An environmental assessment and review process

Abstract

Environmental impact assessments are commonplace in North America. In the USA, they are now established as a way of life. They are regarded with some scepticism, if not totally deplored, in other parts of the world (see the Editorial by H. A. Cole, Mar. Pollut. Bull., 1983, 14, 12 l 122). In the following piece, I shall describe an environmental assessment and review process that has been adopted in Canada for federal projects or projects with federal funding. It involves an Environmental Impact Statement. About 21 projects have been subjected to review by Environmental Assessment Panels and finalized with reports so far. About half that number are being actively worked on at the present time. Some half-dozen projects are in a dormant state, including the Bay of Fundy Tidal Power and Polar Gas projects, and awaiting more favourable economic conditions to be reactivated. As an example of a project that has been completed, I shall discuss the Environmental Assessment of the Roberts Bank Port Expansion which was done by an Environmental Assessment Panel (Federal Environmental Assessment and Review Process, 1979. R oberts Bank Port Expansion. Report of the Environmental Assessment Panel, Federal Assessment Review Office, Ottawa, Canada K1A 0H3, 70 pp.). When the Federal Department of the Environment (DOE) was formed in 1971, the responsibilities given to the Minister reflected the government's and the public's concern about environmental affairs by directing the Minister both to undertake and to promote programmes to achieve environmental protection and enhancement. One of the first concerns of the Department after it was formed was to examine the federal government's role as polluter and to review all the projects that may be initiated by the government, in order to see what degree of pollution they may introduce, and to see what preventive, ameliorative and Dr Waidichuk is Senior Scientist with the Fisheries Research Branch of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, located at the West Vancouver Laboratory. He is an oceanographer who has devoted most of his career to research on marine pollution problems. He was a charter member of GESAMP (IMCO/FAO/UNESCO/WMO/ IAEA/UN/UNEP Joint Group of Experts on the Scientific Aspects of Marine Pollution), and chaired the International Coordination Group of the Intergovernmentai Oceanographic Commission's Global Investigation of Pollution in The Marine Environment (GIPME).