Comparative Study Of Environment Impact Assessment System In United States And China

With the development of science and technology, the world economy develops enormously; however, the environment has been damaged as well as the economic growth. In order to realize the sustainable development of human society, different countries take various measures to protect our environment, in which the US firstly set up Environmental Impact Assessment System in late 1960s-this has become an important system spreading to all over the world to protect environment. China introduced in this new system in late 1970s and enacted"Environmental Impact Assessment Law"on 28th October in 2002. But there is a big gap in this system between the US and China. Therefore, using American concepts and technology in this system for reference, China has a long way to go considering the situation of China.U.S. Environmental Impact Assessment system, because of its early start and has been attached importance to by the U.S. government and the people, is one of those countries which have good environmental impact assessment system at present. Hence, taking in the advanced part to improve our system in environmental protection is an essential method. This research compares the Sino-US environmental impact assessment system in the legislative intent, content evaluation, public participation, judicial examination etc. And sum up places that need to be improved together with sound proposals.This paper is divided into five main parts. The first part gives the definition of related concepts in environmental impact assessment; second part elaborates the Sino-US environmental impact assessment system on the present legislative status; the third part, main part, compares the US and China from the legislation form, the legislative intent, evaluation objects, evaluation content, public participation and judicial examination, and sums up the difference between the two countries and the reasons; the fourth part, based on comparative analysis of the Sino-US environmental impact assessment, points out specific problems including relatively narrow scope of the evaluation, signal content and the feasibility of public participation; the fifth part, through a comparative study of Sino-US environmental impact assessment system, puts forward advice from the environmental impact assessment legislation to broaden the scope of application, the introduction of an alternative mechanism, the improvement of public participation process, the set up of supervision and management evaluation and the improvement of law enforcement.