2.7 PRE-APPLICATION SCREENING

2.7 PRE-APPLICATION SCREENING

1. Environmental impact may be only screening required by law

   • All Projects
     • Subjected
       • To types of Screening processes
         • Not normally mentioned
         • Done by
           • Companies
           • Individuals
         • Not mandatory for formal screening process

2. "2.7.1 Cost-benefit assessment"

   • Any project must under go
     • Investor will not commit
       • IF
         • Bennefits do not exceed costs
   • Project
     • Hidden Cost
       • Project may not proceed
     • Financial Investors
       • may not consider
         • "longer-term social"
         • "economic and environmental costs"
         • Benefits
           • That can have major influence on project
     • Economic analysis: purpose
       • Improve investment decisions
       • alert decision makers
         • To cost of
           • "economically suboptimal resource allocations"
             • As early as possible
               • In proposal life cycle

3. 2.7.2Technical Feasibility assessment

   • Concentrates heavily
     • Engineering designs
   • Designs
     • Fatal flaws
       • Environmental Factors
         • eg. dolomitic formations in area where housing developments want to take place
         • Constitute
   • Factors
     • "existing levels of air pollution in the area"
     • availability of water
     • Energy
     • Frequent natural disaters
     • Influence
       • Final Design
       • Feasibility

4. 2.7.3 "Ecological flaw assessment"

   • Imprecise task
     • High level of predictive uncertainties
   • Not done
     • Commercial Projects
   • Large scale developments
     • Must consider
   • Must include
     • Identification and description of ecological assets
       • E.g.
         • Extinction of species
         • "elimination of threatened habitat"
         • contribution to climate change
   • "precautionary principle should always be applied"
     • "At international level, the precautionary principle was first recognised in the World Charter for Nature, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1982. The precautionary principle applies where scientific evidence is insufficient, inconclusive or uncertain and preliminary scientific evaluation indicates that there are reasonable grounds for concern that the potentially dangerous effects on the environment, human, animal or plant health may be inconsistent with the high level of protection chosen by the EU."

5. "2.7.4 Need and desirability assessment"

   • Determined by
     • Benefits exceed cost
   • Exluded
     • Community and development projects
       • For
         • social benefit of society
   • Latter cases
     • damage to environment acceptable
       • When
         • Human needs put before
           • Ecological importance

6. "2.7.5 Site assessment"

   • some authorities
     • Alternative sites
   • Site often fixed for a specific project
     • e.g.
       • site owned by proponed
         • want to develope
       • part of industrial site
         • expansion planned
       • source of raw material
         • Mined
       • Alternative sites not realistic
   • Pre-application process
     • Will
       • "• eliminate the need for an environmental assessment since the proposal was aban- doned as a result of the above assessments; or • eliminate the need for anenvironmental assessment since it i scertain that the pro- posal does not require environmental authorisation; or • require adjustments to the proposal before submission to the authorities."
   • Proponent
     • Must review
       • Alternatives and options
         • To avoid
           • Environmental problems
   • Strategic planning studies not available
     • Not available
       • THEN
         • Site selection
         • Alternative alignment
         • Initial screening
         • Important
     • Such As
       • Environmental management frameworks
       • intergrated development plans
     • Complete
       • Proponent must use