This case study clearly shows the importance of continuous post-environmental monitoring following consultation to improve the environmental impact assessment (EIA) system.
The development plans of urban development are frequently changed during or after the EIA consultation process in Korea. Consequently, actual impacts on the residential environment, such as noise, often deviate from the initial predictions of EIA report.
The criteria for re-consultation or modification of EIA in Korea is based on consultation standards for pollutant emissions, area of development project, or the scale of land-use plan changes. As a result, current EIA consultation standards of Korea fail to account for modifications in specific urban development plans, such as building layout, configuration, and the number of stories.
This study analyzes the limitations of noise impact prediction within the current
EIA framework by comparing the predicted noise values of the previously consulted EIA of urban development with the noise remodeling results based on the arrangement of completed building layouts.
The comparison of predicted noise levels showed that in most urban development projects, post-construction noise levels were higher than those predicted during the EIA, indicating that the noise impact on houses worsened compared to the initial EIA projections. These findings highlight the limitations of the current criteria for EIA re-consultation and modification in Korea, and underscore the necessity of reforming relevant institutional frameworks to ensure effective noise impact predictions.
Based on these findings, this study proposes legal and institutional improvement measures to address these challenges in EIA process.
Chief Research Fellow, Korea Environment Institute
Ph.D. at Rutgers University
Job Task: Review EIA Reports and provide Specialist's comments to Korea Government