State government plan:

Styrian environmental lawyer loses important right

Styrian environmental lawyer Ute Pöllinger(Bild: Pail Sepp)

The Styrian state government wants to accelerate the expansion of renewable energy with several changes to the law. Environmental lawyer Ute Pöllinger is to lose the right to appeal proceedings up to the Administrative Court. She speaks of "window-dressing". 

Building Act, Nature Conservation Act, Spatial Planning Act: they are all to be revised - along with other Styrian legislation - in order to implement an EU directive on renewable energies. The aim is to speed up planning and approval procedures. "Gold plating", i.e. the excessive implementation of EU requirements, is to be prevented.

The provincial departments are currently working on the legal texts and the collective amendment is soon to be reviewed, according to the office of FPÖ environmental councillor Hannes Amesbauer. One point is tricky: The Environmental Ombudsman's Office is to lose the opportunity to lodge an appeal with the Administrative Court (this is the third and final instance in approval procedures). 

Styrian State Councillor for the Environment Hannes Amesbauer (FPÖ).(Bild: Christian Jauschowetz)

Salzburg and Upper Austria as role models
Justification: This is intended to do away with duplication, as public interests are already being safeguarded by NGOs. This would bring Styria into line with other federal states. Specifically, the environmental ombudsmen in Salzburg and Upper Austria have lost this right - both federal states are governed by a black-blue coalition. 

"I am not yet aware of any draft legislation", says environmental lawyer Ute Pöllinger to the "Krone". However, she does not believe that the plans of the state government known to date will speed up the proceedings, as it only appeals in very few cases. The comparison with the NGOs cited by the state government is also "window-dressing": they only have party status in nature conservation proceedings that concern European law, whereas the Ombudsman's Office itself has party status in all proceedings. 

One thing is clear: the Environmental Ombudsman's Office is being weakened. In Salzburg, the institution as such is already being called into question - this is not the case in Styria, the Amesbauer office emphasizes. In any case, the Greens are already alarmed and have submitted an application to strengthen and safeguard the Environmental Ombudsman's Office.

No more approval for sirens
Incidentally, the amendments are also intended to simplify matters for emergency organizations. Alarm and communication equipment (e.g. sirens) will no longer require a building permit in future, according to the office of Styrian Energy Minister Simone Schmiedtbauer (ÖVP).