You are employed as a Project Officer within the Environmental Assessment division of the Department of

Planning and Community Development. You have sat in on a Technical Reference Group to oversee the

preparation of an EES, so you have a reasonable idea of the processes for the screening of proposals and

what an EES involves. The Minister has asked you to advise him on the need for an EIA for a proposal that

is being developed, and is likely to be referred to him: in which case the Minister will be required to make a

decision about whether an EIA is required.

The proposal to be considered is ** the Doncaster Rail Study Phase One Final Recommendations Report. **

http://www.doncasterrailstudy.com/ (with specific reports to be found in

http://www.doncasterrailstudy.com/publications/)

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In accordance with normal practice, you will report your investigation to the Minister through a

Memorandum (Memo) of 2000 words; this will form the basis upon which the Minister makes his decision.

In the Memo you want to provide an overview of the need for an EIA. If one is needed you will be giving the

rationale for this and will outline the general structure and contents of the EES. For this you will be

considering the scope of the EES and the main topics to be included (following the contents of an EES

outlined in the EES Guidelines). You want to give particular attention to the feasible alternatives and the

environmental issues to be considered. You will also comment on the sources of data (or how the data

would be obtained), and comment on the preferred format for the presentation (evaluation) of the

environmental impacts (as part of the assessment of alternatives).

Since this is the first time you have been responsible for advising on a proposal, you plan to review an

earlier EES for a similar proposal before you begin looking at your project. From this review you intend to

learn about the general issues related to the presentation of information in an EES.

In your Memo you may attach as an appendix a brief review of the EES you have read, particularly

discussing the two features of the EES that you considered to be good, and the two you considered to be

poor practice. You want to use this experience to guide your advice for the new proposal, drawing upon the

principle of precedent to ensure consistent decision-making by the Minister.

Your Memo will be read by a wide audience, many of whom will be using it as a base for further

investigation.

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