Formato de los mensajes: el RFC 822

Pipeline construction, operation and maintenance has the potential to impact on the environment. This Standard requires the risk to the environment of each part of the life cycle of the pipeline to be assessed using the methodology of this Section so that the risks associated with each identified threat are reduced to ALARP.

NOTE: Environmental impact assessment is not simply a vehicle to obtain regulatory approval. It is a critical element of the planning for design and construction of the pipeline. Experience shows that many construction and rehabilitation problems can be avoided where appropriate attention is paid to developing detailed environmental information and ensuring that this information is integrated into design and construction planning. It is important that personnel experienced in construction are involved at this early stage. The greatest environmental impacts occur during the construction phase, and construction personnel are in the best position to advise on this.

This environmental risk assessment shall not remove the obligation of compliance with statutory and project specific requirements to manage environmental risk. Rather it shall provide a base for determining the appropriateness of a mitigation approach, particularly to a construction activity, where the consequence and the frequency (or duration of the consequence) is a direct result of the approach taken to control the risk.

Effective environmental impact assessment requires gathering basic environmental data and shall include consultation with key stakeholders (prior to any statutory consultation requirements). Stakeholder consultation at an early stage is critical to the process of gathering all relevant information required for all subsequent planning.

An analysis of the impacts of construction techniques and design at sensitive locations shall be included in the environmental risk assessment.

An environmental impact assessment shall include an environmental risk assessment in accordance with this Standard along the length of the pipeline route.

An environmental impact assessment report shall form the basis of the environmental management plan.

During the operation of the pipeline, the risk of damage to the environment from operational and maintenance activities must also be assessed and measures developed to reduce those risks to ALARP.

The environmental management plan shall include approved procedures for protecting the environment form operation and maintenance activities.

2.6.2 Environment Risk Management Process

An objective of the pipeline development process, including pipeline route selection, is that the environmental risk is managed through careful investigation, assessment and selection of the pipeline route such that, to the greatest extent possible, environmental risk is minimised by avoidance (route selection), and where necessary specific construction techniques, together with appropriate environmental management procedures.

The environmental risk assessment must be based on data which is sufficient for informed decisions about the impacts of the pipeline project and the efficacy of the environmental controls. Data which must be obtained prior to conducting the environmental risk assessment shall include:

(a) Basic environmental data (including cultural heritage and archaeological data).

(b) Stakeholder survey information (c) Constructability / safety constraints (d) Emergency response capabilities (e) Legislative requirements Sources of data may include:

(a) Field survey information (b) Landholder survey information (c) Stakeholder survey information

(d) Experienced pipeline construction personnel

(e) Externally sourced data resident in the project environmental impact assessment (f) Other publicly available information including papers, studies, reports, assessments

and data libraries on flora, fauna and eco-systems in the pipeline route or ecologically similar environments.

The environmental severity classes that apply to the pipeline project shall be defined and approved.

The process for managing environmental risk using the AS 2885 principles are outlined below:

(a) Divide the route into sections with similar environments and threats, such as level cropping land, undulating grazing land, steeply dissected bushland, etc, and then identify specific locations where adverse environmental consequences may occur, such as creek crossings, paddocks (e.g. weed impacts), bushland (e.g. vegetation clearance), etc.

(b) Specify each activity (e.g. right-of-way clearance) that has the potential to create a threat to the environment. Specification of the activity shall, as far as possible, be expressed in quantified terms (e.g. width of clearance; period of disturbance).

(c) Specify the potential impacts of each activity on each component of the environment (fauna, flora, soil, ground water, surface water, drainage, landholders and land use, emissions (air and noise), cultural heritage, public safety and visual amenity.

Specification of impacts shall, as far as practicable, be expressed in quantified terms.

(d) Identify and apply the mitigation measures for each threat (including rehabilitation), and assess whether the measures will meet the environmental objectives (i.e. can reduce the threat to a level of acceptable risk).

(e) For threats requiring further assessment, at each location, identify the consequence of the threat to each component of the environment. As a general guide, the consequence must be considered with an understanding that the duration of the threat in both construction and operational phases of the project is short, and the land affected is relatively small. However, the analysis must also recognise that some consequences (e.g. weed infestation) have the potential to create an impact whose duration is significantly greater than the duration of the activity, and the consequence may propagate well beyond the easement.

(f) For threats requiring further assessment, determine the frequency of each adverse consequence of the threat (taking into account the duration of the activity at the specified location and the robustness of the specified controls).

(g) Evaluate the risk using the risk matrix in Table 2.4.5, and apply further risk treatment as required by Table 2.4.5.

The following are important:

(a) The environmental risk management must take a holistic view of the environment and the activities that may impact on the environment (e.g. construction). The net effect of the mitigation measures (taking into account the environmental impact of the mitigation measures) must be considered – concentration on a specific issue may create greater environmental impact while minimising risk of a particular threat.

(b) The environmental objectives set at the approvals stage must be achievable within practical construction processes.

(c) The environmental objectives must be established sufficiently early in the process for the bulk of the objectives to be satisfied by route selection.

(d) Occasional impacts (eg sedimentation at stream crossings) may be an acceptable outcome if the duration of the release is small. The impact must be considered in the context of other land uses in the immediate vicinity of the project.

(e) Environmental risk that is ongoing through the operational phase need to be addressed during the approvals and design process

2.6.3 Implementation

The outcomes of the environmental risk assessment shall be incorporated into environmental management procedures for both the construction, operational and abandonment phases of the pipeline life cycle.

The environmental management procedures shall also address emergency situations.

NOTE: The APIA Code of Environmental Practice provides industry accepted guidance on management of the Environment through the Design, construction and Operational phases of a project.