Two months ago, almost 500 significant projects in the province - 150 on 91原创 Island - were part of the federal environmental review process.
Then the federal government passed legislation changing the rules. As of last month, those projects - dams, mines, log sorts, power projects - will no longer be reviewed.
And the provincial government has said it will not step in to provide environmental assessments for the affected projects. Environmental assessments should be done only when necessary - when there is a potential risk to the environment and the public interest that needs to be reviewed and managed.
But these changes are too sweeping. When the Conservative government introduced changes through the 91原创 Environmental Assessment Act, it did not inform the public that about 490 current projects in B.C. alone would no longer be part of the independent review process. Even those concerned about unnecessary reviews would be hard-pressed to accept that nearly 500 projects could be suddenly exempted from review without putting the public interest at risk. At the least, those examples should have been provided, allowing an informed public debate on the legislation. That did not happen. The federal government maintains "numerous small, routine projects that posed little or no risk to the environment" had been subject to environmental assessments.
But the new legislation exempts projects with significant environmental impact. Coal mines producing up to 250,000 tonnes per year, large-scale run-of-river power projects, new transmission lines carved through wilderness, a slaughterhouse producing 5,800 barrels of effluent a day, pulp mills of any size - the list of exemptions is large and alarming.
Closest to home, the yacht marina proposed for the Inner Harbour will no longer require an environmental assessment, despite dredging that poses at least potential risks.
Even supporters of the project - which could bring significant benefits - recognize that review as an important safeguard of the public interest.
There are still federal and provincial regulations that apply to many of the projects.
But those are narrow and often come into play after there are problems with a project. Environmental assessments seek to identify risks in advance and offer proponents the opportunity to address them. The outcomes can be positive for the developer and the public.
Consider one example. Taseko Mines wants to build an open-pit mine southwest of Williams Lake. The provincial government's environmental assessment approved the plan. The federal government subsequently rejected it, in part because Taseko wanted to destroy a lake, using it as a waste dump.
And after the federal decision, Taseko decided it didn't have to destroy the lake and came up with an alternate plan for the waste. The purpose of environmental assessments is not simply to say yes or no to projects. They identify risks and the measures needed to protect the public interest. Proponents naturally want to take the most efficient, least-costly approach in the interests of shareholders. An effective assessment process protects the public interest.
The federal process might have become too cumbersome and required reform. But the sweeping legislative changes have gone too far in putting private interests ahead of the public interest.
