What is an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)?

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is the assessment of the environmental consequences (positive and negative) of a plan, policy, application, or real initiative. An EIA is mandated by the Environment Protection Agency and must be completed before a decision to move forward with the proposed action.

What is the Purpose of the Environmental Impact Assessment?

The mains purpose of the EIA is to ensure that policy makers bear in mind the environmental affects when determining whether or not to continue with a proposed project. The International Affiliation for Impact Evaluation (IAIA) defines an environmental effect assessment as "the process of identifying, predicting, evaluating and mitigating the biophysical, social, and different relevant outcomes of development proposals prior to predominant decisions being taken and commitments made". EIAs are precise in that they no longer require adherence to a predetermined environmental result. Instead, they require policymakers to account for the environmental impacts of their policies and to justify their choices in the light of specific environmental studies and public feedback. EIAs began in the 1960s during a time of growing environmental attention. They acquired formal recognition in 1969 with the enactment of the Environmental Protection Act. EISs have replaced the manual filing of annual environmental assessments. An environmental assessment (EA) provides more information which assists an organization to decide whether or not to prepare a full environmental effect statement (EIS)."