Factors leading to an erroneous impact assessment: A postproject review of the Calaca power plant, unit two

This study investigates methodological shortcomings in the impact assessment practices employed by environmentally concerned groups and proposes improvements in project assessment methodology. The second thermal power plant project constructed in the Philippine city of Calaca was examined. This postproject review found the assessment made by environmentally concerned groups to be inaccurate. The following factors were identified as the probable causes of their erroneous estimates: the lack of a holistic approach in the particular sector or regional assessment; misunderstandings about the environmental regulation of the Philippines; the imposition of the environmental standards of the lending nation upon the borrower nation; excessively simplified assumptions about the second projectʹs cause-and-effect relationships; preoccupation with problems of the first power plant project, particularly in confusing its soluble and insoluble aspects; and ideological bias in the minds of the practitioners, which not only led to erroneous estimates but also prevented them from examining the full range of alternative options.