Ineke Steinhauer
Technical secretary
The NCEA reviewed the quality of an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report for the construction of power transmission lines in Central America. It also reviewed the Terms of Reference (ToR) for planned new EIA studies and provided guidelines on information to be included.
The SIEPAC initiative (Sistema de Interconexión Eléctrica en America Central) involves the construction of power transmission lines and connections to substations in various Central American countries. Following an EIA on regional scale, national EIA studies were to be undertaken in order to obtain licenses according to legal requirements of the various countries. The EIA directors of all countries involved agreed to submit specific requirements based on their national legislations, that were planned to supplement generic Terms of Reference (ToR) that had already been prepared.
The NCEA was asked to assist in addressing regional and transboundary impacts of the project. The resulting advice is a combination of a review (of the original EIA studies and the new ToR) and guidelines (on information that is not yet covered in the ToR, but yet essential for decision-making). The main points addressed in the advice are:
Electricity Companies of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama and Spain
Comisión Centroamericana de Ambiente y Desarrollo (CCAD)