Lecture 5

Question 1

What are VECs? (why are we identifying them?)

Answer 1

Any aspect of enviro considered important by proponent, public, Aboriginals, scientists, or govt.

• importance is determined on basis of cultural values or scientific concerns
• ex. air, water, pop, health, employment, noise - ultimately varies by project

Question 2

What are VEC indicators?

Answer 2

Critical to understanding change in conditions and important to providing warning of potential adverse effects.

• often VECs not measurable on their own, so indicators needed
• ex. surface water quality indicators: P concentration, benthic invertebrate abundance

Question 3

What types of assessment boundaries are there?

Answer 3

1. spatial
2. temporal
3. jurisdictional

Question 4

Explain spatial boundaries in scoping

Answer 4

Focus on importance of scale (the larger the area, the less detail)

• enviro receptors should be examined at diff geo scales to help understand project interactions
• proponents try to limit boundaries to reduce scope of impacts

Question 5

Explain temporal boundaries in scoping

Answer 5

Includes past, present, future (the end of operational life - decomissioning and rehab)
- diff stakeholders have diff views on boundaries (ex. proponent vs. first nations)

Question 6

Explain jurisdictional boundaries in scoping

Answer 6

Impacts are spread across diff administrative boundaries

- consider: who are decision makers? who responsible for managing project impacts?

Question 7

What is establishing enviro baseline?

Answer 7

Past, present, and future state of env without proposed project
- conditions over time and space are determined and existing info should be gathered based on indicators
Must consider:
- what do we know about the baseline now?
- what are the relevant background conditions?
- what are the likely future conditions?

Question 8

What is identifying potential impacts/issues?

Answer 8

Common method used is an impact matrix to project activities/components on one axis and potentially affected VECs on another (displays cause and effect).
- number values are based on the impact

Question 9

What are the main points on scoping?

Answer 9

• ensures all necessary factors are considered
• narrows scope to focus on most important issues
• an ongoing activity

Question 10

In impact prediction/evaluation, what is significance?

Answer 10

• subjective/value-dependent notion determined by importance attached to impacts

Question 11

What is the equation for impact significance?

Answer 11

impact significance = impact characteristic * impact importance

Question 12

What are the impact characteristics?

Answer 12

• direction (beneficial, neutral, adverse)
• direct/indirect (first order vs. second order - ex. hydro directly impacts fish pops)
• reversible/irreversible (ex. traffic congestion vs. species extinction)
• duration (short or long term - ex. construction noise vs erosion)
• magnitude (low, moderate, high)
• spatial extent (local, regional, national)
• temporal (temporary or continuous)
• nature of the impact (incremental, additive, synergistic, antagonistic)

Question 13

Explain the diff nature of impact conditions

Answer 13

- incremental: ?
Ex. chem A has 10% fish mortality, chem B has 10% fish mortality, when released together:
- additive: 20% mortality
- synergistic: more than 20% mortality
- antagonistic: less than 20% mortality

Question 14

What are the CEAA 2012 steps to impact prediction?

Answer 14

1. are effects adverse?
2. are effects significant?
3. are significant adverse effects likely?

Question 15

What are common methods used in EA?

Answer 15

• checklists
• matrices
• networks
• modelling
• GIS
• lab analysis/field measurements
• expert judgement
• examination of similar projects
• scorecards

Question 16

How are checklists used in EA (types)?

Answer 16

• pros: easy to understand, cost-effective, summarizes key impacts
• cons: doesn’t distinguish b/w direct/indirect impacts, doesn’t link cause and effect
  Types:
• simple/screening: identify impacts (no cause and effect though)
• questionnaires
• weighted-scales (rankings)

Question 17

How are matrices used in EA (types)?

Answer 17

• pros: identifies cause-effect, displays EA results, identifies magnitude
• cons: hard to distinguish b/w direct and indirect
  Types:
• simple: is action to have impact on identified VEC
• magnitude: describes impacts according to magnitude/importance
• distributional impact: identifies who might lose and who might gain from potential impacts

Question 18

How are networks used in EA?

Answer 18

• pros: identifies cause-effect, incorporates multiple variables, handles (in)direct impacts
• cons: can be complex, doesn’t explain significance/mganitude
• recognizes enviro systems consist of complex web of relationships (cause and effect)

Question 19

How is simulation modelling used in EA?

Answer 19

• simplified rep of system under investigation commonly used
• captures potential relationships within environment (cause-effect) and is good visual tool for communication
• data demanding, complex, and time consuming though
• ex. groundwater contamination flows

Question 20

How is GIS used in EA?

Answer 20

• computer based method of recording, analyzing, combining and displaying geo info
• excellent for impact identification
• costly to operate and heavily relies on data
• capable of handling large data sets
• good siting tool (ex. finding pipeline route)
• limitations: impacts’ likelihood and lack of data for remote areas