concept EIA-rapport - Staatsolie

SRK Consulting: Project No: 439414 Staatsolie Pipeline EIA – Draft EIA Report Page 61
of the project. The main visual receptors will be people located on vessels passing by the area
and people working on the respective properties where activities take place;
• Construction activities are spread over some 6 km of pipeline corridor and will only affect
discrete places and not the entire corridor. Any one person is only ever likely to see one or two
aspects of the construction activities;
• Visual receptors are not considered sensitive, as they will be exposed for short times only
(people on the Suriname River) or are workers in an industrial facility with similar visual
characteristics; and
• The visual impact from construction activities is relatively short-lived.
During operation, the pipelines will mostly lie underground and construction equipment, such as
drills, would have been removed. Potential sources of visual impacts include remaining drill pad
structures in or near the river and the approximately 1 km of pipe rack. The magnitude of potential
visual impacts from the above sources is considered insignificant, as:
• Drill pads are expected to blend in with other man-made structures along the western bank of
the Suriname River, e.g. numerous jetties and the MNO Vervat dry dock;
• The pipe rack will be located within the properties of OGANE and SOL, where they are similar to
many existing pipelines associated with the OGANE and SOL operations; and
• Observations noted above regarding the visual absorption capacity and sensitivity of viewers
apply.
It must be noted that the above assessment is based on the assumption that the following measures
are implemented in the project design, construction and operation phases:
• Aim to design permanent structures (such as drill pads) to be as unobtrusive as possible, e.g.
low in height and with natural contours / colours.
6.2.3 Air quality impacts
The air quality in the study area is influenced by emissions from a number of industrial activities in
the area, including the existing Staatsolie refinery, SPCS power plant, facilities of SOL, OGANE and
Suritex as well as various other industrial activities in the area, such as the ice factory, fish factory,
cement factory etc. No comprehensive air emissions inventory for the study area is available 29 , but
emissions by the existing refinery and the SPCS were modelled for the Staatsolie Refinery
Expansion Project EIA. The study concluded that estimated ground level concentrations of pollutants
emitted by these installations did not indicate any exceedances of relevant international standards,
and that air quality in the vicinity of the refinery at the southern extent of the study area is acceptable
and not likely to impair human health (SRK, 2010).
During construction, potential sources of air quality impacts include wind-blown sand exposed during
earthworks and exhaust fumes of construction / drilling equipment. The magnitude of potential air
quality impacts from the above sources is considered insignificant, as:
• Most of the pipelines will be laid by HDD and, some, by pipe rack: very little excavation and
earthworks will thus take place;
• Soil is typically clayey or wet and does not easily create dust;
29 As air quality impacts from the pipeline project are considered to be insignificant, baseline air quality measurements were
not undertaken for this EIA.
REUT/DALC 439414_StaatsoliePipelineEIA_Draft EIA Report_Final June 2012