Environmental Impact Assessments

This course will present the pur­pose for an envi­ron­men­tal impact assess­ment, the process from ini­ti­a­tion to com­ple­tion of the EIA, and its place in the appli­ca­tion for a major project. Assess­ment require­ments detailed with­in provin­cial and fed­er­al leg­is­la­tion and reg­u­la­tions will be reviewed. Require­ments and process­es for com­plet­ing a cumu­la­tive envi­ron­men­tal assess­ment with­in the EIA will be described. Dif­fer­ences and sim­i­lar­i­ties between assess­ments for projects falling under Alber­ta’s Envi­ron­men­tal Pro­tec­tion and Enhance­ment Act and the Cana­di­an Envi­ron­men­tal Assess­ment Act will be illus­trat­ed. Link­ages among these Acts and oth­er leg­is­la­tion in Alber­ta (Water Act, Pub­lic Lands Act) and Cana­da (Fish­eries Act, Nav­i­ga­ble Waters Pro­tec­tion Act) will be dis­cussed. Require­ments for pub­lic and Abo­rig­i­nal con­sul­ta­tion, and the means to gath­er stake­hold­er input into the EIA process and out­comes will be out­lined. Dis­cus­sion of the com­po­nents of the EIA that may lead to approval con­di­tions and require­ments, and how to address these in a way that sets the stage for future cor­po­rate action and gov­ern­ment over­sight. Use of the EIA as a tool in the over­all envi­ron­men­tal man­age­ment of the project will also be discussed.