Ø  Preamble to the National Environmental Policy Act (1969)

An environmental impact analysis is typically conducted to assess the potential impact a proposed development project will have on the natural and social environment. This may include an assessment of both the short- and long-term effects on the physical environment, such as air, water and/or noise pollution; as well as effects on local services, living and health standards, and aesthetics. In enacting the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969, Congress required all agencies of the Federal government to give equal consideration to environmental consequences as well as to economic motivations and technological feasibility when making a decision that could affect the quality of the human and natural environment.

Ø  One provision of the law requires that an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) be written for major federal actions and made available to all, including to the general public. An EIS must include: the environmental impacts of a proposed action; unavoidable adverse environmental impacts; alternatives—including no action; the relationship between short-term uses of the environment and maintenance of long-term ecological productivity; irreversible and irretrievable commitments of resources; and secondary/cumulative effects of implementing the proposed action. Now, most state and local governments also require that environmental impact analyses be conducted prior to any major development projects.

stages of the EIA

Identifying Alternatives  

Part II of Schedule 4 of the regulations requires the applicant to provide a reasoned decision of the main alternatives to development. These requirements raise a number of important new issues about planning decision making. It suggests for example that a developer would honestly seek to examine other development sites which may not be in their control. It also suggests that in the case of waste disposal, consideration should be given to more sustainable solutions in sectors outside the operational range of the company. In practice therefore the assessment of alternatives is at present fairly meaningless since developers will not identify an option likely to make profits for a competitor.  

Scoping  

Scoping is simply the part of the process when the applicant and the LPA decided what issues the EIA will investigate. The emphasis should be on the 'main' or 'significant' effects. Other issues may be of little or no significance for the particular development and will need only brief treatment to indicate that their relevance has been considered. Regulation 10 of the Regulations allows developers to obtain a formal scoping opinion from an LPA on what should be included in an ES. This is a controversial move because it throws a considerable administrative burden on planning officers. It also means that responsibility for failing to include an important issue rests as much with planning officers as it does with the applicant.  

Baseline  

The scoping exercise enables the applicant to establish the existing conditions or standards referred to as the baseline against which the effects of the proposed development may be judged. This can be crucial stage for communities who may have local knowledge which is highly relevant to understanding the base line conditions.  

Consultation  

As well as consulting the local authority anyone conducting an EIA is obliged to consult a set of statutory consultees. These names which included government agencies and laid down in regulation and are obliged to provide information which they held and which might be

EIA: a campaigner's guide

relevant to the EIA. In practice there are some key consultees such as the Environment Agency who deal with a whole range of pollution issues and flood defence and English Nature and English Heritage who deal with biodiversity and archaeology respectively.  

The consultation bodies are only required to provide information already in their possession usually held on public registers. They are not required to carry out any research on behalf of the applicant. A reasonable charge may be made to cover the cost of making the information available to the applicant.  

In addition to the statutory consultation many of those working with third parties have taken the directive requirement for consultation as applying to the whole community placing a burden on the developers negotiating with local communities. In reality while this may be best practice UK EIA regulations do not require any additional level of public consultation. The applicant may however choose to consult other local organisations with a specific interest particularly where local groups or societies may have prepared species schedules and carry out regular monitoring.   

Publicity  

For an ES accompanying a planning application the publicity by the local planning authority consists of the following:  

• a copy of the ES is put on Part I of the Register of Planning Applications available for inspection by members of the public;  

• a site notice in the prescribed form is displayed on or near the application site for not less than 21 days;  

• an advertisement is put in a newspaper circulating in the locality of the application site.   Where the development involved is likely to be controversial the planning authority may provide copies of the ES in local public libraries or at local authority offices or other convenient locations.  

If an ES is submitted after the Planning Application it is the applicant’s responsibility to organise publicity by:  

• a notice that should be put in a newspaper circulating in the locality of the application site 

• a site notice on the application site containing the same information as the newspaper advertisement, in a position where it is visible to members of the public without trespassing. The site notice should remain in position for not less than seven days in the month immediately preceding the submission of the ES.   A certificate that the site notice has been posted together with a copy of the newspaper advertisement should be supplied to the local planning authority with the ES.  

Ø  In Indonesia, law of environment impact assessment arranged in several legislation.

1.       Undang-Undang Republik Indonesia Nomor 32 tahun 2009- Environmental Protection and Management

2.       Peraturan Pemerintah No. 27 Tahun 1999- Environmental Impact Analysis

3.       Keputusan Presiden Nomor 10 Tahun 2000- the Environmental Impact Management Agency

4.       Peraturan Menteri Negara Lingkungan Hidup No.24 Tahun 2009- Environmental Impact Analysis Document Assessment Guide

5.       Peraturan Menteri Negara Lingkungan Hidup No. 05 Tahun 2008- Working Procedures Audit Commission of Environmental Impact Assessment

6.       Peraturan Menteri Negara Lingkungan Hidup Nomor 8 Tahun 2006- Guidelines for Preparation of Environmental Impact Assessment