Environmental Aspects and

Impacts Assessments

Wendy Laing

Clean Land, Water and Air

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We All Must Do Our Part To Preserve These Resources For

Future Generations

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Identification of Environmental Aspects and Impacts

Initial step in formulating a plan to fulfill the

Organization’s policy, objectives and targets organization’s environmental policy.

should be based on knowledge of environmental aspects and significant environmental impacts.

impact (positive or negative) of an organization’s activities on the environment.

*Determines the past, current, and potential

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Identification of Environmental Aspects

Identify the environmental aspects of activities, products or services that the

company can control and that have significant environmental impact.

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Definition: Environmental Aspect

Element of an organization’s activities, products or services which can interact with the environment.

Examples: Spills, Chemical release, air emission, water usage

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Definition: Environmental Impact

Any change to the environment, whether positive or negative, wholly or

partially resulting from an organization’s activities, products or

services.

Examples: Stormwater contamination, air pollution, recycling

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Identification of Environmental Aspects

. Step One

+ Select an activity, product or service The selected activity should be large enough for meaningful examination and small enough to be understood.

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Identification of Environmental Aspects

Step Two

+ Identify as many environmental aspects as possible associated with the selected activity, product or service.

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Consider in your Analysis

Raw material Finished product Ill Electricity Exhaust Water Waste products Ill

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Identification of Environmental Aspects

Step Three

+ Identify environmental impacts Identify as many actual and potential, positive and negative, environmental impacts as possible with each identified aspect.

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Example Aspect & Impact Matrix

materials groundwater kquipment Spills

Air quality CFC release maintenance Groundwater

Soil quality Topsoil Construction conservation Surface water

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*Accidental Spillage *Air Emissions *Solid Waste *Energy Consumption *Environmental Noise *Ground Water *Hazardous Waste *Odor Emissions *Process Waste Water Discharge *Discharge to Spent Biomass *Other Process Waste *Water Consumption *Raw Material Consumption *Stormwater Discharge *Other Environmental Aspect

Environmental Aspects AS

sw AE

EC EN GW HW OE

SBM OPW wc

PWW

RMC SD OEA

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Environmental Impacts *Air Quality - Particulates *Air Quality - Toxic Vapor *Air Quality - Ozone Depletion *Air Quality - Greenhouse Gases *Excess Noise *Ground Water Quality *Soil Quality *Surface Water Quality *Depletion of Landfill Space *Depletion of Nonrenewable Resources *Depletion of Renewable Resources *Other Environmental Impact

AQ-P AQ-TV

AQ-OZ AQ-GG XN

GWQ SQ SWQ

DLS DNR

DRR OEI

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Ratings

Environmental impact during normal or abnormal operation. + Possible control improvements, or there is a potential significant impact

+ Current controls are acceptable, or there is no potential significant impact

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Identification of Environmental Aspects Step Four

+ Evaluate significance of environmental impacts

The significance of each of the identified impacts can be different for each organization, considering environmental & business concerns.

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Impact Summary (by Department)

Aspects and Impacts Analysis Grouped by Environmental Impact =?E&.TodC"W .L-r "a" 0-L. I -* =-- u w

* I-.- (De i "" "c **- h u **"" 3

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I TI I Impact Summary (by Impact)

Aspect and Impact Identification

Other Considerations - Who is involved in the process - more levels

of organization means more comprehensive analysis!

- All new projects, equipment, or process changes which require an investment application, equipment change, or engineering work request

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To Summarize i Involve as many levels of organization as

Identification of aspects & impacts is possible

certainly a very time-consuming process! The data generated from the process is very valuable.

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