Study On Comprehensive Environmental Impact Assessment For Natural Gas Exploration And Development Project

Energy is an important material basis for human survival and development. As a kind of clean, high-quality, efficient fossil energy, natural gas is an important part of modern energy systems. The world is about to usher in an era of great development of natural gas, at the same time, China has entered an important period of rapid development of natural gas industry. Natural gas exploration and development project evaluation currently emphasizes on economic evaluation. The degree of attention to environmental impact assessment is not enough. The environmental impact assessment is not so systematic because its main contents are the natural ecological environment impact assessment. The Environmental impact assessment is mainly qualitative, quantitative evaluation is not so much. Therefore, it is badly in need of establishing a comprehensive environmental impact assessment for natural gas exploration and development project which is systematic and mainly quantitative, so as to scientifically evaluate and guide the operation and management of natural gas exploration and development project. It can also realize the sustainable development of resources and environment, economy and society and the win-win of national, local, enterprise and local people.Based on the definition of related concepts, at first, the basic theory that this paper mainly involved in is introduced. Then, the concept "the comprehensive environmental impact of natural gas exploration and development project" has been put forward by starting from the system theory point of view, utilizing the theory of relationship between system and environment, and referring to Holzer’s three-dimensional structure system of system engineering and the thinking mode of PEST macro environment analysis method.The theoretical framework of comprehensive environmental impact assessment of natural gas exploration and development project is established from the three-dimensional perspective of process, logic and subject. The framework emphasizes, in the process dimension, the comprehensive environmental impact assessment is the whole process of environmental impact assessment which includes ex ante assessment, interim assessment and post assessment of environmental impact. In the logical dimension, the comprehensive environmental impact assessment includes the six aspects of assessment influence. They are the environmental impact assessment of policies and regulations environment, natural and ecological environment, resource and energy environment, economic environment, social environment and science and technology environment. In the subject dimension, the comprehensive environmental impact assessment is a full range of assessment that emphasizes the third professional organization, the project construction unit, environmental authorities and the public are in combination. In the study on the impact of resource and energy environment, some issues are analyzed such as the natural gas exhaustion of resources, scarcity and rational development, sustainable use. The consumption and the contribution of energy and resources of are studied in natural gas exploration and development project. The theoretical framework and evaluation system of resources and energy environmental impact assessment are put forward from the aspects of the consumption of resources and energy, resources science development and resource recycling.In the study on the impact of natural ecological environment, the analysis on environmental pollution and ecological effects is showed in each stage of natural gas exploration and development process. The responsibility for environmental prevention, control and protection are studied that the natural gas prospectors and developers should undertake. The environmental characteristics and ecological benefits are also discussed that natural gas is different from other energy. The theoretical framework and evaluation system of ecological environmental impact assessment are presented from environmental pollution, ecological impact, environmental governance and environmental benefits.In the study on the impact of economic environment, the systematic analysis of the impact on regional GDP, fiscal revenue, industrial development, business and residents income of natural gas exploration and development project is showed. The theoretical framework and evaluation system of economic environment impact assessment are constructed from the four aspects of regional GDP contribution, regional fiscal contribution, supporting industry to promote and residents income contribution.In the study on the impact of social environment, on the basis of a comprehensive analysis about the positive and negative effects of local social environment of natural gas exploration and development project, the theoretical framework and evaluation system of social environment impact assessment are put forward from the four aspects of influence of social development, social stability, social adaptability, social welfare.In the study on the impact of policy and regulatory, based on in-depth analysis of the environmental impact factors related to policies and regulations of natural gas exploration and development project, the theoretical framework and evaluation system of policies and regulations environment impact assessment are put forward from the four aspects of the laws and regulations, industrial policy and regional planning.In the study on the impact of policy and regulatory, based on introduction of natural gas exploration and development technology environmental factors, the theoretical framework and evaluation system of scientific and technologies environment impact assessment are put forward from the three aspects of the science and technology innovation contributions, promotion and application of new technologies and scientific knowledge popularization. On the basis of synthesizing the above various aspects of environmental impact assessment studies, the four level hierarchical structure system model has been established for comprehensive environmental impact assessment of natural gas exploration and development project by the use of system thought and analytic hierarchy process. The model includes one comprehensive environmental impact assessment index, six specific environmental impact assessment indexes, twenty-one assessment factors and fifty-two assessment indexes.The comprehensive environmental impact assessment of natural gas exploration and development project is divided into five grades which are excellent, good, general and poor, very poor. The three stage fuzzy comprehensive evaluation model has been established for comprehensive environmental impact assessment of natural gas exploration and development project by the use of fuzzy comprehensive evaluation theory. The science and operation of the model has been tested by applying the above theoretical model to a certain case of a specific natural gas exploration and development project in the west of China. The empirical results support the theoretical findings.