Ministry of Environment & Forests, Govt. of India has issued Environment Impact Assessment Notification dated 14th September,2006 for according Environment Clearance to 8 categories of industries/projects by the Ministry of Environment & Forests, Govt. of India and by a State Level Environment Impact Assessment Authority constituted by Government of India on the recommendations made by the State Government. The eight categories of industries/projects requiring Environmental Clearance are further categorized into A & B. The ‘A’ categories of industries are in terms of production above the specified threshold limits requiring Environmental Clearance from Ministry of Environment & Forests, Govt. of India. The ‘B’ category industries are smaller units in terms of production with or without specified minimum threshold of production but production below that specified for ‘A’ category. To clear ‘B’ category industries, the Central Government has decentralized the entire process of Environmental Clearance by creating an independent State Level Environment Impact Assessment Authority supported by a State Level Expert Appraisal Committee as per the Notification S.O. No. 255(E) dated 7th February, 2011. Copy of the same is available in this web site. The State Level Environment Impact Assessment Authority comprises of 3 Members and and State Level Expert Appraisal Committee comprises of 6 Members and a Secretary. Copy of EIA Notification giving details of category of ‘A’ & ‘B’ industries are available in the MOEF website. www.envfor.nic.in
The SEIAA is accepting the applications for Environmental Clearance(EC). Applications in prescribed proforma and completed in all respects along with demand draft of prescribed ‘Scrutiny Fees’ may be addressed to the Member Secretary, State Level Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA), C-170, Road No. – 4, Ashok Nagar, Ranchi, PIN – 834002. Applications can be submitted in Person/ or by Reg./Speed Post. Incomplete applications or applications without the demand draft of requisite ‘Scrutiny Fees’ shall not be accepted.
EIA NOTIFICATION
Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification of 4th September, 2006 directing that on and from the date of its publication ( i.e. from 7th February,2011) all new projects or activities or expansion or modernization of the existing projects listed in ‘B’ category entailing capacity addition with change in process or technology in the state of Jharkhand shall have to obtain EC.
The concept of Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) has been introduced with the objective of achieving a balance between nvironmental protection and developmental activities. EIA is a planning tool that is now accepted as an integral component of a sound decision making. The objective of EIA is to anticipate and address potential environmental problems/ concerns at an early stage of project planning and design. EIA and Environment Management Plan(EMP) should assist planners and government authorities in decision making process by identifying the key impacts/issues and formulating mitigation measures.
EIA is a process of establishing the changes in the physical, ecological and socio-economic components of the environment before, during and after impending developmental projects so that undesirable effects, if any, can be mitigated.
An EIA has to address the following basic questions:
1. What are the environmental issues of the project and the project site? (Identification)
2. What will be the effect of the changes? ( Prediction)
3. Are the changes significant?? ( Evaluation)
4. What can be done about the adverse impacts? (Mitigation)
5. How can the decision makers and the other concerned agencies be informed?
( Communication)
