring Team

• Organized to encourage public participation
• To promote greater stakeholder vigilance
• To provide appropriate check and balance mechanisms in the monitoring of
project implementation
 60

Functions of MMT
a) Validate project compliance with the conditions stipulated in the ECC and the
EMP;
b) Validate Proponent’s conduct of self-monitoring;
c) Receive complaints, gather relevant information to facilitate determination of
validity of complaints or concerns about the project and timely transmit to the
Proponent and EMB recommended measures to address the complaint;
 61

Functions of MMT
d) Prepare, integrate and disseminate simplified validation reports to community
stakeholders;
e) Make regular and timely submission of MMT Reports based on the EMB-
prescribed format.
 62

Environmental Management Bureau

• Functions:
• Implement the Project Environmental Monitoring and Audit
Prioritization Scheme (PEMAPS)
– an internal EMB strategy for selecting and prioritizing projects
to be subject to compliance monitoring.
 63

Environmental Management Bureau

• Form composite teams composed of EIAMD and PCD personnel to
jointly evaluate the effectiveness of environmental management
measures being implemented by the Proponent
• The inclusion of EQD/PCD personnel in the activities of the MMT
sectoral team or committee where the key environmental stressors or
impacts of the project fall within the mandate of the sectoral
environmental laws
 64

Core membership of the MMT

The MMT shall be composed of:
i. representatives of the proponent
ii. stakeholder groups (representatives from LGU)
iii. locally accredited NGOs/Pos
iv. The community
v. concerned EMB Regional Office
vi. relevant government agencies
vii. Other affected sectors by the project
 65

Life and Termination of MMTs

MMTs of projects whose significant environmental impacts do not
persist after the construction phase shall be time bounded
Termination of the operations of MMT is when
1. significant environmental impacts no longer exist
2. Projects are completed and upon compliance with the
abandonment plan
 66

Fines, Penalties
and Sanctions
 67

Suspension of ECCs
• ECCs may be suspended for violation of Proponents to comply with ECC
conditions. It is noted that ECC suspension does not necessarily mean the
Proponent is absolved of its responsibility in implementing its approved
Environmental Management Plan (EMP).
 68

Authority to Impose Fines and Penalties

• Imposition of fines and penalties based on the succeeding guidelines is vested on the
Directors of the EMB Central Office or Regional Office upon persons or entities found
violating provisions of P.D. 1586 and its Implementing Rules and Regulations.
 69

Cease and Desist Order

• The EMB Director or the EMB-RD may issue a Cease and Desist Order (CDO)
based on violations under the Philippine EIS System which cannot be attributed
to specific environmental laws
 70

Publication of Firms
• The EMB may publish the identities of firms that are in violation of P.D. 1586
and its Implementing Rules and Regulations despite repeated Notices of
Violation.
 71

Scope of Violations
• Projects with or without ECCs
• Projects are established and/or operating without an ECC
• Violations of conditions of ECCs with old format referring to submission of
documents, conduct of studies and other conditions within the mandate of other
agencies
 72

Assessment and
Computation of
Fines
 73

For projects operating without an ECC

• The sum of P50,000.00 is set as reduced at the discretion of the Secretary, the
EMB Director, or the RD, considering the circumstances of each case, i.e.
impact of the violation on the environment. The project may be subjected to
penalty following the mechanics of reduction..
 74

In case of violation of ECC conditions, EMP, or

EIS rules and regulations
• The sum of P50,000.00 is again set as the maximum amount of fine per
violation. Violation of one condition in the ECC is an offense separate and
distinct from the violation of another condition. It is possible that a respondent
be subjected to a fine of more than P50,000.00 if more than one ECC condition
is violated.
 75

Misrepresentation in the EIA Reports or any

other documents submitted by the Proponent
• This violation shall be subjected to due process and may result to a fine in a
fixed maximum amount of PhP50,000.00 for every proven misrepresentation.
The Proponent and the Preparer responsible for the misrepresentation shall be
solitarily liable for the payment of the fine, without prejudice to other EMB
actions towards the Proponent or Preparer who repeatedly commit the same
offense.
 
76

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT

GROUP 2
 77

Thank you