Tuscan TAR requires the Italian Environmental Impacts Assessment V.I.A

The Tuscan Administrative Regional Tribunal (TAR for it acronym in Italian) requires the Environmental Impact Assesment (TAR Toscana Sez. I n. 64 del 19.01.2017)

According to the state’s environmental law, it’s consented that some projects are excluded of the Environmental Impact assessment requirement (V.I.A. for it acronym in Italian). This exclusion requirement is refered when the project does not generate significant environmental impacts. This implies tolerance of any environmental impact of the project as long as likely to be contained through the use of specific requirements (art. 20 co. 5 Decree. n. 152/06)
The Tuscan regional legislation, at the same time, precise that in order to avoid the subjection to the V.I.A. must be able to exclude “the presence of significant adverse effects on the environment, such as to require for their precise identification and evaluation, and for the identification of any mitigation measures relating to them, the elaboration of an environmental impact study and the conducting an evaluation procedure “(so the art. 49 co. 1 of the Tuscan Regional Law  n. 10/2010, in the version applicable prior                                                                          to the suppression prepared by Regional Law n. 17/2016).

Implications of the verification

The verification of the absence of significant impacts presupposes clearly the acquisition of all the knowledge necessary to provide a complete environmental impact representation of the project submitted to C.D. screening, elements that the same regional law is concerned to indicate, dictating the evaluative criteria which is subjected to screening.

In the present case, about the TAR adjudgement, it is particularly  considerated the Annex D of the quoted law n. 10/2010 (reproductive Annex V to the second Part of Legislative Decree. N. 152/2006), under which the verification must take into account characteristics of the project (project size, also in relation to the duration, frequency and the extent of its likely impacts; cumulation with other projects; utilization of natural resources, considering the renewability of resources used; waste production; pollution and nuisances; risk of accidents, as regards, in particular, substances or technologies used) and its location, having regard to the environmental sensitivity of geographical areas (quality and regenerative capacity of natural resources in the area, carrying capacity of the natural environment).

For the examinated case, the section I of the Tuscan TAR has canceled  Nel caso esaminato, la Sezione I del TAR it annulled the acts of administrations, which exclude the applicability of the procedure V.I.A. and they had authorized the cultivation of sand, gravel and gabbro of Sant’Emilia quarry in the municipality of Pomarance.

Download (170119_Sentenza-TAR-Toscana-VIA.pdf, Unknown)