Inefficiencies of Traditional Environmental Impact Assessment Methods and Introducing Data Envelopment Analysis as a New Approach for EIA Based on Sustainable Development

The main problem of traditional methods of environmental impact assessment is that in most of the existing algorithms and methods, such as Leopold matrix, Folchi method and RIAM matrix, the main attention is to the destructive effects of the proposed plan and the advantages of the plan are less noticeable. Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is a new approach to assessing the industrial units also considers the positive economic and social impacts of the project and provides a comprehensive assessment of the industrial unit. In the present study, the Alborz Sharghi Coal washing plant in northern Iran has been considered as a case study, and 19 plant activities and 11 environmental components have been used to evaluate the effects of the plant. To solve the problem, two commonly used DEA approaches, called BCC and CCR, have been used.  

The problem that always has been challenging is that the focus of the various EIA methods is on the environment. Although the economic and social issues are not considered. This approach makes this idea to the stakeholders that the environmental impact assessments are the obstacle in their way. however, in recent years, the concepts such as sustainable development and corporate social responsibility has convinced the industrial units that the simultaneous attention to economic issues, indigenous communities and the environment around the factory, can increase the economic benefits of that industrial unit in the long time. So, introducing a new approach to assessing the environmental impact of the units is essential. This approach can systematically conduct the EIA process and simultaneously addresses the economic and social issues of the project.  

In the present study, the authors trying to use the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method as an environmental impact assessment (EIA) against traditional methods such as Folchi and RIAM.  The case study is East Alborz Coal Washing Plant in the northern Iran. In this case, 19 impacting factors (IF) and 11 environmental components (EC) were considered. Also, two most popular approaches of the DEA, called CCR and BCC, have been compared and the output-oriented BCC method has been introduced as a new way for the environmental impact assessment with the sustainable development approach.  

The DEA method can reduce the uncertainty of the results and also make the final results more reliable due to there is no need to determine the weights of the impacting factors. Assessing the environmental impact of the plant by BCC and CCR approach in two modes of minimizing inputs and maximizing outputs showed that "ecology" and "landscape" components are two environmental components that are the least efficient and should be seriously considered. Moreover, it can be said that the EIA of the coal washing plant with the output-oriented BCC approach is closer to the concepts of sustainable development. The use of "Potential Improvement" method as one of the results of the DEA analysis, helps to examine the status of the impacting factors and can be used in the selection of more efficient development plans. The results of "Total Potential Improvement" showed that the BCC model (maximize-outputs) has a more rigorous evaluation of impacting factors and two factors of "input feed dump" and "water consumption" to achieve an efficient state should be reduced about 13%.