Project Environmental Impact Assessment Research Articles

The application of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) to UK mineral planning

The part played by Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in UK planning is slowly increasing as the potential advantages become more widely recognized. The proposed EEC directive will impose a requirement on Member states to undertake EIAs on certain classes of development, mineral developments included. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to examine the aims and objectives of EIA in relation to mineral planning and also to discuss the possible issues that may arise. The paper provides a brief description of EIA, its objectives and advantages, before discussing how EIA might be integrated in mineral planning especially in terms of the distinction between Plan and Project EIAs. An assessment of the role and benefits of public participation is also given. The paper concludes that the introduction of Plan EIAs and Project EIAs is the most appropriate system for mineral planning.

Linking policy or program impacts to decisions through value systems

The increasing awareness of the findings of policy and decision making theory in the environmental assessment community has recently led to an intensifying debate on the theoretical foundations and the appropriate practical use of strategic environmental assessment (SEA). In this context, most of the recent suggestions on how to improve practice have been influenced—consciously or sub-consciously—by the post-modernist paradigm, focusing particularly on a better integration of SEA into ‘real’ decision making and procedural flexibility. There have also been suggestions that traditional project environmental impact assessment (EIA)-based SEA approaches are generally inadequate. Reacting to the latter criticism, this paper aims at defending ‘traditional’ systematically structured and normative approaches to SEA. While it is acknowledged that a purely professional and technological paradigm to SEA is something of the past, it is proposed that leaving the design of ‘flexible’ SEA to the will of proponents and stakeholders might ultimately render it incapable of protecting the environment.

The environmental impact assessment project

The environmental impact assessment project