Monitoring and auditing: after the decision - Introduction to Environmental Impact Assessment - page 195

7
Monitoring and auditing: after the decision
7.1 Introduction
Major projects, such as roads, airports, power stations, petrochemical plants, mineral
developments and holiday villages, have a life cycle with a number of stages (see Figure
1.5). The life cycle may cover a very long period (e.g. 50-60 years for the planning,
construction, operation and decommissioning of a fossil-fuelled power station). EIA, as it
is currently practised in the UK and in many other countries, relates primarily to the
period before the decision. At its worst, it is a partial linear exercise related to one site,
produced in-house by a developer, without any public participation. There is a danger of
a short-sighted “build it and forget it” approach (Culhane 1993). However, EIA should
not stop at the decision. It should be more than an auxiliary to the procedures to obtain a
planning permission; rather it should be a means to obtain good environmental
management over the life of the project. This means including monitoring and auditing in
the EIA process.
The first section clarifies the definitions of and differences between monitoring and
auditing, and outlines their potentially important roles in EIA. An approach to the better
integration of monitoring into the process, drawing in particular on international practice,
is then outlined. We then discuss approaches to environmental impact auditing, including
a review of attempts to audit a range of EISs in a number of countries. The final section
draws briefly on detailed monitoring and auditing studies of the local socio-economic
impacts of the construction of the Sizewell B pressurized water reactor (PWR) nuclear
power station in the UK.
7.2 The importance of monitoring and auditing in the EIA process
Monitoring involves the measuring and recording of physical, social and economic
variables associated with development impacts (e.g. traffic flows, air quality, noise,
employment levels). The activity seeks to provide information on the characteristics and
functioning of variables in time and space, and in particular on the occurrence and
magnitude of impacts. Monitoring can improve project management. It can be used, for
example, as an early warning system, to identify harmful trends in a locality before it is
too late to take remedial action. It can help to identify and correct unanticipated impacts.
Monitoring can also provide an accepted database, which can be useful in mediation