Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
environmental analysis persisted with the addition of these areas to the rule,
so the Diet (the national legislative body) proposed a more structured and
integrated approach to environmental analysis in the early 1980s, but the bill
failed to pass. The lack of legislative approval resulted in an administrative
process of “Implementation of Environmental Impact Assessment” in 1984.
This process suffered from inconsistencies and the same lack of guidance
and mandates as earlier efforts such that its effectiveness was limited.
Recognizing the limitations of the environmental control, pollution pre-
vention, and comprehensive environmental analysis in force at the time, in
1990 Japan began to update their approach. In 1993, they passed the “Basic
Environmental Law.” This law set the national environmental policy and
goals and required an annual national review and reporting of environmen-
tal conditions. It also directed the government to establish standards, such
as water- and air-quality permissible levels of pollutants, and set goals for
industry. The law does have a very general mention of the need for envi-
ronmental analysis (Article 20) but there is no clear requirement or guid-
ance. However, the Basic Environmental Law set the stage for the passage of
the “Environmental Impact Assessment Law” in 1997, which is currently the
mandate, guidance, and authority for environmental analysis of activities
that could affect the environment in Japan.
Reflecting the policy established in the Basic Environmental Law and
echoing NEPA, the purposes of the Environmental Impact Assessment
Law are to ensure that proper consideration is given to environmental pro-
tection issues relating to major projects, and ultimately, to ensure that the
present and future generations of the nation enjoy healthy and culturally
rewarding lives. The law prescribes the process to first identify the need
for environmental analysis and then the procedures to produce, review,
and finalize the analysis. The law includes a very specific list of catego-
ries and subcategories of projects that require a full environmental impact
analysis (Class 1) and others in which the decision is made on a case by case
basis (Class 2) are covered (Table 8.3). The law then proceeds to describe
what level of activity in each category warrants environmental analysis
and review. For example, the number of lanes and length of roadway that
require a full EIA are specified. For projects with a size above a threshold
but below the requirement for a full EIA, the need for an EIA is made by
the authorizing federal entity and the project proponent on a case-by-case
basis. The law provides for local environmental ordinances and an assess-
ment system that can add projects requiring an EIA to specific conditions
and situations occurring in their jurisdiction.
After the need for an EIA is determined, the scope of the analysis is estab-
lished through a public comment and input scoping procedure. Based on the
input received during scoping, the project proponent circulates the resulting
scoping document to the appropriate local governmental officials and the
public at large. The proponent has the opportunity to revise the scope based
on this second round of public input and then distributes the final scoping
Search WWH ::
Custom Search