BATNEEC in the context of Integrated Pollution Control stands for the best available techniques without entailing excessive cost for preventing pollutant discharges or emissions into any environmental medium or, if that is not practicable, to minimize the release of such substances or to render harmless such matters released. The expression represents a set of dynamic environmental norms or standards since with advancing technologies the environmental requirements changes in tune with moving times.
Such best available technique must be capable of implementation in the concerned industrial sector under economically and technically viable conditions considering the costs and benefits. The notion of avoiding excessive costs underlines the importance of cost benefit analysis according to the ability of the concerned industrial sector to afford environmental improvements.
However, the terminology BATNEEC should not be confused with CATNIP-the’ Cheapest Available Techniques Not Incurring Prosecution’.
The essence of BATNEEC is that the concerned operator must demonstrate the effectiveness of his chosen technology cost benefit wise. The expression embraces not only the technology but also the manner in which the process is operated by the pool of human resource deployed to act upon it.
Under BATNEEC money is spent on reduction of pollution only up to the point the results justify the money spent and not beyond that. The judgment on best available technique is based on an awareness of the economic and financial implications for the affected industry.
