ENVIRONMENTAL IMPPACT ASSESSMENT AND MANAGEMENT OF NIGERIAN NATIONAL PETROLEUM CORPORATION (NNPC) MEGA STATION, AKWA, NIGERIA

Abstract

In this work, the Environmental Impact Assessment and Management of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation CNNPC) Mega station, Awka, Nigeria was carried out The method adopted involved collection of Baseline Information, 'assessment of the impact on the environment, preparation of an Environmental Management Plan (EMP) and assessment of the effectiveness of the mitigation measures Data for impact assessment of the Mega station, Awka, was generated using Overlay, Leopold matrix, Peterson matrix and Batelle Environmental evaluation techniques, Under Overlay technique, data on environmental factors were obtained through 'aerial photography, topography and land inventory map, The land use suitability and engineering feasibility of establishing the Mega station was determined based on a number of overlays, Impact of interactions between the Mega station developmental activities such as deforestation, land excavation and clearing and the environmental factors such 2S temperature, rainfall. and soil. air and water qualities were determined using Leopold matrix technique through listing and matching these factors. Under Batelle technique, impact of human involvement in Mega station project was, categorized into ecological, physical, chemical, esthetical and SOCIO economical, from which environmental quality indices were estimated, using a 0-1 scale function. Negative or positive impact of human involvement was determined based on this index. In Peterson matrix technique, ordinal scale was used to further evaluate the impact of the Mega station on the human activities and the environment, from which impacts such as risk were determined to be low, medium or high, The result on the mean and standard deviation analysis of the environmental baseline data on the meteorological parameters considered, shows that the percentage of the variance and/or errors (deviation) from the mean is not more than 10% on the average basis, hence the installation of a mega station in the study area is possible at a reduced cost and with minimal effect on the environment