The Armenian Parliament this week has passed by first hearing a bill on amendments to the law on environmental impact assessment. Experts insist, however, that the new draft law is anti-environmental.

Armenian lawmakers last Friday rushed to pass the bill by first hearing following the public discussions at the parliament; some of the suggestions and comments voiced were incorporated in the draft law before its adoption.

A civil initiative group presented a report during the parliamentary hearings, and having made their critical observations demanded to call the bill back from the floor and draft a new one.
Environmentalists warn that it’s a fundamental law in the field that will determine the future quality of the country’s environment and natural economic development.

“The bill doesn’t serve the main purpose of environmental impact assessment; it lacks expert-defined regulatory-legislative grounds required for practical application of the law. Hence, in fact, the law cannot be observed because the procedures by which proper environmental assessment should be done are absent. The situation has been like this since 1995 when the main law was adopted, and remains the same up until now,” the report read in part. (The report was prepared by a civil initiative group consisting of NGOs representing civil society and volunteer activists.)

Levon Galstyan, geographer and environmental activist from Preserve Trchkan Waterfall initiative, says the civil initiative did not submit written suggestions or recommendations to the ministry of environmental protection.

“We demand to call back the bill and give a chance to submit our suggestions. As a citizen I realize just looking at that law that SNCO (State Non-Commercial Organization) ,might approve the draft,” says Galstyan. “It contains many serious risks, the law is not professionally drafted”. The new bill, in fact, regulates the operations of SNCO.

Azganush Drnoyan, senior specialist of the initiative at the Ministry of Environmental Protection, said introducing the amended bill submitted for the second hearing, that it’s a
complicated law and that all spheres have complicated procedures.

“We have taken into account oral comments and recommendations and, moreover, have left as much room for further amendment as possible,” she says.

Drnoyan spoke with criticism of the environmentalists for not having submitted their suggestions in time and stressed that only Transparency International had made suggestions, some of which were taken into consideration.

In response to the question why they had not presented their suggestions Galstyan says it is essential that the bill is called back.

“When the law is called back, only then will we submit our suggestions; there are 60 of them and cannot be discussed in 5-10 days. During the Friday hearings at the Parliament we made our oral suggestions. On Monday the bill was passed by first hearing but not a single letter from our suggestions had been taken into account,” says Galstyan.

Environmentalists are under an impression that the state is planning to mine all the mineral resources of Armenia in ten years’ time. They are puzzled why the bill had been drafted and submitted to the parliament in as little as two months.

Henrik Grigoryan, leading SNCO in charge of environmental assessment, doesn’t know why the rush, but says that it’s as vital as air and water to pass that bill. The current law has been in force since 1995 and is badly in need of amendments.

Drnoyan says the draft had long been under consideration and a subject of many discussions.

“It’s another issue that we go to discuss but not a single public member is present to participate, and we have no levers to summon them,” she says.

Environmentalists are planning to turn to President Serzh Sargsyan so that environmental issues are solved once and for all.