Fit for purpose? Establishing the robustness of EIA screening systems for land-use planning using a case study from South Australia

Abstract

Screening is a critical first stage of the environmental impact assessment (EIA) process, vetting development proposals to determine whether or not they require a full assessment. Inadequately executed significance tests undermine EIA's purpose of environmental protection. There is considerable variation across jurisdictions in terms of prescriptive and discretionary significance tests and the criteria and thresholds within them. Of all aspects of EIA, screening is cited as the most frequent source of actual infringements, yet there is a dearth of research in this area. This paper presents an empirical study from South Australia that investigates the adequacy of its discretionary screening process. The findings suggest that improvements are much needed toward improved consistency and transparency of decision-making and, ultimately better environmental protection. The paper prompts a thorough examination of significance testing elsewhere.

Keywords:

• screening
• environmental impact assessment
• impact significance
• South Australia
• EIA effectiveness
• land-use planning

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for taking the time to help improve the final version of this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. In Australia, the British monarchy is still the head of state, and so Crown land is land belonging to the monarch (“the Crown”); the term refers to public land. In South Australia, most land is privately owned or leased. The remaining land is known as alienated Crown land managed by the South Australian Government under the Crown Land Management Act 2009.

2. Twelve developments cited within the Major Developments Directories had triggered the formal EIA process in South Australia and were removed from the study: Buckland Park Township, Ceduna Keys Marina and Community Centre proposal, Desalination Plant at Port Stanvac, Honeymoon Uranium Deposit (Section 75 of the Development Act), Narnu Waterways Canal Estate at Hindmarsh Island, Olympic Dam Expansion, Plympton Mixed Use Development, Port Bonython Bulk Export Facility near Whyalla, Port Pirie Smelter Transformation, Rare Earths Complex Whyalla, “Sheep Hill” Deep Water Port Facility (Stage 1) on Eyre Peninsula and Wallaroo Marina Proposal.