Environmental Impact Assessment for Thermal Power Plant

This article discusses the importance of selecting a proper site for a thermal power plant and the factors to consider in the environmental impact assessment. It explores the potential impacts on water resources, wildlife, and the social environment, as well as the mitigation measures and monitoring programs. The article also covers the objectives and spatial boundaries of the assessment, and suggests feasible alternatives for reducing environmental impacts.

Environmental Management
Environmental Management: Environmental Impact Assessment
Assignment #5

Environmental Management
Question #3
Introduction
Selecting a proper site for Thermal Power Plant is important for its ensured prolonged
efficiency and many factors are considered when choosing the site for development of such a
plant. An improvised decision Support System for such plants helps decision makers to come up
with several decisions on the site alternatives, at the level of initial study.
Geospatial information (GIS) comes in handy when evaluating a good location for coal
related thermal power plants. In this case the provided maps will help in spotting the suitable
sites. The sites are then ranked using a Site Suitability Index (SSI) and decisions are made
according to it. In general, both the construction and operation of a power plant requires the
availability of some amenities like water resources and the suitable soil type.
Valued Ecosystem Components and their Indicators
VECs are elements of the ecosystem that has an ecological, scientific, social and cultural
importance among other importance. Their value can determine the basis of cultural ideas or
scientific importance. The impact assessment will focus on the important elements. These are
some of the components that were observed in the study.
i. Physical Environment
There will be the release of impurities that can impact air quality in this particular area.
Improvised light source should be at the sight for operation and workers’ health and safety
purpose that will interfere with human and non-human operations. Noise will be produced as
the construction and other operations take place and may disturb other human activities.

Environmental Management
ii. Water source
The thermal power plant of 300 Mega Watts installed capacity needs almost 12 million
m3 of water per year. There will be high impact on river & ground water which will increase
Water needs for the through system which translates to 30 to 50 times more than that of a
normal closed cycle system.
iii. Wildlife
The project site is a habitat for various animals including Pine Martein, Red Fox and
Beaver. Land clearing activities and infrastructure might impact wildlife habitat.
iv. Aquatic resources
The construction and the operations at the project sight could affect access to recreational
fisheries. This will affect the Northern part of project site like Bamoos Lake, Hare Lake and
the Pic River and in the shores of Lake Superior. These may also affect the use of
commercial fisheries near the project site.
v. Social Environment
The demographics of the area and other communities could change as a result of people
moving towards these areas for the purpose of economic opportunities. As a result of these
the cost and the need for housing in these communities might be affected as a result of the
movement of the population for the same reasons of economic opportunities.
Negative Impacts and Mitigation Measures
Potential water resource impacts and Mitigation Measures
The project requires water for various uses, which are; drilling operations, site
construction and cleaning. The water sources of the project site are water from rainfall, water
bodies like lakes and reservoirs, streams, rivers and groundwater.

Environmental Management
Potential water resource impacts may be mitigated by:
 Minimizing water resources needs (e.g. by the recycling of used water);
 Distributing abstractions to various sources;
 Leading abstractions in the direction of lower sections of catchments;
 Evading abstractions from environmentally sensitive sources;
Impacts on environmentally critical areas and conditions
Regionally important ecological sites, like forested areas, major water bodies and
wetlands, habitats of rare and endangered animals will be significantly affected. This will be as a
result of clearing of the project site and creating other infrastructure such as roads and pathway
etc.
Environmentally critical areas and conditions mitigation measures
The areas will be located and measures taken to ensure that they are not threatened by
project site. The measures will include avoiding, reducing or compensating for environmental
impacts and to improve the ecological and community positive outcome of the project.
For air pollutions the process of incineration which involves combustion and used to
control the emission of organic compounds will be used. It involves oxidation of material with
combustible compounds exposed to heat that will release carbon dioxide and steam.
Positive impacts
This Project is going to bring positive socio-economic benefits to the proposed region
and will represents a very positive significant step in the further development of other

Environmental Management
infrastructure in the region. The Project will improve business activities, employment and
learning chances which will later lead to economic empowerment and growth in the region.
Significant and insignificant impacts
Significant impacts are those that will be as a result of a direct interaction of the proposed
project activities and the recipient habitat. A significant impact in this case is when the
environmental activities like location clearing and preparing will adversely lead to relocation of
people or animals that reside in this area.
Insignificant impacts on the other hand are those that are not a direct result of the
proposed project, mostly produced away from or as a result of a complicated impact. In this case
the aquatic life will experience the least impact from the proposed project.
Monitoring programs
This program will clearly show the links between impacts found in the EIA report,
indicators and limits (where necessary) and determination of aspects that will indicate the need
for required changes.
This measure will be a condition for approval of the plan, together with any
implementation of future projects. This will be included in design and the documents for the
contract that will be prepared for other projects by the authorities. The concerned authorities will
authorize the contractor to shortly suspend any construction on a given project if evidence will
be presented to the department that the said contractor is not compliant on this measure.
For endangered and important plant species, the authorities shall come up with a
monitoring program to ensure that any suggested action on important plant species meet required
criteria that are accepted.

Environmental Management
Effective Mitigation Measures
Objectives of the EIA
It ensures that the development of the plant is sustained with minimal negative
environmental impacts. Effects on environment should be reduced by incorporating manageable
measures in the project planning on the basis of predictions regarding environmental impacts on
the account of project operations. There are three primary objectives that can be articulated in
this assessment:
 EIA will anticipate the likely environmental impacts of the project.
 It presents these anticipations and options to the decision-makers involved in the
project.
 It will find ways to reduce negative effects to curve the project so that it befits the
local environment.
Objectives of the EIA
The main objective of EIA is to make sure that the development of the plant is sustained
with minimal negative environmental impacts. Effects on environment should be reduced by
incorporating manageable measures in the project planning on the basis of predictions regarding
environmental impacts on the account of project operations. There are three primary objectives
that can be articulated in this assessment:
 EIA will anticipate the likely environmental impacts of the project.
 It presents these anticipations and options to the decision-makers involved in the
project.
 It will find ways to reduce negative effects to curve the project so that it befits the
local environment.

Environmental Management
Spatial Boundaries
Essentially we will define appropriate spatial familiar to the size of the Project to inspect
required Project environment activities and determine the adverse effects. There will be several
spatial scales that will be looked at in the EIA process, as required. These includes:
 SSA- The Site Study Area
 LSA- The Local Study Area
 RSA- The Regional Study Area
The SSA will be used as the starting point for the entire project and so this serves as the footprint
of the project.
Figure 1: Map showing the Site Study Area of Marathon
The LSA will be explained differently for the purpose of impact assessment on the aquatic,
terrestrial environments and atmospheric together with the socio-economic issues. This is for the
reason that, these components will be differently influenced by the activities at the project site.

Environmental Management
Figure 2: Map showing the Local Study Area of Marathon
The LSA on the environmental component in the atmosphere is seen as the claim and lease
areas which determine the scope of the location, together with the adverse peregrinate ways for
item distribution between the handling facility in Town of Marathon and the site. This boundary
is based on other experiences in same circumstances that indicate the effects on the atmosphere
are normally contained to locations proximate to the base of environmental pollutions.
The assessment of spatial boundaries for socio-economic effects somehow differ
with the boundaries set for terrestrial, aquatic and atmospheric boundaries. The spatial boundary
of socio-economic component of the assessment, will be done based on the people and
communities found here and utilizes the area potentially affected by biophysical changes.

Environmental Management
Temporal Boundaries for the Assessment
Temporal boundaries of the Project will be determined at the time of the single Project
phases:
i. The first Phase which will include Site Preparation,
ii. The second Phase which will include Construction and Commissioning,
iii. The third Phase will be Operations.
iv. The fourth and the last Phase will be decommissioning and Post Closure.
Feasible alternatives
Practices that will reduce transportation Impact
Pollution-free vehicles will be used in transportation and opportune infrastructure for
trucks such as concrete or pitched road. There can be Separate access road for conveyance of
materials like coal and diesel.
Practices that will Reduce Noise Pollution
Creation of equipment to accord Acoustic enclosures and barrier shields with creation of
sound barrier for personal protection. This will reduce the vulnerability.
Practices for Soil Management
The top soil will be stored and most probably reused with stored water with separate
stacking of topsoil. Soil storage heap will be protected with dry vegetation to evade erosion,
abstracting only vegetative cover from the concrete site on which construction activities has to be
done.

Environmental Management
Conclusion
When constructing a Thermal Power generating plant, the impacts on land, soil, air and
social impacts are very significant and can at a lower level be avoided. These big factories are
also said to emit a significant amount of chemicals and generate large quantity of fly ash which
may affect the surrounding environment negatively. These factories also consume a substantial
amount of water. After proper Environmental Impact Assessment is done, project
implementation stage can commence.
Reference
Harriman Gunn, J. (2009). Integrating Strategic Environmental Assessment And Cumulative
Effects Assessment in Canada. University of Saskatchewan Library Electronic Theses
and Dissertations. (Publication number etd-06092009-201800)
Noble, B.F. & Bronson, J.E. (2015). Integrating Human Health into Environmental Impact
Assessment: Case Studies of Canada’s Northern Mining Resource Sector. Arctic, 58(4),
395-405. Retrieved from: http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/Arctic58-4-395.pdf.
Rattle, R. (2009). Environmental Assessment in Canada – History, Experiences and Lessons for
Health Impact Assessment. Working document prepared for the National Collaborating
Centre for Healthy Public Policy.
Saner, M. (2010). A Primer on Scientific Risk Assessment at Health Canada. Ottawa: Health
Canada. Retrieved from: http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/sr
sr/alt_formats/pdf/pubs/aboutapropos/2010-scientif-ris-eng.pdf.

Environmental Management
Canter, L.W., (2007), Environmental Impact Assessment, MCGraw Mill, New York.