ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT IN OIL &

GAS INDUSTRY
What is EIA???

 Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is a process which

ensures that all environmental matters are taken into account
quite early in the project at planning process itself.

 It takes into consideration not only technical and economic

considerations but also, traditional aspects like impact on local
people, biodiversity etc.

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Why EIA????

 EIA is intended to prevent or minimize

potentially adverse environmental Transparency
impacts and enhance the overall quality
of a project. The main benefits and
advantages of EIA are: Credibility
and Certainty
 Lower project costs in the long-term Accountability
EIA- A systematic
 Increased project acceptance process of
 Improved project design identifying future
consequences of
a current or
proposed action
Flexibility and
Cost- Participation
effectiveness

Practicality

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 History of EIA in India

 Started in 1976-77, when Planning Commission asked Department of Science &

Technology to examine River Valley Projects from environmental angle.

 Till 1994, Environmental Clearance from Central Government was an administrative

decision which lacked legislative support.

 On 27th January 1994, Union Ministry of Environment & Forests, GOI under
Environment (Protection) Act 1986, promulgated EIA notification making
Environment clearance mandatory for expansion or modernization of any activity
or for setting up new projects listed in Schedule one of the notification, which have
been amended more than 12 times.

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EIA Clearance Required

 Total EIA clearance is required for 32 categories of developmental

works broadly categorized into following industrial sectors:
 Mining and Oil & Gas
 Thermal power plant

 River valley

 Infrastructure (Road, highway, ports, harbour, airports,

 Industries including very small electroplating or foundry units)

Certain activities permissible under Coastal Regulation Zone Act

1991, also require similar clearance
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Base Line Studies

 The baseline study involves both field work and review of data
collected from secondary source.
 Land use
 Submerge area
 Population density
 Village affected
 Water table condition
 Industrial development of that area
 Sources of pollution
 Details of aquatic life
 Public health

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 Assessment of Impacts on Environment

 Helps to understand the change in environmental quality from the

existing conditions, for quantifying the feasibility of the project,
based on professional knowledge, information from case studies etc.,
 Demarks the critical zone and necessitates the need for
Environmental up gradation in such zones, during emergency
situations, depending on the activity in the region (e.g. Commercial,
Industrial, Residential, Agricultural etc.)

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 Management and Monitoring Plan

 An environmental management strategy will be developed to mitigate

the adverse impacts.

Determine if an
Environmental
Audit (EA) is Implement
Conduct
required Make EA Mitigation and
Analysis and Review EA
Plan the EA Decision Follow-up
Prepare EA Report
Program as
Report
Appropriate
Identify who are
Involved

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 EIA- Three Core Values

Integrity

• The EIA process should be fair, objective, unbiased and balanced

Utility

• The EIA process should provide balanced, credible information for decision making

Sustainability

• The EIA process should result in environmental safeguards

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 EIA- Models

 There are two types of EIA models:

1. Statutory Model- It makes the assessment of impact compulsory under an enacted law, or a
delegated legislation.
2. Administrative Model- Under this as administrative exercises its discretion to find out whether
an impact study is necessary. Till 1992, India was following the administrative model of ELA.
 On 27th January, 1994 a notification was issued dealing with mandatory EIA. The
notification requires project proponent to submit an EIA report, and environment
management plan, details of the public hearing and a project report to the impact
assessment agency for clearance, further review by a committee of experts in certain
cases.
 By the amendment in the year 1997, public hearing was made compulsory before
impact assessment was finalized.

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 START

Site Selection

Conduct EIA
ENVIRONMENTAL
CLEARANCE PROCESS
Apply for NOC

State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) arrange public

hearing

Project proponent apply for the environmental clearance,

substituting required documents (EIA report, NOC from
SPCB)`

Review by Environmental Appraisal

Committee

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Change suggested Accepted Rejected
 Information Requirements

 Description of the project

 Physical characteristics, land-use requirements during construction and operation
 Production processes, materials used
 Estimate of expected residues and emissions (water, air, soil pollution, noise, vibrations, light, heat, radiation, etc.)
 Alternatives
 Outline of the main alternatives
 Main reasons for choice, including environmental effects
 Impacts on
 Population, fauna, flora, soils, water, air, climatic factors, material assets including architectural and archaeological heritage,
landscape
 Interrelationship between these factors
 Likely significant effects from
 Existence of the project
 Use of natural resources
 Emission of pollutants, creation of nuisances, elimination of waste and the description of the methods used to assess the effects
 Description on Measures
 To prevent, reduce, and where possible to offset any significant adverse effects on the environment

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 Proposal Identification

EIA PROCESS Screening

EIA Required Initial environment No EIA

examination
Scoping
Public Involvement

Impact Analysis
Public involvement typically occurs at
Mitigation and impact these points it may also occur at any
management other stage of the EIA process

EIA Report
Resubmit
Review Public Involvement

Redesign
Review Decision Making
Information frim this process
contributes to effective future EIA
Not approved Approved
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Implementation and follow up
EIA Procedural Steps

 Description of the project

 Description of the environment
 Identification of environmental impacts
 Evaluation of environmental impacts
 Management and control of impacts
 Presentation of the study
 Public participation
 Judgment by authorities

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 Phase A- Site selection,
environmental
screening, initial
assessment, scoping of
Pre- feasibility significant issues Feasibility

Phase E- Monitoring and
evaluation
Phase B- Detailed
assessment of significant
impacts, identification of
PROJECT mitigation needs, input
LIFE to cost/benefit analysis
CYCLE

Project concept Design and engineering

Phase D-
Implementation of Phase C- Detailed
mitigation measures and design of mitigation
environmental measures
management strategy

Implementation
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 A. Project Concept/Identification
 Initial stage of the project planning
 Basic nature of the project is known including the site(s) where the project is being proposed to be implemented
 “Screen” project to determine if project requires a full EIA

Screening
1. Identify environmental issues of concern

SCREENING 2. Determine whether EIA is needed

3. Establish need for project

Environmental Not require EIA Require EIA Impacts unclear

impact

Threshold criteria Impact criteria

Economic
Project
impact • Size • Significant but easily
• Location identifiable impacts
• Output • Significant impacts
Social impact • Cost/Finances • Sensitive area
• Environmental effects
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 B. Pre- feasibility Stage

“Scope” the project to identify issues/impacts for investigation

Methods for Scoping
Making a plan for public involvement Evaluating the significance of issues

Identifying major issues of public concern Distribution of information to interested parties

Establishing priorities for environmental assessment Developing a strategy for addressing priorities

Initial Assessment of Impacts

Existing or baseline data:
• Provide a description of the status and trends of environmental factors (e.g., air pollutant
concentrations) against which predicted changes can be compared and evaluated in terms of
importance
• Provide a means of detecting actual change by monitoring once a project has been initiated
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 C. Feasibility Stage

Conduct the EIA and determine if the project is viable

• Indicate whether the impact is irreversible or, reversible and

Magnitude of impact estimated potential rate of recovery

Extent of impact • Spatial extent of impacts should be determined

• Arising at different phases of the project cycle and the length of

Duration of impact the impact [e.g. short term (during construction- 9 yrs),
medium term (10-20 yrs), long term (20+ yrs)]

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 D. Implement & Audit the Project

The EIA is a "reference" guide during implementation

 Outlines mitigation strategies and monitoring schemes
1. Preventative measures - reduce potential adverse impacts before occurrence
2. Compensatory measures - compensate for unavoidable adverse impacts
3. Corrective measures - reduces the adverse impact to an acceptable level
 Audit project after completion to identify lessons learned

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 E. Environmental Monitoring

 Environmental monitoring provides feedback about the actual

environmental impacts of a project
 Helps judge the success of mitigation measures in protecting the
environment
 Ensure compliance with environmental standards
 Facilitate any needed project design or operational changes

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 Benefits of EIA

 The EIA is considered as a mandatory procedure for meeting the

statutory requirements, it has many inbuilt advantages to the project
proponent and to the society. Few of the advantages are:
 More environmental sustainable design.
 Better compliance with statutory standards.

 Savings in capital and operating costs.

 Reduced time and costs for obtaining clearances.

 Avoid later plant adaptations.

 Reduced health cost.

 Increased project acceptance.

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 Benefits to the Industry

 Enables to select appropriate technologies to combat pollution.

 Enables to understand the viability of resource recovery in terms of
salvaging from waste, recovery and recycle etc.
 Better Environmental Management Plan can be designed by
understanding the impacts of project specific pollutants on the
environment.

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 Benefits to the Society

 Can understand the details of the project and its possible impacts on
their environment.
 It enables public to visualize possible accidents, also to overcome the
same with effective remediation measures.
 Can understand the economic development as against the natural
resources depletion, and decide on project acceptance in their area well
before project execution

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24 THANK YOU