Balancing Conflicting Interests - Natural Environmental Values in the Permitting Process for Quarries

Sammanfattning: This thesis investigates what weight the Land and Environmental Court of Appeal (MMÖD) has given aspects of natural protection, in comparison to conflicting interests for exploitation of natural resources, in assessments of permitting processes of quarries. For this purpose, the study is limited to relevant case law in the 21st century. Natural resources are often preserved and embedded in environments worthy of protection, and the Environmental Code (1998:808) appears to have an ambiguous objective in regards to quarries. It aims to protect and preserve natural environmental values as well as to protect the deposits from significant hinders preventing the exploitation of the natural resources. For this purpose, the Code provides balancing rules for the courts to apply in cases with conflicting interests. The location is of great importance and must be suitable where the activity can be conducted with a minimum damage or detriment to the nature. In a majority of the eight relevant cases, the MMÖD concluded that the interest for the material overweighed the interest for nature conservation, as the adverse effects on the area was expected to be within acceptable limits. Only two permits were rejected. Circumstances to why the interest for nature conservation was given more weight appears to have been with support of a question mark. Both rejections were made due to the investigations of alternative locations were considered to be insufficient, and thus the MMÖD were unable to assess the suitability of the locations. On the other hand, the application of protective and precautionary measures lessens the weight of the environmental interest, as the measures are means to reduce the otherwise expected adverse effects. The overall outcome is not surprising. The desired zones for the quarries have, in general, not been located in areas under special environmental protection, but rather adjoined protected sites of which the activities were assumed to have a significant adverse effect. One should keep in mind that a public economics perspective permeates the legislation and the exploitation of natural resources is needed for a better living standard in society. The MMÖD appears to have strived to satisfy the ambiguous objective of the Code. As the quarry often is only expected to affect a small area, the granting of a permit, within the legal frame, can satisfy both interests, although the environmental protection will be somewhat limited. However, I question the accuracy of the permits at Bunge Stucks and Bunge Ducker, as the quarries were expected to cause significant adverse effect on the adjoining Natura 2000 sites. According to EU law, permits cannot be granted if there are any reasonable scientific doubts that the activity induces significant adverse effects to the site. In the three Bunge assessments, uncertainties remained in regard to effects on the sensitive hydrologic system with unknown consequences to the sites.