Transcript Slide 1

Environmental Assessment in
Federations
industry commentary
Justyna Laurie-Lean
September 14th, 2009
Outline
•
•
•
•
Basis for my observations
Caveats
Conclusions
Analysis
– Project-specific environmental assessment
and environmental protection
– Environmental assessment and regulating
industry
– The Canadian Environmental Assessment
Act
• Suggestions
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September 14th, 2009
The Canadian Environmental
Assessment Act and me
• 18 years on the Canadian Environmental
Assessment Act file on behalf of the Mining
Association of Canada
• Member of the Minister’s Regulatory
Advisory Committee through
– Early interpretation of the Act and the development of
all regulations
– The 5 year review of the Act and its amendment
• Whole-heartedly dedicated to working with
others to make the Act work.
– Supported increased funding, management priority and
attention, and the creation of the Major Projects
Management Office.
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September 14th, 2009
Caveats
• The Mining Association of Canada is the national industry
association and is focused exclusively on the federal
government with no mandate in provinces or territories.
• The observations in this presentation are my personal
views and are not formal positions of the Mining
Association of Canada or industry in general.
• The observations in this presentation are generalizations
intended to assist constructive discussion of
environmental assessment.
• In spite of the generalized system flaws discussed in this
presentation, environmental assessment and project
review processes have often worked well in Canada
because of the efforts of wonderful officials in all
governments dedicated to doing things well whatever the
system challenges.
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September 14th, 2009
Conclusions to date
• No evidence that the application of the Canadian
Environmental Assessment Act to private sector
projects in Canada has created sufficient value in
environmental or societal benefits to compensate for
the costs, delays and strains it has imposed on all
parties.
– No evidence that benefits would not have been delivered by
provincial or territorial project review processes, or the federal
review processes on which federal environmental assessment
piggy-backs.
– Unpredictable and changing process.
– Long, unpredictable, and unwarranted delays.
– Frequent but unfulfilled promises of coordination within and
between governments, of predictable scope, and of “one
project-one assessment”.
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September 14th, 2009
Analysis:
Project and Environment
• Project-specific environmental assessment is an
excellent and valuable tool but …
• It is not a sufficient tool for:
– Land use planning;
– Managing cumulative effects;
– Environmental policy decisions.
• Federal environmental assessment is limited to
project-specific assessment and is thus not rooted in
the context of provincial (and federal) policy,
regulatory, and land use frameworks, so
• Too much is loaded onto project-specific assessment
• Not enough use is made of strategic environmental
assessment (policy, program, regional)
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September 14th, 2009
Analysis: Environmental Assessment
and Regulation of Industry
• Project-specific environmental assessment is
an excellent and valuable tool at the planning
stage of a new project or a major modification,
but…
• It is not a sufficient tool for regulating the full life
cycle of a project.
• Federal environmental assessment is limited to
new projects and major modifications without a
direct connection to ongoing regulatory
management.
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September 14th, 2009
Analysis:
The Canadian Environmental Assessment Act
• One legislative framework for many different things:
– Internal federal government activities.
– Environmental stewardship of federally owned lands.
– Private sector projects requiring federal regulatory-type approvals.
– Private sector project seeking federal financial support.
• Exclusively project-specific assessment with no linkage to land use
management, policy decision, or regulatory frameworks.
• Piggy-backed on other legislative requirements which
– Were not designed to act as “triggers” and
– Have undergone legal re-interpretation during the life of the Act.
• Insufficient provision for generating information to monitor
implementation, leaving debate stuck at subjective and anecdotal.
• Weak coordination and accountability mechanisms.
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September 14th, 2009
Suggestions
• Environmental assessment is a very valuable tool
• It is not the only tool and not always the right tool
• It is not applicable just to a specific project
• Think of strategic environmental assessment of policies, programs,
and regions!
• Consider project-specific assessment in the context of,
but not a substitute for, land use planning and
environmental policy and regulatory frameworks.
• Integrate project-specific environmental assessment in
the overall regulatory framework
• Environmental assessment of a project should be done by the
jurisdiction that will have regulatory responsibility throughout
the life of the project.
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September 14th, 2009