In the near future, the Ukrainian parliament will consider draft law No. 13174, one of the amendments to which is an attempt to circumvent the requirement to suspend the procedure for obtaining an environmental impact assessment (EIA) in the presence of legal proceedings.
This was stated by members of the public association “Code 21” on their Facebook page called “Eco-friendly Zakarpattia.”
A questionable amendment
They said that this concerns draft law No. 13174 “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine Regarding the Protection of Land Rights of Owners of Real Estate Destroyed as a Result of Hostilities” and amendment No. 103 to add a new paragraph 1.1 to its transitional provisions. According to the activists, this change is being “promoted” by Antonina Slavitska, a member of parliament from the banned political party “Opposition Platform – For Life” (OPFL). The text of the new clause reads as follows:
"1.1. To establish that during the period of martial law and for three years from the date of its termination or cancellation in Ukraine or in a separate locality thereof, this law shall not apply to the environmental impact assessment of planned activities for the construction (including reconstruction) or modernization of defense and industrial complex facilities, critical infrastructure (infrastructure projects), energy industry facilities, and/or the construction of overhead power lines. Administrative proceedings that were suspended in relation to such facilities in accordance with Article 64 of this Law shall be resumed."
Activists say that this is an attempt to circumvent Article 64 of the Law of Ukraine “On Administrative Procedure,” which ensures compliance with the provisions of the Law of Ukraine “On Environmental Impact Assessment.”
The deputy's arguments
On July 7, at a meeting of the parliamentary agrarian committee, Antonina Slavitska complained that "dishonest activists pseudo-activists are filing artificial lawsuits, and after receiving a ruling to open proceedings on this basis, they are suspending administrative proceedings,“ which is why ”the implementation of important infrastructure projects is being delayed by more than a year."
"At the same time, we have another law on environmental impact assessment, Article 12 of which provides for judicial control over the conclusion of the environmental impact assessment, another entity, decisions, actions, or inaction of the authority in this area. Thus, our proposal does not abolish judicial control in the event of any violations during the provision of an environmental impact assessment conclusion; it remains, but not at the intermediate stage, but at the final stage," the deputy said.
Why environmentalists are against it
According to eco-activists, the elected representative is manipulating two provisions of two separate laws – “On Administrative Procedure” and “On Environmental Impact Assessment” – when she refers to the provision of the first as ‘interim’ and both laws as “duplicating” each other in her speech.
The chair of the Servant of the People party, Olena Shulyak, responded to questions from those present at the committee meeting. According to her, the chair of the environmental committee, Oleg Bondarenko, and the Ministry of Environmental Protection are aware of the “problem” and are looking for ways to solve it.
She also insisted that these are duplicative provisions of the laws.
“Although in reality they are different in relation to the subject of the appeal. Now, thanks to the provision of the law ”On Administrative Procedure," if, at the stage of the EIA procedure, detailed plans or orders of the State Geocadastre that have been unlawfully approved by the local government are appealed, the EIA procedure must be suspended.
This also keeps the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine, which is currently “controlled” by Bankova, within bounds, as it can easily issue a positive conclusion to the developer. Yes, it can then be appealed in court in accordance with the law “On Environmental Impact Assessment,” and the court proceedings also make construction work impossible while the litigation is ongoing. However, unreformed courts, especially local ones, often side with the political and construction mafia. Or the EIA report itself may be of high quality on paper and have no grounds for rejection, even in the case of construction that is most dangerous to nature," say representatives of the NGO Code 21.
Twenty-six members of the agricultural committee voted in favor of this amendment, although there were comments regarding its wording.
What are the risks
Activists warn that amendment No. 103 poses a real danger of wind farm construction in the Runa (Rivna) mountain pastures, where illegal work on the construction of wind turbine foundations has been ongoing since April, as well as in other unique Carpathian territories.
They reminded that the EIA procedure for this project is currently suspended due to court proceedings in case 260/5885/24 on the lawsuit filed by the International Environmental Organization "Ecology – Law – Man“ against the Tur'ye-Remetivska Village Council regarding the appeal of the village council's decision to approve the urban planning documentation ”Detailed Plan of the Polonyna Runa Area," which was developed with violations, and whose public hearings, as well as the CEO report, did not take place procedurally.
However, after the adoption of draft law No. 13174 with this amendment, the EIA procedure for Polonyna Runa will be resumed.
"This also applies to other court proceedings that are holding up the EIA procedure for unscrupulous developers. For example, there is such a case in the village of Kaliny in the Dubivska community, where people are defending the Teresva River from the construction of a cascade of small hydroelectric power plants. And in the future, the energy business, which is mostly unscrupulous, and the same local authorities will go even further in terms of violating urban planning and land legislation,“ members of the NGO ”Code 21" believe.
We would like to remind you that, contrary to the position of the Ministry of Environment, environmental inspectors in the Zakarpattia region did not find any violations on the Runa mountain pasture, where the controversial construction of a wind farm is underway. In this article by EcoPolitics, you can also read about the chronicle of the confrontation between activists and the developer.
We are also following the conflict surrounding the construction of a cascade of small hydroelectric power plants near the village of Kalyny in Zakarpattia. In mid-May, EcoPolitics reported that the court had seized the land plots for the construction of hydroelectric power plants in Kalyny due to possible document forgery.
