Environmental Impact Assessment in Germany with a Special Focus on Environmental Planning in the Ruhr Area

Abstract

The first part of the implementation of directive 85/337/EEC in the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) was completed with the EIA law in February 1990. The transformation into the laws of the 16 federal states in Germany is not finished yet, especially for the projects from annex II of the EC Directive; only three states have their own EIA law as a draft (June 1991). The EC directive is valid for projects. In Germany, it is in force on the project level, if not much is known about the project. On this level, the project is tested in a so-called spatial planning proceeding. But many environmental problems are determined by the previous level: a plan or a programme. By the guidelines of the FRG from 1975, the EIA became effective for plans, programmes or the development of guidelines themselves. But this guideline is hardly applied. With the draft of an EC directive about the EIA of plans, programmes and policies there is some movement. As an example, the federal ministry of technology and research authorised investigation of a method of assessing the development of technologies concerning their environmental effects by the Research Centre Jülich, the EIA Research Centre, PRO TERRA TEAM Dortmund and other institutions. At this earliest stage, one can choose a development which includes mitigation measures or better effects on the environment. This method should be obligatory for the development of all technologies with financial support by the state. The EIA of the higher levels of action and the assessment of the projects should cooperate when we reach an environmental policy on a consolidated basis. At least the EIA needs environmental quality goals. The estimation of projects must be based on reference values. Legal values for toxic substances are in general oriented to avoid danger. But the EC directive requires the assessment of cumulative, synergistic and long term effects. One therefore needs precautionary values for the environmental media. On the other hand, environmental quality planning includes spatial developments such as reclamation and development of landscape resources. The international building exhibition Emscher-Park (IBA) aims at this regeneration of landscape parks. Nature protection areas should be increased by up to 10 percent more than today. Areas of constructions (commercial, industrial and residential zones) should consider ecological principles. Roof vegetation and infiltration of the rain to mitigate the effects of the paved surfaces are examples of ecological planning. The main ecological interest is the development and enforcement of natural resources. A research project in the Ruhr Area investigated, computer-aided, the possibility of opening paved surfaces and the effects on the ground water. Beyond this it is tested whether a creek, which is technically enlarged and used for waste water, could be regenerated in its historical course.