Origins and development - Introduction to Environmental Impact Assessment - page 29

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Origins and development
2.1 Introduction
Environmental impact assessment was first formally established in the USA in 1969 and
has since spread, in various forms, to most other countries. In the UK, EIA was initially
an ad hoc procedure carried out by local planning authorities and developers, primarily
for oil- and gas-related developments. A 1985 European Community directive on EIA
(Directive 85/337) introduced broadly uniform requirements for EIA to all EU Member
States and significantly affected the development of EIA in the UK. However, 10 years
after the Directive was agreed, Member States were still carrying out widely diverse
forms of EIA, contradicting the Directive's aim of “levelling the playing field”.
Amendments of 1997 aimed to improve this situation. The nature of EIA systems—e.g.
mandatory or discretionary, level of public participation, types of action requiring EIA—
and their implementation in practice vary widely from country to country. However, the
rapid spread of the concept of EIA and its central role in many countries' programmes of
environmental protection attest to its universal validity as a proactive planning tool.
This chapter first discusses how the system of EIA evolved in the US. The present
status of EIA worldwide is then briefly reviewed (Chapter 10 will consider a number of
countries' systems of EIA in greater depth). EIA in the UK and the EU are then
discussed. Finally, we review the various systems of EIA in the EU Member States.
2.2 The National Environmental Policy Act and subsequent US
systems
The US National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969, also known as NEPA, was
the first legislation to require EIAs. Consequently it has become an important model for
other EIA systems, both because it was a radically new form of environmental policy and
because of the successes and failures of its subsequent development. Since its enactment,
NEPA has resulted in the preparation of well over 25,000 full and partial EISs, which
have influenced countless decisions and represent a powerful base of environmental
information. On the other hand, NEPA is unique. Other countries have shied away from
the form it takes and the procedures it sets out, not least because they are unwilling to
face a situation like that in the USA, where there has been extensive litigation over the
interpretation and workings of the EIA system.
This section covers NEPA's legislative history, i.e. the early development before it
became law, the interpretation of NEPA by the courts and the Council on Environmental