The EIA Process
Legislative Framework
The completion of the EIA is required in terms of section 22 (3) of the Environment Conservation Act (Act 73 of 1989).
Environmental Authorisation to Date
In order to finalise the application, the EIA will be undertaken in compliance with the EIA Regulations published in Government Notices R1182, R1183 and R1184 of 5 September 1997 in terms of Sections 21, 22, 26 and 28A of the Environment Conservation Act (No 73 of 1989) (ECA), as well as the principles of the National Environmental Management Act (No 107 of 1998) (NEMA). The EIA process from the old regulations is being followed in this project because the application has already been submitted (in January 2004).
The EIA application has been referred from the KZN DAEA to the national Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEAT) on the basis that the proponent is a national government department (i.e. DWAF).
An amendment of the application form to include listed activities 1(a), (c), (d), (l), (m) and (0), 2(c) and 10; an application for exemption from complying with the EIA Regulations in terms of Section 28A of the ECA for the submission of a Scoping Report; and a Plan of Study for EIA have been submitted to DEAT and after consultation with the KZN DAEA; approved.
The DEAT reference number is 12/12/20/220; the KZN DAEA reference number is EIA/4610 and the DWAF reference number is 2006-352. |
The proposed Environmental Authorisation process will thus consist of the following phases:
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Consultation with Environmental Authorities; |
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EIA review approach; |
| o Site visit; |
| o Review of all environmental work performed prior to December 2006; |
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Stakeholder Engagement; |
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Issue Reporting; |
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Additional specialist studies; |
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Environmental Impact Report; |
| o Description of nature and activities of the proposed project; |
| o Impact assessment; |
| o Identification of mitigation measures; |
| o Maximisation of positive impacts; |
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Environmental Management Plan (EMP) for the Construction Phase (including a fire management plan); |
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Application for a mining permit (to develop a quarry) in terms of Section 106 (2) of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources |
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Development Act (Act 28 of 2002) - MPRDA; |
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Decision-making by Environmental Authorities. |
BKS has reviewed and analysed the available specialist and supporting reports that were performed as part of the Environmental Scoping Report (ESR) (up to January 2004), as well as the bridging reports undertaken (between January 2004 and October 2006). The purpose of this review was to identify possible constraints and impacts that could have been overlooked, classify the subsequent steps to be followed in assembling the required information for the EIA process and identify potential changes to the identified mitigation measures. |
