This Section presents a summary of
the key conclusions of this EIA associated with the construction and operation
of the proposed LNG terminal at
18.2
Consideration of
Alternatives
This EIA Study has examined a series of
Alternatives as follows:
·
Consideration
of Alternative Site Locations (Part 1,
Section 4);
·
Consideration
of Different Layouts and Design Options (Part
2, Section 2.1);
·
Consideration
of Alternative Construction Methods (Part
2, Section 2.2);
·
Consideration
of Pipeline Alignment (Part 2, Section
2.3); and,
·
Consideration
of Power and Water Supply (Part 2,
Section 2.4).
18.2.1
Consideration of Alternative Site
Locations
CAPCO conducted a preliminary evaluation
of the options for a LNG receiving terminal in Hong Kong which included Gravity
Based Structure, Floating Storage Regasification Unit,
An alternative site location study was
conducted to determine the most suitable coastal site(s) in
18.2.2
Consideration of Different Layouts and
Design Options
An assessment of different layouts and
design options was conducted to investigate not only the environmental
considerations of each preliminary layout and design options, but to include an
in depth examination of the engineering aspects for various layouts. The preferred layout that was taken
forward to the EIA stage was based on locating the terminal in the centre of
·
A
substantial reduction in the length of the approach channel for the LNG carrier
and consequently a four fold reduction in
dredging volumes (approximately 5 Mm3 to 1.07 Mm3). The reduction in dredging volumes has
contributed to a reduction in impacts to water quality, fisheries and marine
ecological sensitive receivers.
·
The
siting of the jetty to the southeast has avoided the need to conduct
substantial dredging for the approach channel and turning circle in the water
between North and
·
A
substantial reduction in the size of the reclamation works required to site all
of the terminal facilities from approximately 13 ha to 0.6 ha. The reduction in reclamation size has
contributed to a reduction in impacts to water quality, fisheries and marine
ecological sensitive receivers.
·
The
amount of natural coastline lost to the reclamation works has been reduced by
half from over 1 km to 300 m. The
reduction in natural coastline loss has contributed to a reduction in impacts
to marine ecological sensitive receivers.
·
By
locating the terminal facilities in the centre of the island, the disturbance
to natural habitats on land has been reduced.
·
The
LNG storage tanks are located in cuts into the northern hill on South Soko,
which although results in an increase in excavated rock, has the significant
benefit of reducing impacts to visual sensitive receivers by shielding the
tanks from views on
18.2.3
Consideration of Alternative Construction
Methods
·
Reclamation: Two
construction options have been considered, the Fully Dredged Option and the
Partially Dredged Option. It is
considered, that whilst there may be benefits from the Fully Dredged Option
from a schedule perspective, the benefits associated with potentially less on
site dredging and offsite disposal mean that the Partially Dredged Option
should be taken forward as the preferred construction method for the
reclamation.
·
Jetty: For the
construction of the LNG Jetty, two alternatives for the installation of marine
piles have been assessed. These are
bored or percussive piling methods.
The assessment proposed that either method would be suitable for the construction
of the LNG Jetty as part of the
·
Approach Channel and
·
Submarine Gas Pipeline, Water Main and
Power Cable: Due to the marine traffic regime of the
proposed alignments for the water main and power cable, the installation of
these facilities will require both dredging and jetting operations. The natural
gas pipeline will require a combination of grab dredging and trailing suction
hopper dredging which were assessed as the preferred alternative for reducing
water quality impacts and impacts in important marine mammal habitat and the
18.2.4
Consideration of Pipeline Alignment
Four route options for the South Soko-BPPS
gas pipeline have been assessed:
1.
Base Case:
Entirely Offshore Route Passing West of
2.
Option 1 (A and B):
3.
Option 2:
4.
Option 3:
The assessment concludes that Option 1 (A + B) and Option 3 are the
least preferred. Both options have
greater potential for water quality, ecological and landscape impacts within
the Country Parks (North Lantau and
The tunnel option is a more uncertain
undertaking resulting in a minimum delay to the LNG Receiving facility
operation start date of 15 - 26 months and an additional cost of HK$ 0.5
billion. There are significant
uncertainties with the tunnel option inter
alia unexpected ground conditions, planning issues, community issues
related to private lots and potential extra EIA studies which could increase
the delay further. The conclusion
is that when compared to the Base Case (
In
addition, the environmental constraints, safety issues and physical constraints
associated with all four route options indicate that the
18.2.5
Consideration of Power and Water Supply
Four alternative routes were assessed for
the power cables and water main route from
The
potential impacts to air quality caused by construction and operational
activities of the LNG terminal and its associated facilities at
Two Air Sensitive Receiver (ASR) were identified (at
Shek Pik for the LNG terminal and BPPS administration building for the GRS) and
the potential impacts arising from the construction and operation phases of the
LNG terminal to the ASRs has been evaluated. From the assessment it emerges that dust
generated from the construction activities and gaseous emissions from
construction plant are the potential concerns during the construction phase,
whilst air emissions from LNG terminal equipment and LNG carrier are the
principal concern during the operational phase.
Potential dust nuisance from dust generating
activities and gaseous emission from construction plant during construction of
the LNG terminal have been considered.
With the implementation of standard mitigation measures, no adverse
impact is anticipated. The gaseous
emissions from the construction plant are also minimal and no adverse impact to
the ASRs are anticipated.
During the operation of the LNG terminal,
air emissions from submerged combustion vaporisers (SCVs), the gas-turbine
generators and the LNG carrier generators during LNG unloading and gas heaters
at Gas Receiving Station at Black Point were identified as potential sources of
air quality impacts. As a
conservative assumption, it was assumed that the SCVs, gas-turbine generators,
the LNG carrier generators and gas heaters were operating continuously. Even with this set of assumptions, the
modelling indicated that the air quality impacts are low and well within the
respective criteria at the identified ASRs.
The
potential impacts of noise caused by construction and operational activities of
the LNG terminal and its associated facilities at
Noise sensitive receivers (NSRs) have been
identified and the potential impacts arising from the construction and
operational phases have been evaluated.
In both cases, the noise assessment was conducted using a conservative
approach assuming each work activity operates simultaneously in the
construction phase and without attenuations due to foliage of trees and shrubs,
ground effects and buildings during the operation phase assessment.
No NSRs have been found on South Soko and
the nearest NSR has been identified on
Based on the most conservative case, the noise levels generated from the
equipment during the operation of the LNG terminal have been predicted. Due to the large separation distance
between the NSR and the noise source, the predicted operational noise level is
within daytime and night-time noise criteria, and therefore mitigation measures
are not required during the operational phase.
In
view of the insignificant noise impact in both construction and operational
phases, noise monitoring is not considered to be necessary.
The
potential impacts to water quality caused by construction and operational
activities of the LNG terminal and its associated facilities at
Sensitive receivers potentially affected by
construction and operational activities of the LNG terminal have been
identified and the potential impacts have been evaluated. The key sensitive receivers include
marine mammal habitat, the Sha Chau and
Potential
impacts arising from the proposed dredging, backfilling and jetting works are
predicted to be mainly confined to the specific works areas. Modelling results indicate that the
suspended solids elevations as a result of dredging and jetting for the installation of the submarine utilities
are expected to be compliant with the assessment criteria at
all sensitive receivers in both seasons.
In the few exceptions in which the modelling results indicate elevations
above the criteria these are of short duration (typically less than one day)
and not considered sufficient to cause an unacceptable deterioration of water
quality. The elevation predicted at
Pak Tso Wan beach and at the False Pillow Coral location can be mitigated
through the adoption of silt curtains.
Hence it is anticipated that such elevations above the criteria would be
temporary and unacceptable impacts would be unlikely to arise. Overall the predicted elevations of
suspended sediment concentrations during the construction phase are transient
in nature and not predicted to cause adverse impacts to water quality at the
sensitive receivers.
During the
operation phase, adverse impacts to water quality are not expected to occur as
the area affected by the cooled water and antifoulants discharge is extremely
small and in the direct vicinity of the discharge point.
No other projects are planned to be
constructed in sufficient proximity to the Project to cause cumulative effects
and hence, cumulative impacts are not expected to occur.
Water
quality monitoring and auditing is recommended for the construction phase and
the specific monitoring requirements are detailed in the Environmental Monitoring and Audit Manual (EM&A Manual) associated with this EIA Report. As no unacceptable impacts have been
predicted to occur during the operation of the LNG terminal at
The
potential impacts to waste management caused by construction and operational
activities of the LNG terminal and its associated facilities at
The key potential impacts during the
construction phase are related to wastes generated from site clearance, site
formation, blasting, dredging, reclamation, seawall construction, filling and
concreting. The storage, handling,
collection, transport, disposal and/or re-utilisation of these materials and
their associated environmental impacts have been the primary focus of the
assessment.
During the construction phase it is
estimated that a total of approximately 3.89 Mm3 of marine sediment
will be dredged and that approximately 60 % of the sediments are uncontaminated
and could be disposed of at open sea disposal site. A considerable amount of excavated rock
(approximately 1.80 Mm3) and soil (approximately 0.56 Mm3)
will be generated from the site formation works, which will be used, to the
extent practical, as fill material for the reclamation, seawall construction
and armouring of the submarine utilities.
The excavated rock and soil will be stored temporarily off-site. Other wastes produced during the
construction phase are of small quantity and will be disposed of according to
their nature, avoiding any potential adverse impact. The potential environmental impacts
associated with the storage, handling, collection, transport and disposal of
waste produced during operational activities have been estimated to be not significant
and will therefore meet the criteria specified in the EIAO-TM.
Unacceptable
impacts as a result of the waste produced during the construction phase have
been reduced through the adoption of specific mitigation measures and in particular through the establishment
and implementation of a Waste Management Plan (WMP).
In order to ensure that the construction
Contractor(s) has implemented the recommendations of the EIA Report, regular
site audits will be conducted of the waste streams, to determine if wastes are
being managed in accordance with the approved procedures and the site WMP. An appropriate audit programme should be
undertaken with the first audit conducted at the commencement of the
construction works. Routine weekly
site inspections should also include waste management issues.
The
potential impacts to terrestrial ecology caused by construction and operational
activities of the LNG terminal and its associated facilities at
The
potential direct and indirect impacts to terrestrial ecology assessed include loss of habitats, disturbance to
wildlife, disturbance to ecologically sensitive areas and pollution.
The terrestrial ecological resources
recorded on
The LNG terminal and its associated
facilities will be located mainly in habitats of low ecological value such as
the already disturbed areas which were formerly part of the now demolished
Vietnamese Detention Centre. The construction
impact on the natural habitats and associated wildlife is considered to be low,
and no adverse residual impact is expected after the implementation of the
recommended mitigation measures.
The proposed electricity cable circuit and
water main at Shek Pik will be located in habitats such as the developed area
which is adjacent to the existing Shek Pik Prison and concrete road. The impact on natural habitats is
considered to be low, and no adverse residual impact is expected after the
implementation of the recommended mitigation measures.
During the operation phase of the LNG
terminal and associated facilities no adverse impacts to terrestrial ecology
are expected.
Appropriate mitigation measures have been
adopted for the construction phase and no adverse residual impacts are
expected. These measures include
the adoption of appropriate construction practices at all construction sites,
transplantation and compensatory tree/shrub planting. Temporarily affected areas such as the
plantation and shrubland habitats at
After transplantation, monitoring will be
undertaken to check the performance and health conditions of the transplanted
individuals. The implementation of
these mitigation measures will be included within the environmental monitoring
and audit requirement during the construction period. Regular site inspections should be
carried out during the construction phase in order to ensure that the
mitigation measures are implemented and are working effectively. No other terrestrial ecology specific
measures are considered necessary.
During the operational phase, adverse
impacts are not expected to occur.
Therefore, no terrestrial ecology monitoring will be required.
The
potential impacts to marine ecology caused by construction and operational
activities of the LNG terminal and its associated facilities at
A series of detailed seasonal field surveys were
conducted during 2004, 2005 and 2006 examining the organisms present on
intertidal and subtidal shores and within the soft seabed around
Ecologically sensitive receivers have been identified
and the potential impacts arising from the construction and operation phases of
the LNG terminal to these have been evaluated. The key sensitive receivers include
habitats of the Indo-pacific Humpback Dolphin (Sousa chinensis) and Finless Porpoise (Neophocaena phocaenoides), the Sha Chau
and
Potential construction phase impacts to
the marine ecological resources of the Study Area, including marine mammals,
may arise from the permanent loss of habitat due to reclamation, disturbances
to benthic habitats in the turning circle and approach channel, or through
changes to key water quality parameters, as a result of the dredging,
reclamation and installation of the gas pipeline and submarine utilities.
The results of the water quality modelling
activities indicate that the impacts arising from the marine works will be
transient and confined to the works areas and compliant with the assessment
criteria. It is therefore predicted
that there will be no unacceptable impacts to the marine ecology (including
marine mammals) of the Study Area as a result of the LNG terminal construction
activities. As a result of the
small size of habitat directly affected by the works and the relatively low
ecological value of the organisms present, the impacts were classified as
acceptable.
Potential operational phase impacts may
arise from the discharge of cooled treated water as well as from the alteration
of the hydrological regime of the coastline, maintenance dredging, increased
vessel traffic and impingement and entrainment of marine life within the LNG
terminal’s water system.
Unacceptable impacts from discharges of cooled water and antifoulants
are not anticipated to occur, as they will be localised to the direct vicinity
of the outfall and will remain predominantly in the bed layer. The remaining operational phase impacts
to marine ecological resources are not expected to be unacceptable.
Unacceptable
impacts to marine ecology sensitive receivers have been avoided through the
adoption of mitigation measures including the provision of rubble mound/armour rock seawalls on
the edges of the reclamation to facilitate colonisation by intertidal and
subtidal organisms. All marine
vessels involved in the Project will be required to observe a speed limit in
areas where marine mammals are present.
Additional measures include the adoption of exclusion zones during
marine percussive piling work for the construction of the jetty, and for
dredging works along the pipeline.
The mitigation measures designed to mitigate impacts to water quality to
acceptable levels (compliance with assessment criteria) are also expected to
mitigate impacts to marine ecological resources.
Monitoring and audit activities are
designed to detect and mitigate any unacceptable impacts to water quality and
will serve to protect against unacceptable impacts to marine ecological
resources. The water quality
monitoring programme will provide management actions and supplemental
mitigation measures to be employed should impacts arise, thereby ensuring the
environmental acceptability of the project. Details of the marine mammal monitoring
programme are presented in full in the EM&A Manual associated with this EIA Report.
Operational phase impacts are not expected
to occur to marine ecological resources, thus no marine ecology specific
operational phase monitoring is considered necessary.
The
potential impacts to commercial fisheries caused by construction and
operational activities of the LNG terminal and its associated facilities at
Fisheries sensitive receivers have been
identified and the potential impacts arising from the construction and
operation phases of the LNG terminal have been evaluated. To determine the status and sensitivity
of the identified fisheries spawning/nursery grounds of the waters around
Potential impacts to fisheries resources
and fishing operations, as well as impacts to fish fry, may arise from the
permanent loss of habitat due to reclamation, disturbances to benthic habitats
on which the fisheries resources depend for food, or through changes to key
water quality parameters, as a result of the marine works. The Water
Quality modelling activities completed in Section 6 indicate that the impacts arising from the proposed
dredging or jetting works are predicted to be largely confined to the specific works
areas and the predicted elevations in suspended sediment concentrations are not
predicted to cause large areal exceedances of the assessment criterion. Adverse impacts to water quality are
thus not predicted and neither are consequential impacts to any fishing grounds
or species of importance to the fisheries.
Significant operational phase impacts to fisheries resources and fishing
operations are not expected to occur.
Entrainment of fisheries resources will be reduced through the
appropriate design of the intake screens.
Unacceptable impacts from discharges of cooled water are not anticipated
to occur as the effects from these discharges will be localised to the lower
layers of the water column in direct vicinity of the outfall. Compliance with the relevant discharge
standards to control water quality impacts to within acceptable levels is also
expected to control impacts to fisheries resources.
No fisheries-specific mitigation measures
are required during the LNG terminal’s construction or operation
activities. The construction of
rubble mound seawalls on the edges of the LNG terminal’s reclaimed land will
however provide habitat and shelter for juveniles or adult fisheries resources
as ecological assemblages colonise and grow on the boulders.
The water quality monitoring programme
will provide management actions and supplemental mitigation measures to be
employed should impacts arise, thereby ensuring the environmental acceptability
of the Project. As impacts to the
fisheries resources and fishing operations are small and of short duration, the
development and implementation of a monitoring and audit programme specifically
designed to assess the effects on commercial fisheries resources is not deemed
necessary.
18.10
Landscape and
Visual Impact
The
potential impacts to the landscape and visual sensitive receivers caused by the
presence of the LNG terminal at
The
assessment has covered a wide range of potential landscape impacts including the alteration of the landscape
caused by the reclamation, the introduction of the LNG terminal and it's
associated facilities (including storage tanks, infrastructures and LNG
carriers) in South Soko’s natural landscape and the impacts on existing and
planned sensitive receivers during construction and operation of the LNG
terminal (including the glare impacts).
Compensatory planting of indigenous species will mitigate the effects of
the development on many of the Landscape Resources. The effects on the rocky
shoreline can be partially mitigated by the use of natural rock in the
reclamation areas and the sandy beach will be partially mitigated by the
natural accretion of sand. The overall residual impacts on the Landscape
Resources are assessed as slight.
Visually the main land based viewing locations are located on the
periphery of the viewshed from which the proposed development will not cause a
significant change to the view.
Most land based viewing locations particularly those to the north and
east of the
Potential night time glow and visibility of maritime and aviation
lighting may be visible on clear nights from land based and ocean based viewing
locations, however given that lighting already exists on North Soko, the other
night lighting sources as well as lighting associated with shipping and
maritime uses, the additional night lighting from the proposed LNG terminal is
considered acceptable.
The residual impacts on the existing Landscape Character of South Soko
will vary from slight to moderate-significant. The overall impact
on the LCA’s is assessed as moderate.
According to the Technical
Memorandum on the Environmental Impact Assessment Process (EIAO-TM) the Landscape and Visual
Impacts are considered acceptable with
mitigation.
The
potential impacts to cultural heritage caused by construction and operational
activities of the LNG terminal and its associated facilities at
The impact assessment identified several
terrestrial sites of cultural heritage importance. The landtake for the LNG terminal will cause
direct impacts to the following:
Tai A Chau Tin Hau Temple, 21 graves and one associated tablet, 7 earth
shrines and the Tai A Chau archaeological site.
Potential direct impacts on archaeological
deposits of the Tai A Chau Archaeological Site (Sites B to E) are considered
unavoidable. Preservation in situ
of the archaeological deposit within the footprint of the development area is
also considered not feasible, as underground utilities need to be installed. Nevertheless, rescue excavation for Sites
B to E will be undertaken to preserve the archaeological deposits by record
prior to the start of construction works.
The rescue excavation will follow an Archaeological
Action Plan which is listed as a requirement prior to construction in the Implementation Schedule of the EM&A Manual attached to the EIA
Report. To ensure that no surviving
archaeological deposits are missed, an archaeological watching brief at the
buffer areas of Sites B to E has been recommended during construction. It should be noted that the identified
archaeological deposits have been heavily disturbed by previous construction
and decommissioning works for the Vietnamese Detention Centre and by natural
erosion. The site is not considered
to be a well preserved archaeological site.
No marine sites of cultural
heritage/archaeological value have been identified and thus no impacts to
marine archaeological resources are expected.
Additional mitigation measures will be
adopted to preserve the other cultural heritage resources directly affected by
the construction of the LNG terminal, including the relocation of Tai A Chau
Tin Hau Temple to a site with a similar cultural landscape, the relocation of
the 7 earth shrines to another location and the relocation of the 21 graves and
the associated tablets.
The assessment has evaluated the hazards
to life associated with the LNG terminal, the submarine gas pipeline and the
Gas Receiving Station as well as the marine transit of LNG. The assessment has concluded that the
risks related to transit of LNG to
18.13
Land
Contamination Prevention
The
potential impacts to land contamination caused by operational activities of the
LNG terminal and its associated facilities at
Potential sources of land contamination
during the operation phase of the project were identified in
the diesel
fuel loading/unloading and
storage facilities (i.e. vehicle tanking, emergency fire water pumps, power
generation, etc.) and process water in SCV back up facility.
Potential contaminants include total petroleum
hydrocarbons (TPH), volatile and semi-volatile organic compound (VOCs/SVOCs).
A
series of measures have been recommended to prevent, contain and clean-up
spills and leaks during the operational phase of the LNG terminal,
including: secondary containment
for fuel/lubricating oil/chemical/chemical waste storage areas; individual
drainage from lines/pumps/compressors etc. to the oil water separator; drain
pans with drain system to the oil water separator where needed; spill
containment/clean up equipment; and oil spill prevention training.
With the recommended mitigation measures
in place, no land contamination or environmental concern would be expected to
arise and no adverse residual impacts are predicted. Appropriate measures to further reduce
land contamination risks have however been recommended. These include a design phase audit which
is recommended to ensure that the design of the Project includes the necessary
elements to manage any material that could lead to land contamination. Full details are presented in the EM&A Manual attached to the EIA
Report.
18.14
Environmental Monitoring and Audit (EM&A)
The construction and operation of the
proposed South Soko LNG terminal has been demonstrated in this EIA Report to
comply with the EIAO-TM
requirements. Actual impacts during
the construction works will be monitored through a detailed Environmental
Monitoring and Audit (EM&A) programme.
Full details of the EM&A programme are presented in the EM&A Manual attached to this EIA
Report. This programme will provide
management actions and supplemental mitigation measures to be employed should
impacts arise, thereby ensuring the environmental acceptability of the
construction and operation of the
No unacceptable residual impacts have been
predicted for the construction and operation of the South Soko LNG terminal or
its associated facilities. It must
be noted that for each of the components assessed in the EIA Report, the assessments and the
residual impacts have all been shown to be acceptable and in compliance with the
relevant assessment standards/criteria of the EIAO-TM and the associated
Annexes.
18.16
Environmentally
Responsible Designs
The EIA Study has facilitated the
integration of environmental considerations into the design process for the
Project. One of the key
environmental outcomes has been the ability to plan, design and ultimately
construct the South Soko LNG terminal so that direct impacts to sensitive
receivers are avoided, to the extent practical. A detailed assessment of alternative
sites within the Study Area has been conducted as well as an assessment of the
site layouts and construction methods (See Section
18.2).
18.17
Environmental
Benefits of the Project
Implementation of the Project will make a
significant contribution to managing emissions of air pollutants in