Critical analysis of the weaknesses in the environmental impact assessment process as evidenced by environmnetal statements studies submitted in European Union

Abstract

The most important aim of this research project is to identify the weaknesses of five different Environmental Statements, for proposed wind farms in the United Kingdom. The review method that this research project used to analyze and compare the results was the Lee and Colley review method which is the most widely used method in United Kingdom. The Environmental Statements which were submitted over a 3 year period from 2002 to 2004 are considered in this project. Based on minimum sample size the findings suggest that Environmental Statements increased their overall quality since previous studies by Canelas et al. (2004). The second conclusion was that improvements still need to be made in certain areas of Environmental Statements to improve the overall quality. The analysis with the Lee and Colley framework identified the following weaknesses such as weak provision of information with some gaps and weaknesses which hinder the decision process, but it also requires minor work to reduce gaps in Health and Safety management during the construction period. Some Environmental Statements have not mentioned anything about the “do nothing scenario”, time scales could be clearer and it would be useful to include some more elements about decommissioning. When compared to earlier studies it was found that all Environmental Statements that this research project examined had Non Technical Summary. Also, the Environmental Statements provide more information without major gaps like some projects before 1991 (Canelas et al. 2004). On the other hand areas there are still weaknesses such as “do nothing scenario”, some gaps in information about the existing environment and possible impacts and also weak points in Health and Safety management are one of the important findings of the project. Key words: Environmental Statement, Health and Safety \management, Environmental Impact Assessment, Lee and Colley framework, Non Technical Summary.