Ineke Steinhauer
Technical secretary
The NCEA issued an independent review of an EIA for an oil refinery plant in western Ghana. It concluded that some elements of the EIA are sufficiently covered, while others are not yet of sufficient quality - most notably the risk assessment. It recommended to remedy these shortcomings before taking a decision on the project.
Significant details
A petrochemical refinery plant was planned to be built in Ghana's western region. An EIA was undertaken for this project, and submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for review. The EPA considered it necessary to seek for an independent review and advice on this EIA in order to facilitate informed decision-making. Therefore is requested an advisory review from the NCEA, with a focus on the following three aspects:
- Shortcomings in the EIA report;
- The risks of not providing insights in the effects of these shortcomings;
- Recommendations to supplement lacking information.
No site visit to Ghana was undertaken but instead two experts from Ghana came to the Netherlands, to join the working group. This did not only improve the expertise of the working group, but also offered the Ghanese experts a possibility to get acquainted with independent review in the Netherlands.
In its advisory review, the NCEA indicates aspects of the EIA report that were sufficiently covered (a.o. a description of the refinery process and a detailed monitoring plan). It also mentions a number of aspects on which the EIA falls short, which hampers informed decision-making on the project. Among these are:
- Lack of a hazards assessment;
- Insufficient or outdated quantitative data on emissions and waste management;
- Insufficient baseline assessment;
- Insufficient risk assessment (due to the above two issues) and therefore lack of assessment of significance of impacts;
- Inadequate information on the social environment.
The NCEA recommends that the relevant supplements be made to the EIA report before taking a decision on the project.