Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
member state. Thus, each individual country had to develop specific envi-
ronmental analysis procedures addressing the EU Directive requirements.
The EU Directive is also similar to NEPA in that it is focused on proce-
dure, full public disclosure, and ensuring environmental considerations are
incorporated into decisions. It is also similar in the basic requirements for
the environmental impact analysis report, calling for prediction of impacts,
analysis of alternatives, consideration of mitigation measures, and a non-
technical presentation understandable to all stakeholders. There is a require-
ment, almost identical to the NEPA Record of Decision mandate, calling for
public disclosure of:
r Contents of decisions
r Reasons for the selection of the proposed action
r Response to public comments received on the process, EIA, and
comparison of alternatives
r A description of measures considered and adopted to avoid impacts
The EU environmental analysis process does differ from NEPA in both
procedures and scope. The largest procedural difference is the hierarchi-
cal and strictly prescribed process to determine when an analysis is neces-
sary. There are project types that automatically require a full environmental
analysis and they are listed as Annex I in the Directive (examples presented
in Table 8.2). If the project type falls within the Annex II list, the member
state must decide whether an analysis is necessary. Annex II lists numerous
activities under the following major topics:
r Agriculture, silviculture, and aquaculture
r Extractive and energy industries
r Production and processing of metals
r Mineral, chemical, and food industries
r Textile, leather, wood, paper, and rubber industries
r Infrastructure projects
r Tourism and leisure
The Directive calls for the member states to determine the necessity of an
environmental analysis on each of these types of projects either on a case-
by-case basis or by applying pre-established criteria identified in Annex III:
r Characteristics of projects
r Location of projects
r Characteristics of potential impacts
There are two major differences in scope between the EU Directive and
NEPA and both result in very different programs. The first is the application
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