Industries and environmental impact assessment: Analysis of the screening process in Argentina

Abstract

The approach of “pollute first, then clean up”, has been understood to be hard both technologically and economically. Therefore, the necessity of adopting another strategy, which is anticipate-and-prevent, has risen and consequently the environmental impact assessment (EIA) has emerged as a tool. Screening is one of the earliest steps of every EIA process and it is characterized as the determination of whether or not an environmental assessment must be prepared for a particular project. The aim of this paper is to identify, analyse and compare the methodological models regulating the screening process of industrial activity in Argentina, a federal country without a national directive concerning this particular matter and where each of the 24 districts are autonomous in this matter. This research was followed through employing a comparative method, which was implemented based on secondary data analysis. Three guiding questions and three criteria were used to compare the 24 districts. Six different screening process models were described (both qualitative and quantitative). The six chosen models were integrated into three great groups. The group of districts that present “Preliminary study” + “Case by case” approaches prevail, while in second place comes the “Threshold” + “Case by case” approaches. Finally, the more complete screening model, with specific legislation for EIA in industries and a quantitative environmental complexity index, turned out to be the least applied in Argentina.

El enfoque de “contaminar, luego limpiar”, se considerada desde hace años inapropiado tanto en términos tecnológicos y económicos; así, la necesidad de adoptar otra estrategia, como “anticipar y prevenir” ha tomado mayor importancia y para ello surge como herramienta la evaluación de impacto ambiental (EIA). El screening es uno de los pasos iniciales de la EIA y es un proceso para determinar si un proyecto en particular debe presentar un estudio ambiental. El objetivo de este artículo es identificar, analizar y comparar los modelos metodológicos que regulan el proceso de revisión inicial para la actividad industrial en Argentina, un país federal sin una directiva nacional al respecto y donde cada uno de los 24 distritos son autónomos en este sentido. Se utilizó el método comparativo, implementado con base en datos secundarios. Se utilizaron tres preguntas guía y tres criterios para comparar los 24 distritos. Se distinguieron seis modelos de screening (tanto cualitativos como cuantitativos), los cuales se integraron finalmente en tres grandes grupos. El grupo que comprende “Estudio preliminar” + “Análisis caso por caso” es el que prevalece, siguiéndole el de “Umbrales” + “Análisis caso por caso”. Finalmente, el modelo de screening más completo, con legislación específica para industrias y un índice cuantitativo de complejidad ambiental, resulta ser el menos aplicado en Argentina.