Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
media-specific pollution and prevention control directives may be the most
important measures taken to address environmental degradation. For exam-
ple, through the permitting procedure, industrial installations are checked
against EU's “best available techniques” for waste treatment and environ-
mental sustainability. Some specific waste streams have been addressed
with collection and recycling targets for batteries, packaging waste, and
electronic wastes. Also, strict media-specific standards (e.g., water and air)
were identified to address pollution issues, and legislation has been passed
to address specific areas of environmental concern such as the objective to
halt biodiversity decline specified in EU's nature and environmental media
protection legislation. The result was that for much of the 1990s and 2000s,
the European environmental program was more focused on the permit and
approval side of environmental protection than on an NEPA-like environ-
mental analysis approach (see Section 9.2 for a discussion and comparison
of the approaches).
There has been some movement back to analysis as an important envi-
ronmental management and protection tool in Europe. The consolida-
tion and simplification of the various Environmental Impact Analysis
Directive amendments into the Directive 2011/92/EU are in recognition
of the need for improvement. The Directive points toward a renewed
effort to institute consistency and adherence to environmental analysis
as a force in European environmental policy. Also, the emphasis in the
new directive and associated efforts on strategic environmental assess-
ment (see Section 6.4) recognizes the importance of not only controlling
but also fully understanding environmental implications and benefits of
comprehensive environmental policies and programs.
8.5
Japanese Environmental Program
Japan's history in environmental legislation differs from that in most coun-
tries in that there have been several attempts abandoned and new approaches
attempted. In contrast, most other countries have had a progression of the
environmental analysis process, with each step and refinement typically
broadening the previous legislation and regulations that provide greater
environmental analysis and protection. Initially, there were two Japanese
laws (Basic Law for Environmental Pollution Control 1967 and the Nature
Conservation Law 1972) governing specific resources and actions but included
no policy or environmental analysis component. The first attempt requir-
ing environmental analysis in Japan was a 1972 rule addressing only public
works projects, which included little guidance and few specific requirements.
The rule was expanded in 1980 to also cover the major areas of development
underway in Japan at the time: ports and harbors, super-express train sys-
tem, power plants, and reclamation. The inconsistent and often superficial
Search WWH ::
Custom Search