헌법에서 보장하고 있는 환경보호의 원칙은 환경영향평가를 통해 국민의 쾌적한 환경을 보장해주고 전문적이고 체계적인 관리를 위하여 오랜 기간 입법을 통해 발전되어온 제도이다.
절차법적인 성격을 지니고 있는 환경영향평가법은 각종 공익과 사익의 체계를 구축하는 것을 목적으로 시행되고 있으나, 법률의 목적을 달성하는 데에는 한계가 있다. 또한 환경영향평가의 결과가 국민이 납득할 수 있는 기대를 반영할 수 있는 것인지에 대한 판단도 필요하다.
국가는 공익과 사익의 중립적 목적을 달성하기 위해 환경영향평가를 시행할 때 국가의 방향을 제시하고 주민의견을 청취하도록 규정하고 있다. 주민의견수렴 뿐만 아니라 관계전문가, 환경단체 등의 의견수렴도 반드시 진행하게 하여 그 결과가 반영된 환경영향평가서를 작성하여 협의기관에 통보하도록 규정하고 있다. 이러한 의견수렴 내용이 사업계획에 반영되는 여부는 공개되지 않고, 협의에 의한 반영결과에 따라 사업계획의 방향과 정합성 측면에서도 결정이 필요한 사항이다.
환경영향평가제도가 가지는 영향력은 환경 전반에 걸친 사업이나 제도 등 범위와 방향에 따라 파급력이 강하기 때문에 국가의 정책적인 판단이 아닌 중장기적인 환경영향에 맞는 전략이 필요하다.
다만 환경에 미치는 영향을 미리 예측･분석하고 부정적인 환경영향에 대한 저감방향을 강구하는 단계의 수단인 환경영향평가제도는 행정기관뿐만 아니라 공공단체, 민간사업까지도 포함하여 평가되는 수단인 것이다.
환경영향평가는 사업계획에 있어 중요한 방향을 가지고 있지만 환경 전반에 걸친 모든 부분에서 검토되어야 하기 때문에 전문지식을 가지고 있는 평가자가 반드시 포함되어야 한다. 다만 모든 분야의 전문가를 가질 수 없기 때문에 외부전문가의 협력방안도 검토되어야 한다.
이와 같은 환경영향평가에 대하여 입법의 원칙적 측면에서 환경영향평가법이 갖는 중요성과 필요성에 비추어 입법적 미비가 나타나지 않도록 하여 관련 법률의 체계를 정립할 필요가 있다.
The principle of environmental protection guaranteed by the Constitution is a system that has been developed through legislation for a long period of time for professional and systematic management that ensures a comfortable environment for the people through environmental impact assessment. The Environmental Impact Assessment Act is adjective law and has an intention of constructing system of public and private benefit. But the Act has some limits to achieve the purposes. Also, the judgement about whether the result of environmental impact assessment reflects the people’s expectation is needed. The State stipulates that when conducting an environmental impact assessment to achieve the neutral objectives of the public and death, it should point the direction of the State and listen to the opinions of the residents. It stipulates that not only the opinions of residents but also the opinions of related experts and environmental groups should be converged, and that an environmental impact assessment report that reflects the results should be prepared and notified to the consultative body. Whether or not the content of such opinion convergence will be reflected in the business plan is not disclosed, and it is necessary to make a decision from the viewpoint of the direction and consistency of the business plan according to the reflection result of the discussion. Since the impact of the environmental impact assessment system has a strong ripple effect depending on the scope and direction of businesses and systems that cover the entire environment, it is necessary to have a strategy that suits the medium- to long-term environmental impact rather than a national policy decision. This assessment system is a means of performing predictive analysis on environmental impact and considering measures to reduce the negative environmental effects. And public and private organizations as well as administrative agency have utilized this system. Although environmental impact assessment has an important direction in business planning, it must include an evaluator with specialized knowledge because it must be considered in all parts of the environment as a whole. However, since it is not possible to have experts in all fields, it is necessary to consider the cooperation plan of external experts. Therefore, it is necessary to establish the law system to supplement something that is inadequate legislatively in light of the importance and necessity of Environmental impact assessment act in principled aspect of legislation.
The principle of environmental protection guaranteed by the Constitution is a system that has been developed through legislation for a long period of time for professional and systematic management that ensures a comfortable environment for the people through environmental impact assessment. The Environmental Impact Assessment Act is adjective law and has an intention of constructing system of public and private benefit. But the Act has some limits to achieve the purposes. Also, the judgement about whether the result of environmental impact assessment reflects the people’s expectation is needed. The State stipulates that when conducting an environmental impact assessment to achieve the neutral objectives of the public and death, it should point the direction of the State and listen to the opinions of the residents. It stipulates that not only the opinions of residents but also the opinions of related experts and environmental groups should be converged, and that an environmental impact assessment report that reflects the results should be prepared and notified to the consultative body. Whether or not the content of such opinion convergence will be reflected in the business plan is not disclosed, and it is necessary to make a decision from the viewpoint of the direction and consistency of the business plan according to the reflection result of the discussion. Since the impact of the environmental impact assessment system has a strong ripple effect depending on the scope and direction of businesses and systems that cover the entire environment, it is necessary to have a strategy that suits the medium- to long-term environmental impact rather than a national policy decision. This assessment system is a means of performing predictive analysis on environmental impact and considering measures to reduce the negative environmental effects. And public and private organizations as well as administrative agency have utilized this system. Although environmental impact assessment has an important direction in business planning, it must include an evaluator with specialized knowledge because it must be considered in all parts of the environment as a whole. However, since it is not possible to have experts in all fields, it is necessary to consider the cooperation plan of external experts. Therefore, it is necessary to establish the law system to supplement something that is inadequate legislatively in light of the importance and necessity of Environmental impact assessment act in principled aspect of legislation.
