Ministry of Ecology and Environment releases the new policy of environmental impact assessment for industrial park planning

Establish and improve a long-term mechanism for quality supervision of planning environmental impact assessment

Core reading

　　The Ministry of Ecology and Environment will establish and improve a long-term mechanism for tracking and supervision of planning environmental impact assessments, regularly schedule the development and implementation of planning environmental assessments and follow-up assessments of industrial parks, and adopt a combination of "regular inspections + irregular random inspections" to increase quality supervision of planning environmental impact reports .

　　□ Our reporter Yan Jianrong

　　Which industrial parks need to carry out planning environmental assessment?

The Ministry of Ecology and Environment recently issued the "Opinions on Further Strengthening the Environmental Impact Assessment of Industrial Park Planning" (hereinafter referred to as the "Opinions") to clearly stipulate this.

In accordance with the requirements of the "Opinions", the economic and technological development zones, high-tech industrial development zones, tourist resorts and other industrial parks approved by the State Council and its relevant departments, provincial people’s governments, and various industries approved by the municipal people’s governments with districts In the preparation of relevant plans for development and construction of the park, it shall carry out planning environmental assessment work according to law and prepare environmental impact reports.

　　The relevant person in charge of the Environmental Assessment Department of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment pointed out that the "Opinions" aims to solve the current problems of the lack of implementation of the main responsibilities of some industrial park management agencies and the uneven quality of planning environmental assessment.

　　The person in charge emphasized that the Ministry of Ecology and Environment will establish and improve a long-term mechanism for quality supervision of planning and environmental impact assessment, and regularly schedule the development and implementation of planning and environmental assessment of industrial parks.

Solve the problem of not implementing the main responsibility

　　According to the person in charge, in 2011, the former Ministry of Environmental Protection issued the "Notice on Strengthening the Environmental Impact Assessment of Industrial Park Planning" (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice").

　　The person in charge said that in order to adapt to the new situation and new requirements, promote the integration of planning environmental assessment and the ecological environment zoning management and control system, guide the environmental assessment reform of construction projects in the park, and solve the problem of the current lack of implementation of the main responsibility of some industrial park management agencies and the uneven quality of planning environmental assessment. To further strengthen the supervision of planning environmental impact assessment, and effectively improve the effectiveness of planning environmental impact assessment of industrial parks, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment has launched an upgraded version of the “Notice”, the “Opinions”.

　　According to reports, compared with the "Notice", the "Opinions" fully implement the requirements of "decentralization, management and service".

Simplified the types of industrial parks that carry out planning environmental impact assessments, explored ways to link planning environmental impact assessment reviews with ecological environment zoning management and control, and clarified simplified conditions, simplified principles, content, and reform pilot requirements for construction projects in the park.

　　At the same time, the "Opinions" coordinate the work of "three lines and one order" (red line of ecological protection, bottom line of environmental quality, online resource utilization and ecological environment access list), planning environmental assessment, project environmental assessment and pollution discharge permit.

Focus on the integration of planning and environmental impact assessment and the implementation of regional ecological and environmental zoning management and control results to ensure the implementation of the regional "three lines and one single" achievement; the adoption and implementation of planning environmental impact assessment conclusions and review opinions as an important basis for simplifying and approving the environmental impact assessment of construction projects in the park; relying on industrial park planning Environmental assessment work, strengthen the implementation of the overall deployment of the full coverage of pollution permits, and optimize the management methods of shared pollution control measures in the park.

　　The person in charge pointed out that the "Opinions" focus on improving environmental quality, highlight the focus of planning and environmental assessment work, and further clarify the responsibilities of industrial park management institutions and planning environmental assessment technical institutions.

Propose specific measures to strengthen follow-up management, supervision and guidance to effectively ensure that the planning environmental impact assessment is effective.

Clarify the scope of planning environmental impact assessment

　　The "Opinions" clarify which industrial parks need to carry out planning environmental assessment.

　　According to the requirements of the "Opinions", the economic and technological development zones, high-tech industrial development zones, tourist resorts and other industrial parks approved by the State Council and its relevant departments, provincial people’s governments, and various industries approved by the municipal people’s governments with districts For the park, when preparing relevant plans for development and construction, it shall carry out planning environmental assessment work according to law and prepare environmental impact reports.

　　"Compared with the Notice, the Opinions did not separately propose requirements for the implementation of planning environmental impact assessments for bonded zones, bonded port areas, comprehensive bonded zones, export processing zones and other special customs supervision zones. The main consideration is that such parks have relatively simple functions. The area is small and the environmental impact is relatively small, and planning is often not carried out separately." The person in charge said that the "Opinions" encourage these parks to rely on other types of industrial parks in the area to carry out environmental impact assessments.

　　Regarding the "Opinions", how does the industrial park planning environmental impact assessment and the "three lines and one single" ecological environment zoning management and control system link up?

The person in charge said that from the results of the “three lines and one order” of the 11 provinces and cities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt and Qinghai Province, the industrial parks are generally classified as key control units, and the corresponding control requirements are relatively clear.

Some provinces have compiled ecological environment access lists for parks at the provincial level and above, and have put forward specific environmental access and control requirements for industrial parks.

The planning environmental assessment mainly focuses on the optimization of the planning industry's positioning, layout, and scale, as well as countermeasures and suggestions for avoiding and mitigating the environmental impact of the planning.

Both have a certain degree of overlap in content and evaluation methods.

　　The person in charge said that the "Opinions" has clearly made the integration and implementation of regional ecological environment zoning management and control results as the focus of the review of the planning environment.

Therefore, in order to avoid duplication of work and better adapt to the requirements of “delegating management and service”, the “Opinions” puts forward the planning environment of national industrial parks in their jurisdictions for provinces that have issued “three lines and one single” ecological environment zoning management and control plan and organized implementation. The impact report may be reviewed by the provincial competent department of ecological environment entrusted by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, and the review opinions shall be copied to the Ministry of Ecology and Environment.

The person in charge said that the plan should clarify in the management system and technical guarantees how the planning and environmental impact assessment should be integrated to implement the regional ecological environment zoning management and control results to ensure the improvement of the regional ecological environment quality.

　　In addition, the "Opinions" also pointed out that the environmental impact assessment of industrial park planning is an important basis for construction projects in the park. Part of the content of the environmental impact assessment of construction projects in the park can be appropriately simplified on the premise that the planning environmental impact assessment is completed with high quality.

"The industrial park has completed the planning and environmental impact assessment work in accordance with the law, and adopted and implemented the planning environmental impact assessment conclusions and review opinions; the provincial people's government has formulated, issued or authorized the formulation of the negative list of regional environmental assessment approval, the list of key industries for strict environmental assessment management, etc., which pollutes the projects entering the park And environmental risks can be effectively prevented and controlled; the environmental quality of the industrial park is stable and up to standard and continuously improved; the environmental infrastructure of the industrial park is complete, stable operation, sound environmental management and risk prevention and control systems, and no major environmental incidents have occurred in the past five years." People said that the "Opinions" encourage local governments to carry out pilot reforms of environmental impact assessments for inbound construction projects of national and provincial industrial parks under the above conditions.

Improve long-term tracking and supervision mechanism

　　In order to ensure the smooth implementation of the "Opinions", the person in charge said that the Ministry of Ecology and Environment will establish and improve a long-term mechanism for tracking and monitoring planning and environmental impact assessments, and regularly schedule the development and implementation of planning environmental impact assessments and follow-up assessments for industrial parks, and adopt "regular inspections + irregular random inspections" "Increase the quality supervision of planning environmental impact reports in a combined way.

Focus on checking the quality of preparation and the implementation of planning environmental impact assessments, and publicly expose relevant responsible entities with poor compilation quality and poor implementation of planning environmental impact assessments and deal with them in accordance with laws and regulations.

　　At the same time, the "Opinions" proposed that if the quality of the planning environmental impact report is found by the ecological and environmental authorities at all levels that the basic information is seriously inaccurate, does not meet the requirements of laws and regulations, cannot provide technical support for the optimization and adjustment of the plan, or even falsification, it can be legally Deal with the industrial park management agency and its entrusted planning and environmental assessment technical agency in accordance with regulations.

If the management agency of the industrial park fails to carry out the planning environmental impact assessment, fails to implement relevant requirements, or has dereliction of duty such as fraud when organizing the environmental impact assessment, the ecological and environmental authorities at all levels can urge rectification through interviews, notifications, etc., and timely feedback relevant information Ecological environmental protection inspector.

　　The "Opinions" clarified that the management of the planning EIA review expert database should be standardized, and if there is fraud or dereliction of duty during the review, the qualifications shall be disqualified and an announcement shall be made according to law. If the department representative of the review team has the above behavior, it shall be notified to the department where it belongs, and given according to law Sanction.

　　“Eco-environmental authorities at all levels shall organize timely inspections of plans that have had significant adverse effects in accordance with the law.” The relevant person in charge of the Environmental Assessment Department of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment pointed out that the local ecological and environmental authorities at all levels must strengthen the environmental protection of industrial parks in accordance with the “Opinions”. Supervision of quality changes and pollutant discharge, especially for heavy pollution or toxic and hazardous pollutant discharge parks, carry out law enforcement monitoring according to law, and implement supervision responsibilities.