The European Parliament's Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee last week voted to strengthen EU environmental impact assessment (EIA) rules, notably by extending it to cover all forms of shale gas extraction - or fracking. The Committee was voting on a report from Italian Liberal Andrea Zanoni on a proposal to update the 2011 directive on the effects of certain plans and projects on the environment, otherwise known as the EIA directive. In the 11 July vote, the Committee backed amendments that would broaden the scope of the directive and close a series of loopholes that allowed developers to avoid an EIA.
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