我國以獨立委員會為主體的環評制度，近年迭因政治的紛擾，出現正當性危機，而有改革的需求。本文之主旨在於檢視環評問題的本質，從歷史淵源探究我國環評機制的制度源由與發展，說明這個以專業包裹政治的制度特色如何在我國的民主化過程中，扮演重要的環保角色。本研究發現，當政治情勢丕變，專業審查不敷民主治理的時代所需，相較於民進黨政府執政時期引入廣泛的社會利益代表以補充專家決策的不足，導致衝突加劇；現今以更專業的「專家會議」來解決衝突，卻也產生治絲益棼的效果。本研究以大林電廠機組更新案為例，顯示我國環評面對的挑戰乃政治問題，改革之道，宜採「市民科學」的途徑，強化環評的政治承載力，廣泛引進政治參與的機制，才能讓環評兼顧專業與政治的需求，繼續扮演其被設定的環保角色。

The Environmental Impact Assessment has been settled in Taiwan for about one and half decades. While professionalism has been the major appeal in the original institutional setting to solve the problems of over-politicization at that time, more political demands have been imposed to the system in the course of democratic consolidation. In response to the emerging legitimacy crisis, the governments have tried different approaches, including recruiting social representatives into the review committee in DDP government and setting up another specialist committee to make disputable decisions in KMT government. While the former generated a conflicting logic with professionalism, the latter tried to cure the political problems with blunt professionalism. By examining the case of Da-ling Power Plant, this paper suggests an innovation on the EIA institutions by incorporating more civil participation mechanisms.