EIA screening criteria in Brazil: a logical test?

In the past decades, Brazilian Environmental State agencies improved their criteria to screen in or out proposed projects that should be subject to environmental licensing and environmental impact assessments. Few studies, however, have attempted to understand the extent to which EIA screening criteria are technically consistent and sound. The purpose of this study was to undertake a comparative analysis of the screening processes in four highly industrialized Brazilian States: Minas Gerais, Espirito Santo, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. Data were collected through literature reviews and numerous interviews (open-ended and semi-structured). The study selected four "real " projects that had been screened in for impact assessment in the Minas Gerais State agency and, based on their data, filled out environmental license applications in the other three State jurisdictions to understand how the "fictional " projects would be screened in or out for impact assessments. The "simulations " revealed a few similarities in the screening criteria used by the four jurisdictions. However, the differences among specific thresholds and units of analysis across the jurisdictions led to different screening scenarios, with had very relevant implications in terms of project approval, administrative fees and required studies. Similar projects were subjected to very different impact assessment studies. The study concludes by discussing the implications of such differences