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BOC Immingham Dissolved Acetylene Project Environmental Statement: Vol. 2 Main Text
Designated Site
Qualifying Interest
Features
Presence of Qualifying Feature in relation to proposed development
and Likelihood for Impacts to Occur
� operational traffic flows are expected to be lower than those during
construction and the impact arising as a result of operational traffic would
be negligible; and
� process emissions from the facility were assessed for their effects on air
quality. In all cases the emissions were found to be insignificant, at less
than 1% of the ecological based assessment criteria. Given the distance
to the nearest sensitive receptors, the effect of process emissions will be
negligible.
Emissions to atmosphere will primarily consist of acetylene, acetone,
ammonia, phosphine and hydrogen sulphide. As part of the EIA scoping a
screening calculation following the methodology described in Annex F of the
Environment Agency’s H1 guidance was carried out. On the basis of this
screening assessment, both short term and long term releases to air from
the proposed facility were considered insignificant and air dispersion
modelling was not required.
The EA has set EALs for phosphine, ammonia and hydrogen sulphide on
account of their potential health effects, and an EAL for ammonia for the
protection of vegetation. There are no such EALs for acetylene, which is
essentially non-toxic 83 . The long-term PC for ammonia of 0.02 µg/m 3 is less
than 1% of the relevant EAL for vegetation and just 2% of the existing
background of 1 µg/m 3 . The PEC therefore remains well below the EAL. On
this basis, the potential for any effects on sensitive ecological sites can be
considered insignificant. Consequently the potential for any effect on
nitrogen deposition at salt marsh habitats within the Humber Estuary SAC,
approximately 1 km away, is considered to be negligible.
The APIS does not have any information on the habitat types or species
within the SAC listed under ammonia; nor does APIS have any information
on phosphine or hydrogen sulphide. Emissions of these pollutants are
anticipated to be extremely small and there are unlikely to be any ecotoxicological
effects.
No observable effect is anticipated on habitats within 1 km as a result of air
quality changes relating to the proposed development.
Impact
Significance
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