環評需要什麼樣的公民參與？廢棄物填海造島政策中環評公民共識會議的啟示

Public Participation and the Effectiveness of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA): The Implications of Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) Consensus Meetings on Sea Reclamation by Solid Disposals

前我國的環評制度仰賴專家審議認可，因公民參與不足而頗受詬病，環保署近年來雖加入若干民主元素，但因程序流於形式，反而遲滯環評效能。本文探討了2012年我國環評史上首次由官方舉辦的「公民共識會議」及其後續影響，發現優質的公民討論讓政策得到更多公眾與政府部門檢核的機會，能以多元知識讓替代方案獲得重視，同時也為後續法制監督提出明確方向，最終使公務機關重拾政策理性而選擇在2014年撤回環評，改以官民合作產出的替代方案進行下一波的公民諮商程序。此案證明了：透過有系統而嚴謹的共識培力過程，公民觀點的引入能讓專家的科學理性與官方的行政理性回歸於社會理性的大框架之下，進而提昇環評的治理量能，引導公務體系跳脫窠臼，並為後續共同生產解決方案提供良好的動能。而本案亦顯示：環評的冗長失能並非肇因於擴大公眾參與，相反地，如果能有精緻的深入討論，優質的公民參與將反是環評突破僵局的助力。

The Strategic Environmental Assessment and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA/SEA) system in Taiwan has long been plagued by a lack of public participation. Although the Taiwan EPA decided to incorporate some democratic elements, [in the past] the largely ritualistic procedures only caused more gridlock. This article explores the SEA process on “Sea Reclamation by Solid Disposals” (SRSD) in 2012, when an unprecedented series of citizens' meetings were sponsored by the EPA. The EPA learned that high-quality civil discussion contributed to greater accountability in policy-making, diverse knowledge-sharing that increased awareness of alternatives, and improvements to the legal system that could positively impact future [environmental] monitoring. The EPA thus decided to conduct another series of public consultations based on a new policy of collaborative and deliberative efforts. This case suggests that, through a systematic and rigorous consensusbuilding process, the introduction of lay citizens' perspectives helped clarify the social conditions of policy implementation. Therefore, it could provide a model for communicating scientific rationales to the public, giving impetus to collaborative solutions, and promoting administrative efficiency by overcoming common policy-making hurdles. It also reveals that the cumbersomeness of the EIA process is not the result of participation by the public. On the contrary, such participation empowers citizens and holds the potential to break policy gridlock.