Environmental Impact Assessment in Canada: The Slave River Project

Abstract

In a previous article' the author discussed the concept of environmental impact assessment (ElA) and its general application in Alberta. Ambiguities in the legislative mandates of the Alberta Department of the Environment and the Energy Resources Conservation Board (ERCB) were exposed and doubt was expressed whether there was included in those mandates the consideration of, inter alia, social impacts. The intention in this article is to look at Alberta's and Canada's ElA processes in the context of the proposed Slave River project, which will require not only interdepartmental but interjurisdictional coordination. Following a description of the proposed project, the applicable Alberta legislation will be described. Federal environmental assessment and project approval processes will be described and doubt will be expressed that the Environmental Assessment Review Process as practiced enjoys full legal authority. Following all this, recommendations will be derived from both parts of this study.