Mr. Heiki Kranich, Minister of the Environment, does not approve the idea of invalidating the environmental impact assessment (EIA) licence of environmental expert Mr. Mihkel Vaarik, although the Commission for issuing EIA Licences had made such recommendation at its meeting on December 30, 2002. On December 30, 2002, the Commission for issuing EIA Licences discussed issues related to the EIA Report concerning the proposed North -West Estonian waste management enterprise and determined that the Report that had been submitted to the Ministry of the Environment for review contained mistakes; besides, the EIA programme had not been followed to the full extent. The Commission, consequently, made a recommendation to the Minister of the Environment to invalidate the licence for performing EIA of Mr. Mihkel Vaarik, an expert responsible for the EIA Report. The Minister of the Environment, at making his decision, took into consideration the fact that the expert had not earlier made mistakes concerning the valid EIA requirements, therefore the invalidation of the licence would have been a too severe punishment for the first unsatisfactory case. The possibility of temporary termination of the validity of the licence cannot be applied in this case since the developer - Ragn-Sells Ltd. - gave up the plan of constructing the waste management enterprise in the Rabadiku wetland; consequently the expert would have had no possibility of bringing the circumstances (that would have been the reason for termination of the validity of licence) into compliance with the requirements. For additional information please contact: |
