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Practice of EIA Inquiry Committee in Japanese Local Governments

Shigeo NISHIKIZAWA and Yasuhiro FUJII

The University of Shiga Prefecture

IAIA 27th Annual Conference

6 June 2007 Seoul, KOREA

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Viewpoint and Objective•　 Transparency • Third Party Check System

　　 EIC=EIA Inquiry Committee : Local Governments

To examine the validity of EIA

• Procedures of inquiry are left to …

Ordinances or discretion

To clarify the practical conditions of EIC

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Methodology

•　 Ordinances or Guidelines of EIA

• Panel Survey ( Nov.-Dec., 2006 )

　　 56 Local Governments ： collecting rate=100%

44 Prefectures + 12 Ordinance-designated cities

　　　　 EIA officer answer on the basis of…

projects within 5 years

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Questionnaire

•　 Contents of the Inquiry by EIC

EIA guideline?, Scoping document?, DEIS? …etc

• Member of EIC

　　 The number of committee members?,

Officer’s opinion of committee member?

• Procedures of inquiry　　 Period for inquiry?, Committees conduct project-site survey?

•　 Disclosure of EIC Meeting?, Minute?, Announcement on the internet?

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Contents of inquiry regulated by ordinance

～ 56 Local Governments ～Contents of Inquiry

(95%)

(73%)

(91%)

(84%)

Number of 　 Local Gov.

Yamanashi Pref., Toyama Pref., Fukuoka Pref. and Yokohama city

6

1

2

1

4

12

1

19

19

47

4

1

3

2

0 10 20 30 40 50

no provision

discretion

no provision

discretion

no provision

discretion

no provision

discretion

no provision

examine not examine

Practical condition of Inquiry

Guideline ofEIA Tech.

ScopingDocument

DEIS

FEIS

Follow upDocument

Number of 　 Local Gov.

Fukuoka Pref.

All committees haven’t examined except for Okinawa Pref.

～ no provision, discretion ～Contents of Inquiry

Only Shizuoka, Okinawa and Kagawa Pref. have examined

All committees have examined for all project

7

23

56

29

35

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

EIASystem

Ecology Climate Change

SustainabilityScience

PublicAdvertisement

RealitiesIdeal (Officer’s opinion)

Committee Member’s Major field

Number ofLocal Gov.

Reality and Ideal of Committee Member

37

56

41 42

10

EIA system experts are not enough

Kawasaki City: necessity to be appointed by PA

8

0

6

12

18

24

30

36

42

48O

kinaw

a

Oka

yam

a

Hir

osh

ima

Senda

i

Mie

Tib

a

Nag

asak

i

Niiga

ta

Sai

tam

a

Nag

oya

Toky

o

Yam

aguchi

Miy

azak

i

Fuku

shim

a

Kan

agaw

a

Sap

poro

Kum

amoto

Fuku

oka

Cit

y

Shim

ane

Gif

u

Aic

hi

Osa

ka C

ity

Osa

ka

Aom

ori

Kyo

to

Iwat

e

Shig

a

Yoko

ham

a

Hir

osh

ima

Ehim

e

Fuku

oka

Kit

a-K

yush

u

Kaw

asak

i

Max

Min

Procedure: Period for inquiryCompletion of Scoping ～ Submission of DEISMonth

3 days

Local Governments

:Longest period project

:Shortest period project

Proponents have conducted the greater part of the survey at the scoping process

Spend more than 1 year in order to consider impactcaused by the changes of seasons

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Project‐site survey conducted by the committee

Project Phase

Scoping（ n=56

)DEIS

（ n=53)

Project Implementation

（ n=51)

Project Completion

（ n=50)

Conduct Do not Conduct fifty-fifty

Number of Local governments

Saitama Pref. Yamanashi Pref. have conducted at the all stages.

Most of committees have conducted at either stage

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Disclosure of EIC

conference

open 　 　 　 　 　 50closed 　 　 　 　 6

Minutes

openfull　text

specify　the　name

announce　on　the　web

13

37

52not　announce　on　the　web

13

withhold　the　name 　 1

1summary 　 　 　 1

5closed 　 　 　 　 　 4

Inquiry　Report

openannounce　on　the　web 　 1

249

not　announce　on　the　web

37

closed 　 　 　 　 0

Member　List

openannounce　on　the　web 　 4

356

not　announce　on　the　web

13

closed 　 　 　 　 　 0

Scoping　Document,　DEIS　etcannounce　on　the　web 　 1

456

not　announce　on　the　web 　 4

2

Committee of Saitama Pref. is so excellent in information disclosure that satisfies all conditions.

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Conclusions１） It is cleared that most committees examine scoping

documents and DEISs. To the contrary, few committees examine FEIS and follow up documents.

２） All of the committees appoint ecology-experts. However, EIA system-experts are appointed at a few committees because of short supply.

３） Most of survey for EIA have been completed for less than one year. It implies that the greater part of survey have been conducted at the scoping process.

4 ） Saitama prefecture’s committee has been taking appropriate measures for disclosure. In future, it should be improved the announcement on the internet in many local governments.