美国环境影响评价的司法监督及对我国的启示

2020年4月,生态环境部要求各级生态环境部门高度重视环评文件质量问题。美国的NEPA并未规定一个专门机构负责监督环评,而是依据NEPA提起的环境诉讼构成对政府环评决策监督的重要组成部分,通过司法监督有力地保护公共环境利益并约束政府有关环境的行政行为。我国应当在借鉴美国有益经验的基础上,进一步发挥法院的监督作用,以防范行政机关实施环评时违法滥用行政权。具体而言,一是放宽环评诉讼当事人资格,二是严格环评审批诉讼的审查标准,三是赋予公民提起环境行政公益诉讼的资格。为建设环评制度的有效实施设立司法防线,减少因环评问题而引发的环境矛盾和纠纷。

American Judicial Supervision of Environmental Impact Assessment and Its Enlightenment for China

In April 2020, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment asked departments of ecology and environment at all levels to attach great importance to the quality of EIA (environmental impact assessment) documents. In America, the National Environmental Protection Agency does not stipulate a specialized agency responsible for the supervision of the EIA. Instead, the country takes the environment litigation filed by the National Environmental Protection Agency as an important part of the supervision of government EIA decisions, effectively protects the public environmental interests through judicial supervision and restrains the government''s environmental administrative actions. China needs to adopt America''s useful experience, and on this basis give full play to the role of courts in the supervision so as to prevent the administrative organs from illegally abusing their administrative power in the EIA. To be specific, it needs to expand the litigant qualification in the EIA litigation, adopt the strict examination standards for EIA approval and litigation, and entitle citizens to the qualification to file environmental administrative public interest litigations, so as to establish a judicial defense line for the effective implementation of the EIA system and reduce the environmental conflicts and disputes caused by it.