Quality Review of an Environmental Impact Study on the Duplication of a Stretch of Br 153 Highway in the State of São Paulo - Brazil

Abstract

The field of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) has been studied for decades and applied in several countries, including Brazil, since its regimentation in 1986. In this research, EIA study approach focused on the analysis of procedural issues concerning, specifically, the quality of the Environmental Impact Study (EIS). The general objective of this inquiry was to assess the quality of the EIS on the duplication of Transbrasiliana Highway, BR 153, on the stretch of the city of São José do Rio Preto, state of São Paulo - Brazil, identifying its gaps and best practices by means of the application of the European Community checklist created to review environmental impact studies, the Guidance on EIA - EIS Review. This study is qualitative in nature and had its data collected by means of public documents obtained from DNIT (National Traffic Department) and of information available in several websites. The process of data generation occurred through a questionnaire sent to a regional environmental expert. The analysis of the data showed that the referred EIS had gaps especially in areas such as description of the project, mitigation and alternatives - fields whose marks coincide with the ones found in studies done using the same guidelines in countries such as Spain, Portugal and Estonia. Besides, it was possible to identify new information about the project and about environmental impacts through the questionnaire sent to the environmental expert.