The new Environmental Impact Assessment regime for oil prospecting, which results from the work of the group created in the Parliamentary Commission for the Environment and Spatial Planning, coordinated by the Algarve socialist deputy Luís Graça, will be voted on tomorrow in the Assembly of the Republic.
The working group reached an agreement on a new text, after a draft resolution from the PS and two bills from the BE and the PEV had descended from the plenary to the Commission without a vote.
Deputy Luís Graça is pleased with the result obtained, since “the effort resulted in a legislative body that requires greater environmental rigor and offers more transparency”.
The only text reached, and which will be voted on tomorrow in the Assembly of the Republic, clarifies that the legal regime of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) applies to the entire territory and marine waters. According to this new text, there are no longer any exploration situations that are not subject to environmental impact assessment.
In statements to the Sul Informação, Luís Graça underlined that the new text results from the contributions of the four parties that are linked to the current Government – PS, Left Bloc, PCP and Os Verdes. "We didn't agree on everything, but each party presented its proposals and we ended up reaching a consensus text, which represents a significant improvement in the legislation".
In the working group, the text had the favorable votes of PS, BE, PCP and Greens, with the PSD and CDS abstaining. In the Parliamentary Committee on the Environment, which met yesterday, "there was a unanimous approval", so the Algarve deputy hopes that tomorrow, in the vote on the specialty and in the whole, in the plenary of the Assembly of the Republic, the new text of the law will also be approved by all parties.
As the PS deputy elected by the Algarve constituency explains, with the new text, «all situations of exploitation are subject to evaluation and not just those from a certain number of barrels», as was the case until now. Also “all prospecting situations with unconventional means [fracking, for example] are subject to an environmental impact assessment”.
The new text also guarantees that prospecting situations with conventional means will be subject to a case-by-case analysis, implying a prior public discussion.
Luís Graça argues that this public consultation "is relevant in itself, because it allows the participation of citizens and local authorities in the decision of submitting, or not, the project to environmental impact assessment", and also because it "compels the preparation of a set of elements and studies so that the project is duly subject to public consultation».
During the public consultation period, the elements relating to the projects will become available in the Municipal Councils and in the CCDR (Coordination and Regional Development Commissions).
The contracts in force will now be monitored by a technical commission, with representatives from various State bodies and external technical experts, which will force articulation between public entities. In times when the State has a discretionary power, a continuation of contracts, including current ones, without compliance with the EIA regime, will not be accepted.
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