Environmental Impact Assessment through Integrated Approaches in a Coal Mining Area: A Case Study of Jharia coalfield, India

The impact of opencast mining on the environment and public health is critical in the present scenario. Therefore, impact assessment is of utmost importance to safeguard these elements in the mining area’s vicinity. However, the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of a coal-mining project is challenging because the coalfield covers a vast area of land. However, many organizations take environmental clearance (EC) from the regulatory authorities for a section of the coalfield, resulting in duplicity in baseline data, erroneous results, and ineffective management plan. Granting EC for individual mines also hinders the total extraction of coal and queue up many reports that delays the starting of projects. To evade these issues, the present work develops an environmental model for impact assessment using an integrated approach of Geographical Information System (GIS) and Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). Satellite imagery was used to develop an impact assessment score through the thematic maps of the impacted parameters. Further, AHP was used for the calculation of eigen values based on the weighted geometric mean value of the relative score of the parameters assured by the experts. Finally, the impact assessment model designed through eigen value and scores was used to creates an impact assessment profile of the mining area. This study demonstrates the usefulness of interdisciplinary approaches for assessing a large mining area under time and manpower constrain