RT Journal Article T1 Environmental Impact Assessment: Mith or Reality?. Lessons from Spain A1 Pardo Buendía, Mercedes AB This paper analyzes the situation of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in Spain since its inception in 1988. The analysis covers the general framework (the national and the autonomous communities' laws, the official guidebooks, the agencies' procedure), the Environmental Impact Statements (EIS) issued by the environmental national agency, and a sample of Environmental Impact Studies of different type of projects. The results of this research show that (1) EIAs have been very general in their content, lacking a concrete analysis and without providing substantial solutions to the problems; (2) the socioeconomic analyses are frequently reduced to emphasizing the project's economic benefits while overlooking their potential harm; (3) especially serious is the acceptance of irregular EIA procedure by environmental agencies; and (4) public participation consists mainly in a bureaucratic process exhibiting the document for 30 days at the city hall. This paper concludes with a set of recommendations. PB Elsevier SN 0195-9255 YR 1997 FD 1997 LK https://hdl.handle.net/10016/7918 UL https://hdl.handle.net/10016/7918 LA eng DS e-Archivo RD 1 jul. 2024