5 - Need for Assessment Flashcards
Define Screening:
…narrowing the application of EA to projects that require assessment because of the potential for adverse effects or because EA is required by way of certain regulations
What are three main ways of screening?
- List-based
- Case-by-case
- Hybrid
True or False: Screen approaches are standard across the board.
False, they vary by jurisdiction.
What is List-based Screening?
It is a list of projects requiring an assessment (or not), often called “the project list”.
What do List-based Screenings often include?
Specific thresholds that necessitate an assessment.
What is a Case-by-case Screening?
It involves evaluating project characteristics against a checklist of regulations, criteria or general guidelines as projects are submitted.
Provide an example of a List-based Screening:
Size of a reservoir for a hydroelectric facility, production capacity for a mine.
Provide an example of Case-by-case Screening:
In Saskatchewan, screening criteria are defined in the Environmental Assessment Act (Section 2(d)).]
What is Hybrid Screening?
Allows for discretionary case-by-case inclusion for projects that may fall below mandatory thresholds but may still warrant assessment.
What are used as complementary processes with Hybrid Screening?
- List-based Screening
- Case-by-case Screening
True or False: Not all projects require the same assessment.
True
What happens if there is not a federal trigger for an assessment?
The EA falls to provincial or territorial jurisdiction recognizing that there may still be federal agencies involved.
Any project may be referred to a ______________ if there is sufficient public concern
panel review
When is a Panel Review referred if there is sufficient public concern?
When there is an opportunity for cooperation with other jurisdictions or when there are potential adverse effects on the rights of Indigenous peoples.
What are the other names for a Terms of Reference for an EA / IA?
- EIS Guidelines
- Application for Information Requirements
- Tailored Impact Statement Guidelines
What are the two ways of scoping an assessment?
- Identifying Valued Components (VC)
- Establishing Spatial and Temporal Boundaries for the Assessment
What is a VC?
Valued Component
Define a VC:
Aspects of the environment, physical, or human, that people value and are considered important, thus warranting consideration in the impact assessment process.
What were VCs previously called?
Valued Ecosystem Components (VEC)
What are the three different values reflected in VCs?
- Ecological Importance
- Societal Importance
- Regulatory Importance
What are the 3 key questions to ask when selecting VCs?
- Is the component present in the local or regional project area?
- Does the project have the potential to interact with and adversely affect the component?
- Does a legally binding requirement exist to protect the component?
How are project interactions determined & visualized? (3)
- Impact Matrices
- Interactions Matrices
- Pathways Diagram
What are the 3 key stages of a Pathway Diagram?
- Project Actions
- Effect Pathway
- Potential Valued Components (VC)
Who is at the centre of Pathway Diagrams for Human Health?
People at risk to the project
What is an IC?
Intermediate Component
Are ICs assessed for significance?
No
Are ICs considered for significance?
Yes
What information about a VC do you need to support the assessment?
- Indicators
- Measurable Parameters
What are the two types of Indicators?
- Condition-based
- Stress-based
Define Condition-based Indicators
Focusing on a specific indicator
Provide and example of a Condition-based Indicator:
E.g., For “surface water quality”, may focus on a specific indicator (e.g., phosphorus concentrations, benthic invertebrate abundance)
Define Stress-based Indicators:
Measurable stress that directly affects the VEC
Provide an example of a Stress-based Indicator:
(E.g., amount and distribution of surface disturbance in the watershed or stream crossing density)
What are the 5 components of Spatial Boundaries?
- Different scales for different receptors
- Interconnectedness
- Interjurisdictional
- Large enough to include relationships
- Natural boundaries
What are the standard terms used to identify Spatial Boundaries?
- Project or site study area
- Local study area
- Regional study area
What types of boundaries are considered in Spatial Boundaries?
- Technical
- Administrative
- Baseline vs. Assessment
What 3 questions should be asked when determining Temporal Boundaries?
- What do we need to know about the baseline environment to make a decision on the project?
- What are the relevant background conditions that have influenced the current environment?
- What is the likely baseline condition in the future in the absence of the project?
What is a key component of establishing the environment baseline?
Identifying and establishing baseline trends.
What are 5 questions to ask when establishing baselines?
- What did VC or VC indicator conditions look like “then”?
- What do VC or VC indicator conditions look like “now”?
- What are the trends, rates, patterns, and suspected drivers of change?
- What is the magnitude of change?
- Is the level of change that has occurred in the VEC or VEC indicator to date significant?
What does the Tailored Impact Statement Guidelines Template state?
Baseline data must be collected in a manner to allow for reliable analysis, extrapolation and predictions. The baseline data should be suitable to estimate pre-project baseline conditions, to predict effects from the project, and to evaluate post-project changes in the conditions within the across the project, local, and regional study areas.
What is the Shifting Baseline Syndrome?
- Gradual change in the accepted norms for the condition of natural environment.
- The magnitude of the effects of past projects are discounted and treated as part of the current baseline condition.
- Limits the understanding of change relative to a “damaged” baseline.
Current conditions are sometimes adopted as a “___________” in baseline studies.
new normal
What type of approach was adopted the MB Hydro Bipole III project?
Shifting Baseline Syndrome
What is the Bipole III project?
an approximately 1,400km transmission line project from northern MB, near Gillam south to Winnipeg.
How does the MB Hydro Bipole III project relate to the Shifting Baseline Syndrome?
The Manitoba Clean Environment Commission report on public hearings for the project identified several concerns about limited baselined data against which to properly assess project impacts and ignoring the effects of past actions and changes in conditions over time.
_______________ in EA is not an exercise designed to advance scientific discovery, though it does require sound science
Baseline assessment
Regardless of whether the science is __________ or _________ to the EA process, quality data is required to support the baseline assessment.
internal or external
What are the 9 principles for Baseline Assessment?
- Accurate
- Compatible
- Clear
- Complete
- Purposeful
- Relevant
- Substantiated
- Unbaised
- Verifiable
What principle of Baseline Assessment is “not contradictory to legal or regulatory obligations”?
Comptaible
What principle of Baseline Assessment is “Logically relevant to the project and its potential adverse effects”?
Relevant
What principle of Baseline Assessment is “Tailored toward an intended purpose, free of unnecessary information, and of value to the end-user.”?
Purposeful
What principle of Baseline Assessment is “Presented with clarity and coherence and free of vague language and imprecision.”?
Clear
What principle of Baseline Assessment is “Supported by data or information that are documented and available, including assumptions, and transparent in methods or procedures.”?
Verifiable
What principle of Baseline Assessment is “Reliable, correct, consistent with any relevant standards, and validated.”?
Accurate
What principle of Baseline Assessment is “Includes to the extent possible, the proper context to ensure the completeness of the information presented, with full documentation and circumstances affecting quality identified and disclosed.”?
Complete
What principle of Baseline Assessment is “Considers all available evidence, both supporting and contracting and discloses agency objectives priorities or mandates that may be related to the issue(s) at hand.”?
Unbiased
What principle of Baseline Assessment is “sufficiently supported or rationalized based on a hierarchy of evidentiary sources including legislated requirements, science and traditional knowledge, observation, documented experience, and professional opinion.”?
Substantiated
Different Lenses = Different ________________
Approaches
An emerging theme relevant to EA is that of the “_______________” lens
Lands taken up
What is the “Lands Taken-up” lens?
It seeks to measure the adverse effect of a project relative to the unoccupied Crown lands in the vicinity of a project.
