Environmental assessment

According to the Federal Law dated 11.23.1995 No. 174-ФЗ “On Ecological Expertise”, in the Russian Federation state environmental expertise and public environmental expertise are carried out.

The state environmental review is organized and conducted by the federal executive body in the field of environmental impact assessment (Rosprirodnadzor ^[2] ) and the state authorities of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation in the manner established by this Federal Law, other regulatory legal acts of the Russian Federation, laws and other regulatory legal acts of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation Federation.

Public environmental assessment is organized and conducted at the initiative of citizens and public organizations (associations), as well as at the initiative of local governments by public organizations (associations), whose main activity in accordance with their charters is environmental protection, including the organization and conduct of environmental expertise, and which are registered in the manner prescribed by the legislation of the Russian Federation.

Ecological expertise is based on the principles ^[1] :

• presumption of potential environmental hazard of any planned economic and other activities;
• mandatory state environmental review prior to making decisions on the implementation of an environmental review facility;
• the complexity of environmental impact assessment of economic and other activities and their consequences;
• the obligation to take into account the requirements of environmental safety during environmental assessment;
• accuracy and completeness of information submitted for environmental impact assessment;
• independence of experts of environmental impact assessment in the exercise of their powers in the field of environmental impact assessment;
• the scientific validity, objectivity and legality of the conclusions of environmental impact assessment;
• publicity , participation of public organizations (associations), public opinion accounting;
• responsibility of the participants of environmental impact assessment and stakeholders for the organization, conduct, quality of environmental impact assessment.

The duration of the state environmental review should not exceed three months and may be extended by one month at the request of the customer, unless otherwise provided by federal law ^[3]

The objects of the state ecological expertise of the federal level are:

1) drafts of normative-technical and instructive-methodical documents in the field of environmental protection, approved by the state authorities of the Russian Federation;

2) drafts of federal targeted programs providing for the construction and operation of business facilities that have an impact on the environment, in terms of the location of such facilities, taking into account the regime for the protection of natural objects;

3) draft agreements on production sharing;

4) materials for justifying licenses for certain types of activities that have a negative impact on the environment in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation in the field of the use of atomic energy;

5) draft technical documentation for new equipment, technology, the use of which may have an impact on the environment, as well as technical documentation for new substances that may enter the natural environment;

6) materials of a comprehensive environmental survey of areas that justify giving these territories the legal status of specially protected natural areas of federal significance, an ecological disaster zone or an emergency ecological zone;

6.1) materials justifying the transformation of state natural reserves into national parks;

7) the objects of the state environmental review specified in Federal Law No. 187-FZ of November 30, 1995 "On the Continental Shelf of the Russian Federation", Federal Law of December 17, 1998 No. 191-ФЗ "On the Exclusive Economic Zone of the Russian Federation", Federal Law No. 155-FZ of July 31, 1998, "On Inland Marine Waters, the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone of the Russian Federation";

7.1) project documentation of facilities, construction, reconstruction of which is supposed to be carried out on lands of specially protected natural territories of federal significance, on the Baikal natural territory, as well as project documentation of especially dangerous, technically complex and unique facilities, objects of defense and security, construction, reconstruction of which is planned on lands of specially protected natural territories of regional and local significance, in cases where construction, reconstruction of such objects comrades on the lands of specially protected natural territories are allowed by the legislation of the Russian Federation and the legislation of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation;

7.2) project documentation of facilities used for disposal and (or) disposal of waste of I - V hazard classes, including design documentation for construction, reconstruction of facilities used for disposal and (or) disposal of waste of I - V hazard classes, as well as projects decommissioning of the said facilities, land reclamation projects disturbed during disposal of waste of I-V hazard classes, and lands used but not intended for disposal of wastes of I-V hazard classes;

7.3) design documentation of artificial land plots, the creation of which is supposed to be carried out on water bodies owned by the Russian Federation;

7.4) a project to eliminate mine workings using ferrous metal wastes of IV and V hazard classes;

In accordance with the Federal Law of 21.07.2014 N 219-FZ, from January 1, 2018, article 11 will be supplemented with sub-clauses 7.5 and 7.6 of the following content:

"7.5) the project documentation of capital construction projects related to the first category objects in accordance with the legislation in the field of environmental protection, except if such project documentation is included in the materials for justifying licenses in accordance with sub-clause 4 of this article;

7.6) materials of substantiation of integrated environmental permit, developed in accordance with the legislation in the field of environmental protection, in case these materials do not contain information about the presence of a positive conclusion of the state environmental impact assessment held in respect of the facilities specified in sub-clause 7.5 of this article; ”.

8) the object of state environmental review, specified in this article and previously received a positive opinion of the state environmental review, in the case of:

refinement of such an object according to the comments of the previously conducted state environmental review;

implementation of such an object with deviations from the documentation that received a positive conclusion of the state environmental impact assessment, and (or) in case of changes in the specified documentation;

the expiration of the validity of the conclusion of the state environmental review;

making changes to the documentation that received a positive conclusion of the state environmental review.

The objects of the state ecological expertise of the regional level are:

1) drafts of normative-technical and instructive-methodical documents in the field of environmental protection, approved by state authorities of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation;

2) projects of target programs of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, providing for the construction and operation of objects of economic activity that have an impact on the environment, in terms of the placement of such objects, taking into account the protection regime of natural objects;

3) materials of the integrated environmental survey of the areas of the territories, substantiating the assignment to these territories of the legal status of specially protected natural territories of regional significance;

4.1) project documentation of facilities, construction, reconstruction of which is supposed to be carried out on lands of specially protected natural territories of regional and local importance, with the exception of project documentation of facilities specified in sub-clause 7.1 of Article 11 of this Federal Law, in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation and the legislation of the subjects of the Russian Federation ;

5) an object of state ecological expert examination of a regional level indicated in this article and previously received a positive opinion of the state ecological expert examination in the case of:

refinement of such an object according to the comments of the previously conducted state environmental review;

implementation of such an object with deviations from the documentation that received a positive conclusion of the state environmental impact assessment, and (or) in case of changes in the specified documentation;

the expiration of the validity of the conclusion of the state environmental review;

making changes to the documentation for which there is a positive conclusion of the state environmental review.

Clearly, environmental design was presented in land reclamation projects. In the 70s of XX century. The first generalized works on the recultivation of landscapes in the USSR appeared. In the same period, government and state documents regulating the design and implementation of remediation came out.

In the USSR, the Decree of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR of December 1, 1978 was the first legally registered step towards environmental impact assessment. It recommended the introduction of territorial integrated environmental management schemes (TerXCOP) into the practice of national economic planning. Under the strict planning system and the monopoly of ministries, TerKSOPs did not become an effective tool for environmental design and expertise. The decree of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the USSR Council of Ministers of January 7, 1988 created the conditions for the formation of a new approach to environmental management:

• The system of environmental authorities was reformed. This decree created the supra-departmental body of the USSR State Committee for Nature Protection (later - the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection of the USSR),
• it was considered expedient to create in Moscow in the system of the USSR State Committee on Nature Science the All-Union Research Center for the problems of environmental protection and the rational use of natural resources
• In accordance with the decree, a system of environmental impact assessment was established.

An important step in the formation of environmental legislation was the adoption on December 12, 1993 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, which determined the equality of various forms of ownership (state, municipal and private) of land and other natural resources (art. 9, 36), as well as the right of citizens to a favorable environmental Wednesday I, CT 42). In the former Constitution of the country only state ownership of natural resources was declared. After the adoption of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the legislation of the Russian Federation, including environmental legislation, was almost completely revised. Formed a new environmental legislation of the Russian Federation. Expertise is a study by a specialist (expert) of any issues that require special knowledge in the field of science, technology or art. Expert evaluations are quantitative and (or) ordinal evaluations of processes or phenomena that cannot be directly measured, and therefore are based on expert judgment. Ecological expertise is the determination of the compliance of the planned economic and other activities with environmental requirements and the determination of the admissibility of the implementation of an environmental assessment object in order to prevent possible adverse effects of this activity on the natural environment and related social, environmental and other consequences of the implementation of the object of this examination. Environmental assessment is carried out on the construction of new, reconstruction of existing plants, factories, mines, mines, machinery, equipment, as well as materials, devices, services, etc., the use of which leads to environmental pollution and the destruction of ecosystems, irrational use of natural resources , harms the health of the population, flora and fauna.

Requirements for the quality and validity of environmental assessments are constantly increasing along with the acceleration of scientific and technological progress, the introduction of the latest technology and technology into production. In this regard, legislative and regulatory materials are periodically reviewed. Federal Law “On Ecological Expertise” dated November 23, 1995 No. 174-ФЗ. regulates relations in the field of environmental impact assessment. It is aimed at the implementation of the constitutional right of citizens of the Russian Federation to a favorable environment by preventing the negative impacts of economic and other activities on this environment and provides for the implementation of the constitutional right of subjects of the Russian Federation to jointly manage environmental issues and ensure environmental safety. Along with this law, the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated June 11, 1996 No. 698 “On Approval of the Regulations on the Procedure for Conducting State Ecological Expertise” acts

• More about environmental impact assessment