Consideration of Major Accidents and Disasters in Environmental Impact Assessment Reports for Natural Gas Pipeline Projects in Poland

The analysis of the Polish environmental impact assessment (EIA) reports (EIARs) for natural gas (NG) projects, preceded by a legislation survey, with regards to the consideration of major accidents and disasters (MADs), showed that although reports prepared after January 1, 2017 contain more detailed information on MADs, none of the reports introduced the concept of risk, understood as the probability of hazards//impacts in combination with their consequences//effects, nor did they present the assessment results of such defined risk. The quality of the EIARs can be improved. It would be valuable, in addition to the arbitrary, minimum distances from the NG pipeline to other structures used in Poland (DMINs), to include assessment results of such defined risk. It is therefore recommended that sector-specific guidelines for assessing the risk of MADs on pipelines be developed in Poland to support LUP decisions, as well as general guidelines for integrating the risk assessment of MADs within the EIA. Although Polish EIA practitioners and proponents recognize the importance of public participation and consideration of social factors in the EIA practice, in the context of mitigating social conflicts fuelled by concerns about hazards posed by MADs, there is still room for improvement in this regard. It relates directly to the recommendations concerning the presentation of the results of the risk assessment of MADs in the EIARs. In addition, it is suggested that the Polish EIA legislation be modified and a set of man-made disasters analyzed in the EIA be expanded to include consideration of "technical disasters" in place of "construction disasters".