Environmental Impact Assessment: Process and Categories

The correct answer is B, the United States of America. The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, which came into force in 1970, required every agency of the American federal government to prepare a statement of the environmental effects of any major action it proposed, and that requirement is taken as the beginning of environmental impact assessment as a legal duty anywhere in the world. Option A is wrong because the United Kingdom adopted assessment later, under the directives of the European Community. Option C is wrong because Sweden hosted the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment at Stockholm in 1972, which is a different landmark and a common point of confusion. Option D is wrong because India began appraising river valley projects administratively only in 1978 and made assessment a legal requirement by notification in 1994.

The correct answer is C, the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. Section 3 of that Act gives the central government power to take all measures it thinks necessary to protect and improve the quality of the environment, and the EIA Notifications of 1994 and 2006 were both issued under it. The Act was passed in the aftermath of the Bhopal gas tragedy of 1984 and is an umbrella law for environmental regulation. Option A is wrong because the Wild Life (Protection) Act of 1972 deals with protected areas, schedules of species and hunting. Option B is wrong because the Water Act of 1974 created the pollution control boards and deals with effluent standards and consent to operate. Option D is wrong because the Forest (Conservation) Act of 1980 governs the diversion of forest land, for which a separate forest clearance is needed.

The correct answer is C, 2006. The EIA Notification of 2006 replaced the earlier notification of 1994 and reorganised the whole clearance process, chiefly by dividing projects into Category A, appraised and cleared at the central level, and Category B, appraised and cleared at the state level, and by laying down the four stages of screening, scoping, public consultation and appraisal. Option A is wrong because 1986 is the year of the parent Act, the Environment (Protection) Act, not of any notification. Option B is wrong because the notification of 1994, which first made assessment compulsory in India, has been superseded. Option D is wrong because 2010 is the year of the National Green Tribunal Act, which created the forum for appeals against clearance decisions, a related but separate law.

The correct answer is B, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. Under the notification of 2006, a Category A project is appraised by the Expert Appraisal Committee constituted at the centre, and the ministry grants or refuses the prior environmental clearance on that committee's recommendation. Option A is wrong because the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority clears Category B projects, on the recommendation of the State Expert Appraisal Committee; swapping the two categories is the commonest error in this question. Option C is wrong because the Central Pollution Control Board sets standards and monitors pollution but grants no environmental clearance. Option D is wrong because the National Green Tribunal is an appellate and adjudicating body: it hears challenges to a clearance that has been granted or refused, and does not grant clearance itself.

The correct answer is B, screening, scoping, public consultation, appraisal. Screening comes first and decides whether a Category B project needs a full assessment, making it B1, or does not, making it B2. Scoping follows, at which the appraisal committee issues the Terms of Reference. Public consultation comes third, with a public hearing at the site and written responses. Appraisal is last, when the committee scrutinises the report and the hearing record and recommends a decision. Option A is wrong because scoping cannot precede screening, since screening decides whether an assessment is needed at all. Option C is wrong because a public hearing is impossible before the report exists. Option D is wrong because consultation must follow scoping, as the hearing is held on the draft report prepared against the Terms of Reference.

The correct answer is B, scoping. Scoping is the stage at which the Expert Appraisal Committee, or the state committee for a Category B1 project, determines the Terms of Reference: the detailed list of issues, study area, seasons of data and specific concerns that the assessment must address. The consultant then prepares the EIA report against that list, which is why an incomplete Terms of Reference weakens everything that follows. Option A is wrong because screening only sorts Category B projects into B1 and B2 and issues no terms. Option C is wrong because public consultation is held on the draft report that has already been prepared under the Terms of Reference. Option D is wrong because appraisal is the final scrutiny of that report, after which the committee recommends grant or refusal of clearance.

The correct answer is B, the State Pollution Control Board. The notification of 2006 makes the State Pollution Control Board, or the pollution control committee in a union territory, responsible for conducting the public hearing at or near the site of the project, for recording the proceedings and for sending that record to the appraisal committee. Option A is wrong because the Expert Appraisal Committee issues the Terms of Reference and later appraises the report, but does not hold the hearing. Option C is wrong because although the district administration assists and a senior district officer presides over the proceedings, the responsibility for conducting the hearing rests with the board. Option D is wrong because the ministry takes the final decision on a Category A project and does not conduct hearings at project sites.

The correct answer is A, Category A. For a Category A project, prior environmental clearance from the central government is compulsory by the very fact of its listing in the schedule, so there is nothing for a screening stage to decide and the process begins at scoping. Options B and C are wrong because screening is precisely the stage that sorts Category B projects into B1, which must prepare a full EIA report, and B2, which need not; a B1 or B2 label is the outcome of screening and cannot exist without it. Option D is wrong because it contradicts the structure of the notification, which expressly exempts Category A projects from screening. Remembering that screening belongs only to Category B is enough to answer several variants of this question.

The correct answer is B, the National Green Tribunal. The tribunal was created by the National Green Tribunal Act of 2010, its principal bench sits at New Delhi, and it hears appeals against the grant or refusal of environmental clearance as well as disputes under other environmental laws. It is not bound by the Code of Civil Procedure and is expected to decide matters within six months as far as possible. Option A is wrong because the Central Pollution Control Board is a technical and regulatory body that lays down standards and monitors pollution; it hears no appeals of this kind. Option C is wrong because the National Biodiversity Authority, set up under the Biological Diversity Act of 2002, deals with access to biological resources and benefit sharing. Option D is wrong because the Central Zoo Authority only recognises and regulates zoos.

The correct answer is A. A rapid assessment is based on baseline data collected over a single season other than the monsoon, which allows the study to be completed quickly, while a comprehensive assessment collects data over all the seasons of a full year and therefore captures seasonal variation in air quality, water flow and biological activity. Option B is wrong because the Environment Management Plan, which lists the mitigation and monitoring measures, is an essential part of every assessment report, rapid or comprehensive. Option C is wrong because in both cases the report is prepared by an accredited consultant engaged by the project proponent, which is in fact one of the standing criticisms of the system. Option D is wrong because projects inside or near protected areas are dealt with at the central level and ordinarily need the fuller study, not the rapid one.

The correct answer is B. The Leopold matrix is the best known of the matrix methods: the activities of a project are set along one axis and the components of the environment along the other, and each cell where an activity meets a component is marked for the magnitude and the importance of the impact. It gives a quick visual picture of which activities matter most and which environmental components are most at risk. Option A is wrong because the concentration of pollutants is measured by laboratory analysis and instruments, and forms part of the baseline data that the matrix then uses. Option C is wrong because costing belongs to the Environment Management Plan and to project economics, not to the matrix. Option D is wrong because eco-sensitive zone boundaries are notified by the government, and mapping them is a task for overlay and geographic information techniques.