Strategic Environmental Assessments - Saving Money and the Environment
In a recentreport, the BC Auditor General stated “major projects such as mines
or power plants must be reviewed not only to gauge their potential
environmental impacts, but also their potential economic, social,
heritage and health effects as well”.
Based on a review of the province’s Environmental Assessment
Office (EAO), the Auditor General concluded that “Adequate
monitoring and enforcement of certified projects is not occurring
and follow-up evaluations are not being conducted.”
At the federal level, similar concerns have been registered. The
recent report by Scott Vaughan, federal Commissioner of the
Environment and Sustainable Development concluded that the
federal government lacked the tools to measure the cumulative
effects of multiple Oil Sands Projects.
The Commissioner noted that incomplete environmental baselines
are seriously hindering the ability of federal departments such as
Fisheries and Oceans Canada and Environment Canada to conduct
thorough and systematic assessments.
What both commentaries have touched on
is the critical importance of reliable and expeditious
environmental reviews in order that major pending projects can
proceed.
In British Columbia, for example, several large scale energy and
mining projects are awaiting completion of their environmental
assessments. In each case, the review process is site specific and
hinges solely on minimizing negative environmental impacts. They do
not allow for weighing other policy objectives such as local job
creation or net savings in greenhouse gas
emissions.
One approach that could expedite the environmental assessment
process and allow for consideration of associated industrial and
regional benefits involves ‘Strategic Environmental
Assessments.’
These
target=”_blank”>strategic assessments “contribute to informed
decisions in support of sustainable development by incorporating
environmental considerations into the development of public
policies and strategic decisions”.
Such assessments are a highly effective tool for both industry
and government to promote sustainable development. They differ from
site specific environmental assessments in that they deal also with
broader environmental and social issues and are aimed at
identifying strategic policy objectives for a region as a
whole.
By identifying possible adverse environmental impacts before
they occur, these more strategic tools allow decision makers to
modify the design of policies, plans and programs so that the
negative impacts can be minimized or eliminated and the positive
impacts optimized.
Such broad based assessments also improve project-specific
decision-making because they set a broad framework within which to
posit specific undertakings. This framework provides guidelines
that expedite the site-specific process when it occurs.
In 2008 a Strategic Environmental Assessment was conducted for
target=”_blank”>Fundy Tidal Energy on behalf of the Nova
Scotia Department of Energy. Considerable input was received from
community forums, workshops, and written submissions, as well as
the insights provided by a 24-person Stakeholder
Roundtable.
The assessment provided advice on “whether, when and under what
conditions tidal energy demonstration and commercial projects
should be allowed in the Bay of Fundy.”
The process took approximately one year, examined all forms of
marine renewable energy technology including offshore wind, wave,
and various tidal energy approaches, but focused on tidal in-stream
energy conversion devices.
The Strategic Environmental Assessment process has great
potential to expedite the environmental assessment process in
British Columbia for the several energy and mining projects planned
or already in the pipeline.
Not only would they provide an excellent vehicle to examine
cumulative impacts of multiple major projects and enable
consideration of policy options not always studied under
site-specific reviews, they would provide the framework to guide
project development efforts.
The Peace River region in British Columbia, which has several
major energy projects on the books, may be an excellent candidate
for such a strategic review.
The governance of a future Strategic Environmental
Assessmentis
flexible. A federal minister, the Province or a third-party similar
to that in the Nova Scotia Tidal Energy example could lead
it.
lives in Port Coquitlam British Columbia. His web site is
target=”_blank”>www.actonwhite.com
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