Environmental assessments may no longer be required for large-scale projects. It will be sufficient to include them in a regional sustainability plan, which will automatically exempt them from the strategic environmental assessment (SEA) and environmental impact assessment (EIA) procedures. The Ministry of Community and Territorial Development has already drafted a corresponding resolution. This poses risks to the environment, but it could also undermine economic guarantees for investors.
This was reported by the civic initiative "Holka."
The draft resolution itself has not yet been made public. Its text has been provided to parliamentarians, government officials, and experts for review.
A threat not only to the environment but also to investments
Removing environmental safeguards at the initial stage could accelerate the launch of large-scale investment projects. However, in subsequent stages, they will still undergo an environmental assessment. This creates risks for the completion of the project once investments have already been made and environmental damage has already been done. This opinion was expressed by Georgiy Mogilny, an analyst with the civic initiative “Golka.”
“When the Aarhus Convention was adopted, which, at the international level, guarantees people’s right to a safe environment, it was adopted under the auspices of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. Therefore, the aim of the strategic environmental assessment and environmental impact assessment, which the government is attempting to eliminate at the initial stage, is not only about the environment, but also about the economy. Issues in implementing multimillion-dollar projects should be addressed at early stages, when resources have not yet been spent,” the expert emphasized.
A blow to transparency
It is known that the Zakarpattia Regional Military Administration has already prepared its comprehensive sustainability plan. Notably, according to this plan, wind power plants (WPPs) are to be commissioned. This became known from the response of the Ministry of Development to an inquiry from the Ukrainian Nature Conservation Group (UNCG). At the same time, the group emphasized that they were denied information about which specific WPPs are involved.
Meanwhile, the Department of Life Support Systems at the ministry continues to stress the importance of effective and timely citizen information.
However, environmental experts are convinced that no transparent or adequate communication with the public will be possible if the resolution is adopted. As an example, the UNCG cites the construction of wind power plants in the high Carpathians – on the Krasna polonyna, Svydivets, and other ridges.
“If this resolution is adopted, then by tomorrow they could start excavating foundation pits without completing the procedure. Such simplification may be justified for installing boiler houses or cogeneration units in cities suffering from enemy attacks, but promoting such mechanisms for large-scale projects outside settlements, in the mountains, is nothing more than lobbying the interests of private business,” noted UNCG’s head of the expert department, Petro Tiestov.
EcoPolitic previously analyzed how the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) procedure has become a corruption tool for officials.
