The National Environmental Management Act (Act 107 of 1998) Listing Notice 1: List of Activities and Competent Authorities (Phew! That’s a mouthful!)
It’s been sometime since I posted my last talk. What can I say … the business of EIA’s is a busy one! Now let’s recap on what we’ve covered so far with regards to Environmental Impact Assessments.
In Talk 1 we were introduced to important terms such as The National Environmental Management Act (NEMA) (Act 107 of 1998) Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Regulations, Basic Assessment and Full (Scoping) EIA. In Talk 2 we began to understand the purpose of the EIA Regulations. We also looked the activities that require environmental authorisation. We found that these activities are grouped into what are called Listing Notices, namely Listing Notices 1 2, and 3. We saw that the listing notice determines the type of EIA process to be followed and identifies the Competent Authority pertaining to the authorisation.
In this talk we’ll look at the three different Listing Notices and touch on the implications of each one.
Listing Notice 1 – also known as Government Notice R.544
http://www.westerncape.gov.za/other/2011/2/nema_eia_regulations_2010_gn_no_r.544_listing_notice_1_as_corrected_10dec2010.pdf
If an applicant intends to commence with an activity that is listed in Listing Notice 1, a Basic Assessment Process must be followed and the Competent Authority for the authorisation is the environmental authority in the province in which the activity is to be undertaken. Listing notice 1 concerns itself with activities pertaining to mainly construction, expansion or decommissioning of facilities or infrastructure where particular thresholds are met.
For example Activity umber 13 of Listing Notice 1 states that environmental authorisation is required if one intends on constructing (building, erecting or establishing) facilities/structures (e.g. bulk tanks) for storage of a dangerous good (goods containing any substance contemplated in South African National Standard No. 10234, supplement 2008 1.00 published by Standards South Africa) where such storage exceeds a combined capacity of 80 but not 500m3.
Similarly, a Basic Assessment Process will also be required if one intends on expanding (modifying, extending, altering or upgrading such that the capacity of the facility is increased) his/her existing facilities where such expansion will result in the need for a permit/licence1 governing emissions or pollution (Activity no. 28 of Listing Notice 1).
Furthermore if one intends on decommissioning (take out of active service permanently or dismantle a facility) existing facilities used for e.g. storage of a dangerous good exceeding 80m3 (Activity no. 27 of Listing Notice 1) a Basic Assessment will be required.
In our next talk we’ll look into Listing Notice 1 further.