Evaluation Of Environmental Impact

Vicente Segura Cerdá, Vice-president Spanish Stone Federation (FDP)

The objective of an Evaluation of Environmental Impact (EIA in Spanish) is to diagnose and foresee its evolution, constituting an initial variable from the first phase of decision making over an action with possibilities of execution. Through their different programs various international organisations have recognised that the Evaluations of Environmental Impact are the most adequate instrument for the preservation of natural resources and the defence of the environment.

Consequently, one is talking of management tools for the implantation of environment policies. However, it is necessary to understand these as an open process and not as a legal burden to be added to the bureaucratic procedures , as in 1988 was pointed out by Professor Norman Lee, in answer to the way the studies appeared in the Directive 85/377/EC. The evaluation of environmental impact should have a vision of the total reality that is being diagnosed, and that means it is necessary that it be done by multi-disciplinary teams. We could represent them graphically by a polygon of five sides, the base of which would be Nature. Next to it, aspects of maximum importance such as Culture, History, the Society and Economy. Any evaluation that ignores or underestimates any of these facets results in being an incomplete evaluation, and, therefore, will not have taken into account the general interests.

The team that has to evaluate the Environmental Impact of the quarries of natural stone must make an effort in doing an initial balance, which is necessary so that the EIA ends up being a useful and just tool. It is important to note that the cultural and historical aspects should be taken into account because of the importance of its work and the use of stone. The marbles, slates and granites have been, throughout our history, the medium of expression and vehicle of transmission through the centuries of a vast and unique culture. Therefore, we should value not only the nobility and dignity of the material but also the meritorious and majestic work done by generation after another with the stones, extracting it, working on it, sculpting it, building and beautifying with it.

The conservation and rehabilitation of our historical monuments would, by themselves, be sufficient motive for valuing these aspects in an important way. But we cannot restrict ourselves only to conservation since we are speaking of natural stone.

The primitive man used stone as his first material and tool that ended up being a symbol both of eternity and uniqueness. Therefore, from the beginning of mankind, there has been a close relationship between Stone and Man, of which we are not always conscious. With stone, through the ages and cultures, the laws and victories in wars have been remembered, monuments raised to heroes, walls and forts been built, temples and palaces constructed ... We can affirm that the symbolic and emotional weight of stone is present in the collective consciousness. Natural stone has assumed these roles perfectly since it ages with nobility and dignity, in contrast to other materials supposedly more progressive but when they age become scrap. We have to be conscious, therefore, that these values are still valid and can be projected towards the future of humanity so that to ignore them or think they belong to the past would be an act of irresponsibility.

There are two aspects as important as those described above. One refers to the social medium in which we find ourselves, over which the natural stone influences in a very positive way. The multiple activities derived from extraction, elaboration, working, installation, conservation, etc. are the origin of noble and ancient professions that a cultured country cannot and should not lose, and they are also an abundant source for new jobs. And inseparable with all this is the economic aspect which a well organised and managed country must take into account. This is something that, though obvious, is frequently forgotten when elaborating an EIA.

Our country is a vast territory rich in stone. The reserves of ornamental rocks in limestone, marbles, slates and granites are of such nature and abundance that, given the huge difference in production between us and Italy, which precedes us, this difference is unjustifiable given the available resources. Rational use of these resources is an economic obligation of our society and our Administration, and at least this is how it is in theory, according to the laws, where they are classified as resources of preferential interest.

The extraction in the quarries of ornamental rocks is done in scaled banks, with basic techniques of perforation and cutting. Tools of mechanical action are used, based principally in the use of diamond as abrasive and water as lubricant. That is to say, they are simple physical processes that do not lead to emissions or accumulations or dangerous spills. The use of explosives is secondary and is tending towards disappearance where there is modern exploitation.

The efforts tend towards entering into the solid rocks and, consequently, the quarries are localised and have very limited extensions. The sub-products are fragmented stone proceeding from the mass that cannot be used for the confection of blocks and earth. The raw stone can be made use of, as is the case in many quarries, for grinding and obtaining sand of great quality. In application of the obligatory plans for restoration , for which the companies are forced to constitute execution guarantees , the earth will be used for works of remodelling and vegetation of the exhausted fronts.

Taking into account all this, the specific characteristics of the quarries of ornamental rocks -so different from other mining activities -, the great importance of the existing resources and the capacity of employment creation related to these activities, we can conclude that the only aspect to be considered, in a study of the EIA, is that of visual impact of the exploitation.

Well, the classification of this impact is somewhat subjective, because when we talk of historical actions we feel proud of them and declare them historical and cultural patrimony ( the Medulas of Leon, the quarries of Carrara, etc.) or, in the case of other conventional activities, we easily accept the vision of work centres, although they constitute big industrial agglomerates with the corresponding effect on the environment.

It is, therefore, necessary to have a more objective vision of the aimed visual impact of the quarries, since the balance of when one starts adding all the factors from different disciplines on the action aimed at, leads to a conclusion of a visual impact that can be accepted easily, which, moreover, is conditioned to posterior rehabilitation.

Natural stone in Spain is currently at a stage which we can classify as being surprising. Thousands of jobs have been created which tend to be stable, and they have weaved into all the social classes. And these activities have taken place in the underdeveloped rural areas where the deposits of ornamental rocks are usually found. The sector has grown fast. The exports, which are four times the imports, surpassed the figure of 107,000 pesetas (approximately US$ 700 million ) in 1998. The companies, in the great majority, small and medium sized family companies, are trying to overcome the limits of size. Associating with other companies is one expression of this, the maximum expression of which being the Spanish Natural Stone Federation, that brings together 15 regional or sector associations. But the biggest effort has been made in the companies own structure, who have made big investments by adopting the modern technologies. The businessmen of the stone industry, whose activities undoubtedly have a vocational aspect, have not hesitated in risking their patrimony for the sake of a possible future and worthy of undertaking.

And on this point we could ask ourselves: How does the businessman of the stone industry see all that environmental activity taking place around him? The answer is implicit in these reflections which we, who are immersed in this area, have done on so many occasions.

We clearly see as being positive the design of integrated activities for the protection of the environment, since the bio-diversity has to prevail over the establishment of protected islands, as happens frequently when one wants to prohibit a quarry invoking isolated protection activities which seem more of an excuse for applying negative and extreme criteria.

We are completely in agreement with the protection of the environment that puts together the promoting of the activities, the territorial equilibrium which can contribute to the extraction of ornamental rocks and which leads to a stable settled population. And we are for fomenting the eco-culture, i.e. the ecology included as a component of a global vision and necessary in each discipline.

And we see as being negative the dogmatism and partial vision in the norms of the Administration in such complex matters with so many variables. We see as being negative ecology at all costs, isolated and absolute, with man being at the margin, that reaches a disproportionate level at political levels and enjoys a priority in the media, which, on occasions leads to truly contaminated information.

We should be conscious that the break to the socio-economic development which are originated by such frequently negative aspects, lead to irreversible damage to the structure and complexity of a sector the existence of which is totally justified and the development of which is clearly necessary.

The future of natural stone in Spain is guaranteed by history and its culture, well cemented by the richness of our soil and by the development and investments made by the companies of the sector. All this could be compromised seriously if, arbitrarily, the renewal of the sources of the raw material is vetoed. The perceptive Evaluation of Visual Impact is the key instrument. It depends on the teams who have to do it and who organise and sustain it.