Public environmental assessment: is it conducted in which cases, examples

The term "public environmental review"first began to be used in the late 80's. the last century. Originally the concept was interpreted in a very broad sense. Currently, the term is fixed at the legislative level. Let us further consider what is public environmental assessment, by whom and under what conditions.

General information

Public environmental assessment is carried out on the initiative of citizens and public associations. Initiators of the procedure may be bodies of territorial authority. As the executors are public organizations, the main activity of which is nature protection.

goal

Public environmental expertise is organized and conducted to prevent the adverse impact of the proposed site activity on the environment, socio-economic and other consequences associated with it.

These objectives are achieved by assessing the implementation of legislative requirements, compliance with the requirements for the development of project documentation. In the course ofA public environmental assessment is the analysis of the quality of the forecast of the impact on the environment.

Rights of verification initiators

They are fixed in Article 19 of Federal Law No. 174. In accordance with the norm, citizens and associations have the right:

1. Formulate and send to the authorized bodies proposals on the organization of public environmental assessment.
2. Obtain information about the examination.
3. To carry out other actions related to environmental inspection, not inconsistent with the current legislation.

Rights of Performers

The organizations that carry out the examination have the right:

1. Obtain documentation to be verified from the customer.
2. Get acquainted with normative and technical documents.
3. In the status of observers to participate in the meetings of the commissions of state expertise, in the discussion of the conclusions drawn up on the basis of the results of the public inspection.

Terms and conditions

Public environmental assessment is carried out after State applications from the initiators. When applying for a single object from two or more public associations, one commission may be created.

The body of territorial authority within seven days fromthe date of receipt of the application must register it or deny it. If the registration was not refused within the established period, the application is recognized as registered.

Application processing

In the application of public associations the following information is indicated:

1. Name.
2. Address (legal / location).
3. The type of activity defined by the charter.
4. Composition of the expert commission.
5. Characteristics of the object of examination.
6. Terms of verification.

Refusal to register an application

It is allowed only in cases stipulated by Article 24 of Federal Law No. 174. The list of grounds given in the norm is considered closed. Refusal to register an application is allowed if:

1. Public environmental assessment is conducted in relation to object that has already been checked twice.
2. The public association is not registered according to the rules fixed by the legislation. It is about the lack of state registration in the status of legal entity on the day of treatment.
3. The charter of the association does not comply with the provisions of Article 20 of Federal Law No. 174.
4. The requirements for the contents of the application, stipulated in Art. 23 of the Law.

Public environmental expertise of the facility can not be conducted, if the information about him is a secret protected by law (state, commercial, etc.).

Illegal refusal of officials of local authorities in the state registration of the application entails responsibility, according to the norms of the legislation.

Objects

At the federal and regional levels public environmental assessment is carried out only in relation to:

1. Projects of normative-technical and instructive-methodological documentation in the sphere of nature protection, approved by the authorities of the Russian Federation.
2. Materials of substantiation of licenses for conducting activities of certain species that adversely affect the state of the environment, in accordance with the norms regulating the use of atomic energy.
3. Projects of target programs, within the framework of which construction and operation of objects influencing nature are envisaged in terms of their location.
4. Integrated environmental auditsites that substantiate the allocation of these territories as the status of specially protected areas, zones of ecological disaster or an ecological situation of an emergency nature.
5. Projects of production sharing agreements.
6. Materials justifying the transformation of the nature reserve into a national park.

The project documentation is also subject to verification:

• for the reconstruction, construction of facilities in specially protected areas, including those related to defense and security, especially dangerous, unique, technically complex facilities;
• objects intended for neutralization / disposal of waste 1-5 cells. risks, including their decommissioning;
• reclamation of soil disturbed by the disposal of waste of the above classes, as well as land not intended for their disposal, but used for this purpose;
• on the elimination of excavations using industrial wastes of ferrous metallurgy 4-5 cells. danger.

Nuances

If an object has previously received a positive conclusion, public environmental assessment is carried out only in the following cases:

1. Finalization of this object taking into account the comments of the commission.
2. Implementation of the deviation from the documentation or when making changes to it.
3. End of the validity of the conclusion issued earlier.

Specificity of the conduct

Public environmental expertise is conducted before the organization of a state audit or simultaneously with it. The corresponding provision is fixed by part 1 of Article 22 of the Federal Law No. 174.

In part 2 of the same rule, however, it is provided thatA public environmental assessment is conducted regardless of the state verification of the same objects.

According to Part 4 of Art. 22, the requirements for the assessment of objects are covered by clauses 2 and 5 of Article 16 of Article ФЗ No. 174.

Expert opinion

This document is sent to:

• to a federal / regional executive body exercising state scrutiny;
• customer documentation;
• structures that make decisions on the sale of the objects of expertise;
• local authorities;
• other interested persons.

The expert conclusion becomes effective after its approval by the regional or federal executive authority. It is taken into account when performing a state audit, if public environmental assessment was conducted in respect of the same object until the date of completion of the state expertise.

When making the conclusion on force, the members of the commission and the head are subject to the requirements set forth in Articles 30-34 of Federal Law No. 174.

The document can be published in the media.

Requirements for experts

Public environmental expertise is conducted by specialists with practical / scientific knowledge on the issue under consideration. The subjects are involved in accordance with Article 15 of the Federal Law No. 174.

The expert can not be:

• Representative of the customer / developer of documents that are subject to verification.
• A citizen who is in labor or other contractual relations with the developer / customer of the documentation.

Expert rights

Specialists involved in the examination are entitled to:

1. To declare to the federal or regional state body on the need to provide the customer with additional documentation to ensure an objective and comprehensive assessment of the facility.
2. Formulate a dissenting opinion with respect to the object under test. It is drawn up in writing and attached to the expert opinion.

Duties of a specialist

The expert should:

1. Perform a full, comprehensive, comprehensive and objective analysis of materials, applying advanced scientific and technological achievements.
2. Determine the compliance of the documentation with normative and normative-technical acts adopted at the regional and federal levels in the field of nature protection, and give opinions on it.
3. To comply with the requirements of the legislation regulating the examination.
4. Observe the timeframe and procedure for carrying out the audit, as determined by the federal executive body.
5. Ensure the validity and objectivity of the conclusions formulated in the expert opinion.
6. Participate in the preparation of accounting justificationsconclusions of public examination, reasoned proposals received from public associations and citizens on the environmental aspects of the activity subject to examination.
7. Ensure the safety of documents and other materials, the confidentiality of information submitted for verification.

Examples of public examination results

In 1996, at the initiative of the residents of the village of. Korenevo the project of reclamation of the flooded quarry was carried out. Using the results of the examination, citizens managed to cancel the decision on land allocation in court and prevent the turning of a quarry into a waste disposal site.

In the same year of 1996 in Sergiev Posad was canceled decision to build a plant for reprocessing of rocket fuel. Together with the public expertise in the city, signatures of local residents gathered against the implementation of the project, an active campaign was conducted in the media.

In 1997 in the city of Troitsk, the local Duma, having taken into account the opinion of the population and having examined the opinion of the public examination, abolished a number of decisions permitting the construction of a garbage processing plant in the city. During the examination, hearings were organized, in which deputies and members of the commission participated. The conclusion was sent to the Ministry of Health, which formed its own commission. By its decision, the plant construction project was blocked.