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Y2 T2 Geography 386 > Lecture > Flashcards

Lecture Flashcards

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1
Q

Initial Development of EIA

A

.the 1960s saw an increase of environmental awareness
. National Environmental Policy Act(NEPA) was passed in the US in 1969-1970
.Prior to 1970 projects were assessed, but more related to technical feasibility and Cost-benefit analysis(CBA). Monetary was much more important then environmental

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2
Q

Broadening of scope and techniques in 1970s-1980s

A

.1970s-1980s process became more technically-oriented and natural science driven
- it became “lets collect biophysical data for the sake of doing so!”
.Assessments moved beyond the local project environment

Three important Innovations:

  1. Project scoping: scoping limited EAs to a select set of impacts and variables making them more management and useful for decision-making
  2. Public Review of project proposals was implemented
  3. The importance of social impacts emerged
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3
Q

VEC

A

Valued Ecosystem/Environment Component

-ecosystem proponents seen as vitally important

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4
Q

SERA

A

Species Apt, Risk Apt

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5
Q

Berger Report/Inquiery

A

.A pipeline that was proposed to go through the NWT to Alberta
.First time public was consulted
.First time social aspects were included
.Would have affected Caribou
.Was at the same point when land-claims were becoming a new issue
.10 year moratorium placed on pipelines on land

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6
Q

Institutional support and Integration 1980’s

A

.rapid growth in EIA the 1980s-early 21 st century
.International support from organizations like the World Commission on Environmental and Development and the world bank
.EIA became a pre-development

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7
Q

Sustainability Initiatives

A

. More emphasis placed on cumulative environmental effects
.more emphasis placed on including Traditional Ecological Knowledge into assessment processes
.Emerging interest in conducting assessments on policies,plans, and programs(SEA)
.more emphasis on contributing to greater sustainability

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8
Q

CEAA

A

Canadian Environmental Assessment Act/Agency

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9
Q

EIA originated as a ______ ______ _______.

A

EIA originated as a integrated planning tool

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10
Q

Voisey’s Bay mine was a mine for _____

A

nickel

-first time government included sustainability in guidelines for development

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11
Q

EIA benefits(5)

A

.Managing the impacts of development
.Improving project planning and design(i.e. good environmental planning starts very early in the developmental process)
.Cost Savings to proponents through the early identification of potential issues(e.g., another example of why environmental planning is so important)
.Early compliance with environmental standards
.Increased public understanding and acceptance through participation and demonstrated environmental and socio-economic responsability

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12
Q

EIA challenges(6)

A

.Different stakeholders have many different expectations of what EA is and what it is supposed to deliver
. There is a struggle to develop frameworks to assess and effectively manage the effects of multiple projects within a single region
.Many environmental effects occur beyond the scope and scale of the individual project, at the regional scale
.Cultural,language, and local knowledge systems often do not mesh well with the current Western science approach to EA
.There is limited monitoring and follow-up once projects are implemented
.Institutional support for EA is not consistent, limited in many regions and often heavily influenced by politics

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13
Q

Canadian EA

A

.Environmental assessment in Canada is enshrined in the law of the provinces, territories, aboriginal governments, and the federal government
.EIA at the federal level is, however, not binding on the provinces and territories. Instead EIA is divided among the provinces, territories and federal government with laws, regulations, EIA objectives, and procedures which vary from one jurisdiction to the next
.Figure 2.1 in text provides extra info

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14
Q

Territorial EIA

A

.EIA within the territorial north(Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut) is a mixed system of federal jurisdiction, federal-territorial agreements, and regulation under numerous Aboriginal land

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15
Q

Canadian Environmental Assessment Act: 2012

A

changed the way EIA’s affected development as it made EIA a matter of law

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16
Q

EARP

A

Environmental Assessment Review Process began in 1974 as Canada’s first EIA process
-No Environmental Assessment act yet so no enforcability

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17
Q

Rafferty-Alameda Dam project in SK

A

An example of how the first EIA in Canada under the Environmental Assessment Review was broken. Legislation needed

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18
Q

Canadian Environmental Assessment Act first created in

A

1992-became a legal statute
.designed to make EIA more rigorous and systematic but it limited the reach of EIA to include only project-level decisions and not broader-planning or policy issues.
.The act set out responsibilities and procedures for EIA of projects involving federal authorities.

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19
Q

FA vs. RA

A

Federal Authority vs. Responsible Authority

20
Q

Some Objectives of first Canadian Act

A

.to ensure the environmental effects of projects were reviewed before federal authorities took action so that potentially significant adverse impacts could be ameliorated
.encourage federal government to take actions promoting sustainable development
.to promote cooperation and co-ordinated action between federal and provincial governments on environmental assessments

21
Q

Canadian Act amended in 2003

A

.Promotion of high quality assessments: strengthened the role of follow-up
.cumulative affects recognized
.Assessment of appropriate projects needed, removing smaller routine projects
.Application of Act fairly and consistently
.Improvement of co-ordination among participants:better co-ordination between provincial and federal processes
.Improvement of public participation

22
Q

BMP

A

Best Management Practice

23
Q

Trigger

A

is something that occurs to trigger the need for an EIA

ex: money spent by Feds, meant federal EIA
- triggers have been lessened in recognition of provincial and federal co-ordination

24
Q

Canadian Environmental Assessment Act 2012

A

.The Conservative government of Canada wanted to support jobs and growth and to sustain Canada’s economy and they believed a new EIA process was required to remove barriers to resource development proposals

ex: Enbridge’s proposed Northern Gateway Project was one of the drivers of this change

.Those opposing the expedited Act expressed concern that economic development, particularly related to resource extraction, was poor reason to radically change the EIA process. They fear that projects have potentially serious adverse effects(including cumulative effects) will not receive adequate review
.Precautionary Principle added

25
Q

The Major Changes for newest Canadian Environmental Assessment Act(7)

A
  1. There are not only three responsible authorities for EIA: The Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency(majority of EIAs), the National Energy Board, and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commision
  2. Elimination of small projects: Three levels of assessment existed under the previous acts( Screening EIA, comprehensive study, EIA, and review panel)
  3. Delegation, Substitution, and Equivalency: To reduce duplication of assessments under different jurisdictions, the new ACT has the ability to delegate another jurisdiction to carry out the EIA process and the ability to substitute a provincial or Aboriginal EA process for federal assessment and to a provision for equivalency
  4. Established time limits: the new Act has time limits placed on EIA process for both standard assessments and panel reviews. For example, a standard assessment now must adhere to a 365 day time limit and a panel review to a two-year limit. These limits apply to the regulatory process( i.e. the involvement of the government) and does not include the time required by the proponent to complete the required studies and reporting
  5. Changes to the definition of “environmental effect”: to many, this is very significant change. An environmental effect under the former act included any change that the project could cause in the environment, as well as the social and economic effects of such change. Under the new act, and environmental effect includes a change to a component of the environment that is under federal jurisdiction, such as fish and migratory birds; change that may be caused on federal lands or outside the province where the project is to be carried our, and effects on Aboriginal peoples of a change to the environment
  6. You must prove that you are directly affected by the development in order to be recognized as a stakeholder
  7. Enforcement: provisions under the new act mean that the decision statement issues about the project by the Minister, including any conditions about impact mitigation or other commitments made by the proponent are now enforceable.
26
Q

Methods and Techniques

A

.In any EA a number of methods and techniques are used. There is no common set of methods and techniques that apply to all impact assessments

.methods: are tools concerned with impact characterization

  • Concerned witht the varios aspects of assessment such as identification and description of impacts
  • Primarilly serve to organize, classify, and communicate information and support decision-making

.Techniques- tools concerned with impact prediction

  • Concerned with data collection and generation, which are then collated, arranged, analyzed, presented and sometimes interpreted according to the methods being used
  • ex: a pollution dispersion model(technique) may generate data about potential project emissions, which are then used in an assessment matrix(method) to classify potential effects and make project decisions
27
Q

Table 3.1 Tools that support EIA process: YOU ONLY NEED TO KNOW THESE IF HE SPECIFIED SOME(5)

A

.Analogue Approaches-Examination of similar proj
.Spatial Analysis- GIS
.Judgement- expert knowledge from different sources analyzed
.Checklists
.Participation

28
Q

Common Methods for Impact identification, interpretation and communication(4)

A

Checklists:

Matrices:

Trends and associations:

Spatial Analysis

29
Q

Checklists

A

.Comprehensive lists of effects or indicators of environmental impacts
.typically used to screen project actions,ensure compliance, etc.
. Systematically promote thinking about the range of potential issues and impacts

.Disadvantages

  • often not comprehensive so miss some impacts
  • If comprehensive becomes difficult to use
  • often too general
  • dont evaluate quantitatively or qualitatively

Advantages
-Efficient and Easy

30
Q

Matrices

A

.Are two-dimensional checklists
.typically consist of affected environmental components on one axis, and project actions on the other axis

Magnitude matrices: synthesis project impacts and based on their magnitude, importance, and other impact characteristics
.The Leopold Matrix Example
-Developed for the US geological Survey
-Lists 100 possible types of project actions x 88 possible environmental considerations
-Result is 8,800 possible first-order project-environment interactions
-Each cell in the Leopold matrix is also comprehensive of the different impact characteristics…the result of which is an overwhelming amount of information for the practitioner and decision maker to consider
-It has been used in the passed and it is very complicated

Interaction Matrices: based on the multiplicative properties of matrices to calculate impacts based on impacts interactions
.Component interaction matrices were first proposed for use in EA by Environment Canada
.Objective is to identify the order of interactions and dependencies between affected environmental components
.facilitate identification of indirect impacts and chains of impacts
.helps answer
-“Will a project effect on environmental component ‘a’ result in an impacts on environment component ‘b’

.Peterson Matrix: an example of a weighted impact interaction matrix

31
Q

SARA

A

Species at Risk Act

32
Q

Trends and Associations

A

.Understanding trends and associations is an important part of EIS baseline assessment. It is important to identify sequential cause-effect linkages

33
Q

Spatial Analysis

A

.This refers to the study of phenomena based on their topological, geometric or geographic properties
.In EIA the use of Geographic information systems(GIS) is the practice most commonly used
.GIS is not only used to visually illustrate the study area, but provides tools to evaluate biophysical and socio-economic opportunities and constraints

Overlays and features mapping:
.spatially-explicit approach to impact identification/assessment
.typically operationalized in a Geographic information system
.Project activities or zones of disturbance are overlain with areas of habitat sensitivity or zones of human settlement or land use
.visually informative and allows spatial representation of impacts
.particularly useful when assessing land-use projects to identify potentially conflicting land-use patterns or to identify optimal locations

34
Q

Ian McHarg Design With Nature

A

. Look at the environment in layers for planning

. Very important for Overlays and features mapping involved in GIS

35
Q

Choosing an impacct prediction tool depends…

A

on the nature of the impact indicator and data availability

.choices vary from qualitative approaches based upon judgement and past experience

36
Q
  1. Analogue Approaches
A

.examination of similar projects
.always a “starting point”-learn from experiences
.learn about project design,impacts, and management measures from one project to transfer to the project under consideration

Limitation:
-biophysical, and especially socioeconomic environments are not always directly comparable

Advantage:

  • efficient and inexpensive method
  • can draw upon experience and lessons from similar projects
37
Q
  1. Judgement
A

.the successful application of many EIA methods often relies heavily on the nature and quality of expert judgement
.Methods used vary from very unstructured and ad hoc(ex: roundtable discussions) to highly structured and organized techniques such as Delphi technique(pg.56)

expert judgement:
-most commonly used method(and technique) in EA practice
.used either ‘stand alone’ or in combo with other methods( ex: expert-based impact matrices)

Citeria for determining the desired number of experts and expert composition:
.Sufficient representation of those affected by project and EIA decisions
.Sufficient representation of those who affect project and EIA decisions

.Box 3.7 in text

38
Q
  1. System Modelling
A

.Models are simplified representations of a system, including causal mechanisms. They are based on explicit assumptions about the behavior of the system and they are very data demanding

Mechanistic models: describe cause-effect relationships using flow diagrams or mathematical equations(gaussian dispersion model for predicting rates and extents of pollution fallout from an emission stack; economic base multipliers)

Deterministic models: depend on fixed relationship between components and provide a single solution for the state variables(ex: gravity model of spatial interaction); uncertainty and variability are not explicitly modeled.

ex: Noise dispersion model

39
Q
  1. Scenario Analysis
A

.are a hypothetical sequence of events about change in a set of conditions over a defined period of time, depicting what could be

40
Q

things to consider when selecting tools:

A 
.Objectives
.time availability
.resource available
.data availability
.robustness
.nature of the project
.selectivity
.comparability
.transperency
41
Q

things to consider when selecting tools: 9

A 
.Objectives
.time availability
.resource available
.data availability
.robustness
.nature of the project
.selectivity
.comparability
.transperency
42
Q

Screening

A

.is a means to determine whether a proposed undertaking requires an EA and serves to establish the level of assessment to be undertaken
.It asks: Is an EIA required? This is perhaps the most important question in the entire EA process!
.Screening is the narrowing of the application of EA to those projects that require assessment
-ensures that EA is carries out where needed
-ensures that unnecessary EAs are not carried out

43
Q

List based approach limitations and advantages

A
  • cheap and fast and consistent
  • there are ways to get around the thresholds
  • doesn’t provide context
  • project lists quickly become outdated
44
Q

Case by case method limitations and advantages

A
  • constantly apply new info
  • dynamic
  • can be tailored to specific environments, contexts, and sensitivities
  • can integrate impacts of past actions or developments, and consider proposal in light of future
  • expensive
  • start from scratch each time
  • danger of inconsistencies
  • can be difficult to defend
45
Q

VEC

A

Valued Environmental Component

46
Q

TABLE 10.1 OBJECTIVES OF PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT THROUGHOUT THE EIA PROCESS

A

LOOOOOOK AT FOR EXAMMMMM

47
Q

TABLE 10.1 OBJECTIVES OF PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT THROUGHOUT THE EIA PROCESS

A

LOOOOOOK AT FOR EXAMMMMM

Y2 T2 Geography 386 (2 decks)

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