Significance determination: A rational reconstruction of decisions

This article deals with some screening environmental impact assessments (EIAs) that have been reviewed and decided by an administrative board, the Appeal Board for Nature Protection. The practices developed by the Appeal Board show that the handling of significance in screening lacks focus, which leads to a mix of problems; namely, inconsistent argumentation and the development of practices not compliant with the usual understanding of EIA. The problems are found in project-related screening cases as well as in general screening cases. The article argues that structural barriers in Danish EIA regulations hinder the function of the EIA system in general. The article also touches upon the problems of implementing EIA into existing legal frameworks and present the view that a Board composed mainly of politicians cannot be the right body to enforce the procedural rules of the EIA-system.