The Decree that modifies the Environmental Impact legislation in the Region of Murcia is a joke to the citizens and to the promoters of innovative projects, because it does not simplify the processing or unify the administrative organization in charge of preparing the environmental impact reports.
The Regional Government has invented a procedure full of "unnecessary paperwork" in the hands of a tangle of internal organs in complete uncoordination, so it is inadmissible that the government claims that the coronavirus is the cause of now launching a Decree-law to remedy their own incompetence.
VOX values this attitude of the government of the Region very negatively. As he Provincial President, José Ángel Antelo, as the President of the Parliamentary Group's Committee on Territorial Policy, Environment, Agriculture and Water, Pascual Salvador, They affirm that the Wuhan virus cannot be the excuse for patching and bungling a regulation that depends on the implementation of economic activities and the development of vital plans and projects for the Region of Murcia.
After studying the aforementioned Decree-Law on the reform of environmental evaluation, it is appreciated that the changes are insignificant. In reality, the problems of the regional administration are transferred to the municipalities, which pass on the burden of making the evaluations. This transfer of papers to the municipalities has the risk of legal insecurity and dispersion of criteria, and even criminal responsibility for the local officials themselves, who may be under severe pressure in complex evaluations due to lack of means.
Regarding the granting of environmental permits, changes in criteria to decide if the extensions are “substantial”, is something that may conflict with basic state legislation. Both Antelo and Salvador state that this Decree-Law "has been carried out without legal reports, so the Regional Government is once again launching into a vacuum and can cause regulatory chaos in these matters, which especially affect the expansion of facilities ranchers who may be outside the law. "
Finally, from VOX it is considered that the legal change is not beneficial to speed up the implementation of activities, plans and projects, nor is it good for the environment. Deficient rules cannot be made to regulate public environmental goods and entrepreneurship, which must have secure frameworks that guarantee economic freedom and a high level of responsibility in the management of waste, discharges to water and industrial emissions of polluting gases.
The environmental problem of the Region is not the basic regulations, but the organizational chaos of the Autonomous Community and its inability to provide quality environmental reports in a reasonable time, and that problem of incompetence is not resolved in the new Decree-law.
