Government Environmental Information Publicly

Because of its effective evaluation and control on environmental impact by human activities, environmental impact assessment (EIA) system is gradually becoming one of important measures of environmental management. The environmental impact assessment for program evaluates probably environmental impact from proposed program, makes up the traditional EIA's drawback that it disregards accumulative environmental impact in a region. Government program influences a region, an industry, even the entire country, it relates to environmental interests of majority. Evaluating environmental impact of program must achieve its value goal by gathering public wills, absorbing widely environmental requests, combining scientific rationality and social rationality. The basis of completing environmental impact assessment for program system is disclosure of government environmental information.This article observes the issue of environmental information disclosure from the perspective of EIA, this is a special research on government information disclosure in environmental region. Xiamen "PX" event in 2007 is the origin of this article, initiates author's thinking on limitation of environmental impact assessment for project. After case analysis, the article elaborates that environmental impact assessment for program can make up the defects of traditional EIA effectively, made a point that information disclosure is basis for perfecting public participation in EIA. The theories of people's sovereign right and environmental right to know are the theoretical basis of disclosure of government environmental information. There are real necessities for completing disclosure of government environmental information in EIA for program. First, information disclosure is the demand from political democratization and it's the premise of public participation, public participation would promote government environmental information further open. Second, it contributes to strengthen the legality basis of program, makes program more scientific and reduce the cost of impelling program. In addition, it caters to the requirement from preventing corruption. In different levels, author introduces related provisions of environmental information disclosure in various countries, international organizations and Taiwan region in detail, and studies on related provisions in China law. After research, author finds out the factors which obstruct development of disclosure of government environmental information in China, and puts forward with direction how to complete disclosure of government environmental information in EIA for program. In conclusion, author considers three measures could complete disclosure of government environmental information system. In the first place, on the one hand, perfecting provisions of information disclosure in related EIA legislation, on the other hand, increasing the position of legislation of environmental information disclosure, and it is actually possible to enact law of environmental information disclosure. What is more, revising necessary legislation related to information disclosure, defining the scope of disclosure of government environmental information. Last but not least, environmental organizations should give more impetus to government information disclosure for development of environmental protection.