7. LEGAL FRAMEWORK
8.2 EIA assessment methodology
The impact assessment will address the potential environmental and social impact of all parts of the project life cycle – construction, operation, and decommissioning - on the relevant
environmental and social receptors.
The assessment methodology is based on the EIA Directive32 and Danish EIA law33. The
assessment will cover a description of the probability of the impact, taking the direct and indirect, cumulative, and transboundary, permanent, and temporary, positive, and negative impacts of the project into consideration. Furthermore, the assessment will consider the objectives defined at the EU (e.g., Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD)) and national levels.
Qualitative and/or quantitative methods and national guidelines and threshold values will be used in the assessment.
Impacts will be evaluated based on their nature and scale and in relation to the receptor (social and environmental). The impact assessment will distinguish between the sensitivity of the receptor (social and environmental) and the magnitude of the impact to predict the significance of the impact.
The proposed methodology used for assessment of impacts includes the following criteria for categorising environmental and social impacts:
• Sensitivity of the receptor;
• Nature, type, and reversibility of the impact;
• Intensity, scale, and duration of the impact;
• Overall significance of the impact.
The impact assessment methodology serves to provide the means of characterising identified impacts and their overall severity.
8.2.1 Sensitivity of receptor
The overall significance of the impacts is evaluated based on the evaluation of the single impact variables, as described above, and on the sensitivity of the receptor affected.
32 Directive 2014/52/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014 amending Directive 2011/92/EU on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment.
33 Consolidated Act no. 1225 of 25/10/2018 on environmental assessment of plans and programmes and specific projects (EIA) (bekendtgørelse af lov om miljøvurdering af planer og programmer og af konkrete projekter (VVM)).
Document ID: PL1-RAM-12-Z02-RA-00003-EN 117/433
It is imperative to place some form of value on the sensitivity (low, medium, or high) of a receptor that could potentially be affected by project activities. Such a value may be regarded as subjective to some extent.
However, expert judgement and stakeholder consultation ensure a reasonable degree of consensus on the intrinsic value of a receptor. The allocation of a value to a receptor allows for the assessment of a receptor’s sensitivity to change (impact). Various criteria are used to determine value/sensitivity, including, among others, resistance to change, adaptability, rarity, diversity, value to other receptors, naturalness, fragility and whether a receptor is actually present during a project activity. These determining criteria are elaborated upon in Table 8-1.
Receptors protected under the Habitats and Birds Directives are dealt with according to the Directives. See also Section 8.3 and Section 8.4.
Table 8-1 Criteria used to evaluate the sensitivity of a receptor.
Sensitivity
Low
A receptor that is not important to the functions/services of the wider ecosystem or that is important but resistant to change (in the context of project activities) and will naturally and rapidly revert to pre-impact status once activities cease.
Medium
A receptor that is important to the functions/services of the wider ecosystem. It may not be resistant to change, but it can be actively restored to pre-impact status or will revert naturally over time.
High A receptor that is critical to ecosystem functions/services, not resistant to change and cannot be restored to pre-impact status.
8.2.2 Nature, type, and reversibility of impacts
Impacts are initially described and classified according to their nature (either negative or positive), their type and their degree of reversibility. Type refers to whether an impact is direct, indirect, secondary, or cumulative (intra-specific within project or existing pressures, or
cumulative with other projects and plans, the latter is dealt with in Chapter 11). The degree of reversibility refers to the capacity of the impacted environmental or social receptor to return to its pre-impact state.
Nature, type, and reversibility are elaborated upon in Table 8-2.
Document ID: PL1-RAM-12-Z02-RA-00003-EN 118/433 Table 8-2 Classification of impacts: Nature, type, and reversibility of impacts.
Nature of impact
Negative An impact that is considered to represent an adverse change from the baseline (current condition) or to introduce a new, undesirable factor.
Positive An impact that is considered to represent an improvement to the baseline or to introduce a new, desirable factor.
Type of impact
Direct An impact that results from a direct interaction between a planned project activity and the receiving environment.
Indirect An impact that results from other activities that are assessed to happen as a consequence of the project.
Secondary An impact that arises following direct or indirect impacts as a result of subsequent interactions within the environment.
Additive Combined impacts of project-related activities.
Cumulative
An impact that may occur in combination with other plans or projects that are currently under consideration, or any existing or proposed projects and plans, Chapter 11.
Transboundary An impact that occurs across borders.
Degree of reversibility
Reversible
An impact on receptors that ceases to be evident, either immediately or following an acceptable period of time, after termination of a project activity.
Irreversible
An impact on receptors that is evident following termination of a project activity and that remains for an extended period of time. An impact that cannot be reversed by the implementation of mitigation measures.
8.2.3 Intensity, scale, and duration of impacts
The predicted impact magnitude is defined and assessed in terms of a number of variables, primarily the intensity, scale and duration of an impact. Ascribing values to the variables is, for the most part, objective. However, awarding a value to certain variables may be subjective in that the extent, and even direction, of change often is difficult to define.
An explanation of the classifications and values applied in the EIA is presented in Table 8-3.
Document ID: PL1-RAM-12-Z02-RA-00003-EN 119/433 Table 8-3 Classification of impacts in terms of intensity, scale, and duration. The classification is adapted for each of the three environments.
Intensity of impacts
No impact No impacts on the structure or function of the receptor within the affected area.
Minor impact Minor impacts on the structure or function of the receptor within the affected area, but basic structure and function remain unaffected.
Medium impact There will be partial impacts on the structure or function inside the affected area. Structure/function of the receptor will be partially lost.
Large impact The structure and function of the receptor are altered completely.
Structure/function loss is apparent inside the affected area.
Geographical extent of impacts
Local impacts Impacts are restricted to the project area (1 km on each side of route) Regional impacts There will be impacts outside the immediate vicinity of the project area
(local impacts).
National impacts Impacts will be restricted to the national sector.
Transboundary impacts
Impacts will be experienced outside of the
Danish/German/Swedish/Polish sector. Impacts can also be across a national border within the Parties of Origin, see Chapter 12.
Duration of impacts
Immediate Impacts during and immediately after the project activity; however, the impacts stop shortly after the activity is stopped.
Short-term Impacts throughout the project activity and up to one year after.
Medium-term Impacts that continue over an extended period, between one and ten years after the project activity has ended.
Long-term Impacts that continue over an extended period, more than ten years after the project activity.
8.2.4 Overall significance of impacts
The severity of the impact is then defined by comparing the impact magnitude of the project and the sensitivity of the environmental receptors (Figure 8-1). It is classified according to a scale which ranges from "negligible" to "major", defined as presented in Table 8-4, where the distinction between a significant/not significant impact is also specified.
Document ID: PL1-RAM-12-Z02-RA-00003-EN 120/433 Figure 8-1 Impact assessment methodology.
Table 8-4 Criteria for evaluation of the significance of an impact (a combination of impact magnitude and sensitivity).
Impact
significance Impact severity
Not significant
Negligible There will be no or negligible impact on the environment.
Minor
Minor adverse changes that might be noticeable but fall within the range of normal variation. Impacts are short-term and natural recovery takes place in the short term.
Moderate
Moderate adverse changes in an ecosystem. Changes may exceed the range of natural variation. Potential for natural recovery in the medium-term is good. However, it is recognised that a low level of impact may remain. Impact may or may not be significant
depending on the impact type. Mitigation measures may be applied to reduce the impact.
Significant
Major
The structure or function in the area will be changed, and the impact will also have impact outside the project area. Mitigation measures will be considered to reduce the impact.
Positive impacts are shown with a “+” in the comprehensive tables for the potential impacts.
Mitigation measures
The impact assessments will be performed taking a two-step approach.
1. The assessment of impact significance will be performed based on the optimised project description without mitigation measures and conclusions will be presented. Only mitigation measures, or preferably, project optimisations, will be included in the initial assessments.
2. If residual significant impacts occur, mitigation measures will be included in the assessment of impact significance and new assessment results will be presented.