Environmental impact assessment

The environmental impact assessment (EIA ) is an environmental policy instrument of environmental care with the goal of environmental projects prior to their approval to potential environmental impacts to check out. In general, it is limited to the review of the impact on the environmental protection goods. Economic and social consequences are not part of the EIA. To this end, there are other instruments such as the Social Impact Assessment ( Social Impact Assessment) or the Sustainable Impact Assessment (Impact Assessment).

Meanwhile, many states have implemented the environmental impact into their national legal system; increasingly they played in the so-called developing countries in the context of sustainable development an important role. International institutions such as the World Bank with its "Operational Manuals" have an instrument for environmental impact assessment, which regularly passes in project and loan applications are used.

The EIA varies by country, institution or scope differently structured and organized. However, it has become an international standard emerged, which contains the following basic elements:

• Screening process to determine whether an EIA is deemed necessary for specific projects
• Scoping process to determine the examination content
• Preparation of an environmental report ( Environmental Impact Study ), including an assessment of alternatives
• Public participation (some several times during the various stages of the process )
• Involvement of authorities
• Participation of public agencies (municipalities, environmental organizations, etc.)
• Decision on admissibility after considering the results of the participation process and the environmental report

They will be accompanied implementing regulations and sectoral guidelines generally positive lists the projects that are to undergo an EIA.

History

The first standardization of assessment has been made ​​in the USA with the National Environmental Policy Act ( NEPA, or USCode, Title 42, § § 4331 et seq ) 1969. That there established Environmental Impact Statement (EIS ) must be part of the method worked out for all major activities of federal agencies and taken into account in decision making. This legal institution became the international export success - it was taken over in many jurisdictions around the world.

In the European Union, the environmental impact assessment by the EIA Directive 85/337/EEC of 27 June 1985 has been introduced. She saw a transposition period for Member States by 1 July 1988. Meanwhile, the EIA Directive has been revised several times and is available under a new name since the 13th December 2011. Among the Member States of the Union the EU EIA Directive is implemented through the adoption of its own legislation, in Austria by the Environmental Impact Assessment Act ( UVP-G 2000) and in the Federal Republic of Germany by the Law on Environmental Impact Assessment ( EIA Act ) of 12 February 1990 will apply from 1 August 1990.

The European Commission proposed on 26 October 2012, a review of the EIA Directive, inter alia, the Commission considers that to ease the administrative burden of larger projects.

In Switzerland, the EIA was introduced in 1986 by the Environmental Protection Act (EPA ) and specified in the 1988 Regulation on Environmental Impact Assessment ( UVPV ).

Aim and Structure of the EIA in Germany

The EIA is in the Federal Republic of Germany of dependent part of administrative procedures that serve the decision on the admissibility of projects, so each project specific scope (such as the construction of an airport or construction of an industrial plant ). It should in this case be determined and assessed the potential environmental effects of the proposed action so that the findings can now be included in the decision-making on the acceptability of the project. Accordingly, in abwägungsdirigierten approval process, the outcome of the EIA with the consideration of the acceptance and development of the project is to be included. However, the MSRP does not show any substantive legal effect, that is, a project can not be automatically prevented by a negative precipitating EIA. For conditional admission procedure, however, in which the transaction will be approved if the statutory requirements without consideration or discretion, unfolds the outcome of the EIA either no effect or results when the outcome of the EIA also means that an environmental condition is not present, necessarily mean that the project is not approved.

Legal basis of the environmental impact assessment ( in Germany ) is the Law on Environmental Impact Assessment ( EIA Act ). It contains an attachment 1 with the list of projects subject to EIA (eg, construction and operation of a plant for production of electricity ... ), a plant 2 with the Vorprüfkriterien for not clearly defined EIA projects subject and an Appendix 3 ( List SUP - managed plans and programs (SEA: Strategic environmental Assessment ) ) with the corresponding pretest criteria in Appendix 4 is not always a clear allocation of projects that are listed in the annexes to the terms used in the specific laws possible (example: projects by nuclear law ), so that the approval authority, in their opinion must classify the project with respect to its EIA requirement.

The basis for an audit on environmental impact in addition to the application documentation for a project by the applicant or - usually - prepared the expert environmental impact assessment ( EIA ) (= Environmental Impact Study (EIS ) ).

The UVU does not only describe the project, including the technical process, but recorded first as a basis for the study the ecological point of departure. The inventory of the ecological output data for the individual environmental areas or protected resources ( people, animals, plants, soil, water, air, climate and landscape, cultural and material goods, and their respective interactions) are measured on the basis of the results of specific technical reports and public information / data that can also be provided by the authority.

Finally identified, describes and evaluates the UVU in particular the impact of the project on people, animals, plants, soil, water, air, climate and landscape, as well as cultural and material goods. Interactions are discussed, as well as measures for the prevention, reduction and to offset the effects determined.

For plans (such as land-use plans ) and programs exist in Germany ( and the other EU Member States) since 2004, a system modeled on the EIA review process, the Environmental Assessment (EA ) and the Strategic Environmental Assessment SEA. Here the environmental impact of planning works are identified and evaluated in order to have these then feed into the planning decision.

Impact of the EIA

Environmental impact assessments identify, describe and assess the impact on environmental protection goods. These are the people, including human health, animals, plants and biodiversity, soil, water, air, climate, landscape, cultural and other material goods, and the interaction between them.

The environmental impact assessment has been established in more than 15 years as the central instrument of environmental policy in Germany and other EU Member States. It is Standard test methods for ecological consequences of environmental projects since 2004 for plans and programs. Although there are no statistics or empirically robust studies on the number of performed environmental assessments in Germany, it can be assumed that, to date, several thousand procedures were performed.

A significant effect of the EIA requirement is the introduction of the zero option as a negative option for planning and configuration, as well as an increased flow of information to citizens.

Planning Aspects of Environmental Impact Assessment

Depending on the ideological background, the legal recognition of this duty in the Federal Republic of Germany was taken differently. The two extreme positions and the intention of the legislation are as follows:

• On one hand, it is hoped that the EIA in particular through the necessary studies of variants ( zero option ) the knowledge of whether a project is ever considered necessary or amend such a project is to achieve an increased overall benefits to the community.

• For project planners, the EIA is often only a formal hurdle, which have to be mastered without content profound consequences for the project.

• The legislature's aim was to reach for a project that were deemed at allgemeinverträglichsten type of execution and to take into account that this can lead to a compelling project waiver. The latter is one of the main criticisms of the opponents of the EIA, which they view as prevention planning.

Austria

In Austria, the quality of the EIA procedure is as a process with public participation through a " formal hurdle " addition. Frequently, plans - sometimes very intense - as amended, in order to survive in a subsequent EIA can. Even after removal of this procedure may be necessary further modifications, additions or improvements to the planning by regulatory requirements, which in practice usually is the rule. In addition to the general environmental impact in the " operating case " (realized Planning ) is valued much the " Bauherstellung " (construction of the proposed project) in the assessment. Especially in infrastructure planning (especially road planning and path planning ) are alternatives to the submitted project to investigate often very detailed, display, and justified.

• Critique of the EIA from the perspective of those affected by the plan: charge that citizen requests will not be considered sufficient allegation of a formal hurdle, one alibi procedure, ...
• Critique of the EIA from the perspective of project applicants: usually much higher costs in the budget, extending the planning period through various periods in the process, impact on budgetary and scheduling due to unforeseeable regulatory requirements, follow-up costs in the construction ...

In the nuclear licensing procedure is an overlap between the EIA Directive, which requires an EIA for such projects, and the Euratom Treaty, which calls for a mandatory reporting for emissions (water, soil, air) in Article 37 is (eg operation and decommissioning of a nuclear power plant, uranium enrichment, disposal of radioactive waste ), in the field of cross-border participation of authorities and public.