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Basic principles of environmental impact assessment
- Presumption of potential environmental hazard of any planned economic or some other activities.
- State environmental review is a mandatory procedure, which should precede decision-making on the development consent.
- Prevention of possible adverse impacts on the environment and the related social, economic and other implications in case of realization of the planned economic and some other activities.
- Obligation to consider alternatives to the project.
- Public participation and consultation is a mandatory requirement at the stage of preparation and discussion of materials for the environmental impact assessment (EIA) of the planned economic and other activity, which is the object of the environmental review as the integral part of EIA process.
- Scientific validity, that is, materials of the environmental impact assessment should be scientifically well-grounded, reliable and reflect the results of the investigation.
- Reliability and completeness of information presented for environmental review.
- Feedback, when the results of the environmental impact assessment serve as a basis for monitoring, post-project analysis and ecological monitoring of the realization of the planned economic and other activities.
- Any possible transboundary effects (Convention on the Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context; Convention on Transboundary Effects of Industrial Accidents; Convention on Protection and Use of Transboundary Waterways and International Lakes; and Convention on Protection of Baltic Sea Marine Environment, etc.) are to be taken into account.
Basic principles of environmental review
Presumption of potential environmental hazard of any planned economic or some other activities.
The obligation for a state environmental review before making a decision on the development consent.
The composite nature of environmental impact assessment of economic and some other activity and its implications.
Obligation of taking into consideration the requirements of environmental safety when carrying out the environmental review.
Reliability and completeness of information presented for environmental review.
Independence of environmental experts when they exercise their authority in the area of environmental review.
Scientific validity, objectivity and legality of the conclusions of environmental review.
Openness, participation of non-government organizations (associations) and responsiveness to public opinion.
Responsibility of the participants of the environmental review and interested parties for organization, conducting and reliability of the environmental review.
Materials on environmental impact assessment should be scientifically well-grounded, reliable and reflect the results of investigation, made with due regard to the inter-relation of various environmental as well as social and economic factors (the principle of scientific validity, objectivity and legality of the conclusions of the environmental review).
Stages of Environmental Impact Assessment
1. Notification, screening and preparation of the Terms of Reference for the environmental impact assessment.
1.1. At the first stage the initiator:
Prepares and submits to public authorities the rationale for the project, which includes a general description of the planned activity, its final objectives, and possible alternatives, a description of the terms of its realization and other information in line with normative documents currently in force;
Arranges consultations with the general public in compliance with paragraphs 4.2, 4.3 and 4.4 of the Provisions on the environmental impact assessment of the planned economic and other activities in the Russian Federation (hereinafter “Provisions”);
Carries out screening of key positions - paragraph 3.2.2 of the Provisions (see paragraph 2.2) and documents the screening results;
Carries out preliminary consultations in order to define the participants of the environmental impact assessment process, including the interested public.
In the process of screening the project initiator collects data and prepares documentation, which includes information about:
The planned economic and other activity, including the objective of its realization, possible alternatives, terms of its realization and presumed location, affected administrative territories, possibility of transboundary impact, and conformance with territorial and sectoral plans and programmes;
State of the existing environment, which is at risk and the most sensitive components of the environment;
Possible significant impacts on the natural environment (the need for land resources, waste, load on transportation and other infrastructure, sources of emissions and discharges) and mitigation measures.
1.2. The initiator develops the Terms of Reference for the environmental impact assessment on the basis of the screening results. It includes:
Name and address of the initiator (developer);
Schedule for conducting the environmental impact assessment;
Principal methods for conducting the environmental impact assessment, including the public consultation plan;
The main tasks for conducting the environmental impact assessment;
The assumed structure and content of the materials of the environmental impact assessment. The Terms of Reference should be developed in compliance with the requirements of the specially authorized environmental authorities as well as the opinion of other participants of the EIA process. On their demand the Terms of Reference are distributed among the participants of environmental impact assessment and are available to the general public during the entire EIA period.
The Terms of Reference for the environmental impact assessment is part of the EIA materials.
2. Conduct environmental impact assessment studies and prepare a draft EIA document.
2.1 The initiator (developer) carries out the environmental impact assessment studies in compliance with the Terms of Reference, taking into account the alternatives of the project, its objectives and methods of achievement of these goals, and prepares the draft environmental impact assessment document.
2.2 The environmental impact assessment studies for the planned economic and other activity include the following: Characterization of the planned economic and other activity as well as possible alternatives (including cancellation of the project);
Analysis of the condition of the territory, which can be affected by the planned economic and other activity (environmental conditions, presence and the nature of anthropogenic load, etc.);
Identification of possible impacts of the planned economic and other activity on the environment, including alternatives;
Environmental impact assessment of the planned economic and other activity (probability of risk, its extent, nature, scale, zone of influence as well as prediction of environmental and the related social and economic implications);
Identification of measures to reduce, mitigate or prevent an adverse impact, and the assessment of the efficiency of these measures and possibility of their implementation;
Assessment of the importance of residual effects on the environment and environmental implications;
Comparison of alternatives involved according to foreseeable environmental and related social and economic implications, including the alternative of project cancellation and the rationale for selecting the suggested alternative for realization;
Development of proposed programme for environmental monitoring and control at all stages of the realization of the planned economic and other activity;
Developing recommendations for project evaluation;
Preparation of the draft document on the environmental impact assessment of the planned economic and other activity (including a summary for the layman).
2.3 The initiator gives an opportunity for the general public to familiarize themselves with the draft document on the environmental impact assessment of the planned economic and other activity and to provide their remarks in compliance with Section 4 of the Provisions.
3. Preparation of the final environmental impact assessment document.
3.1 The final environmental impact assessment document is prepared on the basis of the draft document with due regard given to criticism, proposals and information received from the participants of the environmental assessment process during the discussion stage in compliance with Section 4 of the Provisions. The final environmental impact assessment document should include information that the remarks and proposals received are taken into account as well as the minutes of public hearings (in the event that they took place);
3.2 The final document on the environmental impact assessment is subject to the approval of the project initiator. Then it is used during preparation of the rationale and, as a part of the project rationale, it is submitted for state environmental review and public environmental review (in the event that it takes place).
3.3 Public participation in preparation of environmental impact assessment materials can take place:
at the stage of primary data collection;
at the environmental impact assessment stage and the preparation of the rationale.
In the case of an investment project, the initiator carries out the above mentioned stages of the environmental impact assessment at all phases of preparation of documentation of the planned economic and other activity, which is subject to state environmental review.
The process of environmental impact assessment for certain kinds (categories) of activity, which are judged likely to have no significant environmental effects and are subject to state environmental review at the level of the Russian Federation constituents can be simplified. In this case the territorial authorities of the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation develop the relevant normative documents, which regulate the procedure of the environmental impact assessment for these kinds (categories) of activity and introduce changes only to paragraphs 3.1.2, 3.1.3, 3.2.2, 3.2.3 and 3.3.1 of the Provisions. These documents are to be agreed to by the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation.
Availability of environmental impact assessment materials is the indispensable condition for the acceptance of project documents for the state environmental review.
