Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
The Environmental Assessment Act applies only to actions by the federal
government of Canada and is “triggered” when a federal authority:
r Proposes to implement a specific project.
r Provides direct funding, loans, or other financial assistance to a
proponent to enable project implementation.
r Involves transfer or use by others of federal land in any way (e.g.,
leasing, sale, or other forms of conveyance and resource extraction
activities on military bases and First Nations Reserves).
r Provides any approval (e.g., license or permit) allowing a propo-
nent to carry out a project. Department of Fisheries and Oceans or
Transport Canada (Navigable Waters) actions are often the triggers
to this provision. Where a project may cause a harmful alteration,
disruption, or destruction to a fish-bearing watercourse or perhaps
where navigation of a water body may be impacted, an approval
from the Navigable Waters division of Transport Canada is required.
The CEAA has overarching goals and specific requirements for critical
aspects of environmental analysis. Similar to NEPA, the Act calls for achiev-
ing sustainable development and anticipating and preventing environmental
degradation. Taking a step beyond NEPA and drawing from guidelines of the
Council on Environmental Quality (see Section 2.3), the Act is specific in stat-
ing the mechanism of promoting high quality environmental assessment (EA)
to achieve these goals. The Act also recognizes the importance of public partic-
ipation and early consideration of environmental factors in the planning and
decision-making processes for government projects and actions to achieve the
specified environmental goals. A process for determining the need for envi-
ronmental analysis is set forward in the Act and summarized in Figure 8.1.
This process includes decision points to determine not only the necessity to
conduct environmental analysis but also the level of analysis required based
on the type of action. The Canadian provision for different levels of environ-
mental analysis, based on the complexity of the action and potential for sig-
nificant impact, has a parallel approach to NEPA as summarized in Table 8.1.
The focus of the Canadian Act is to ensure federal authorities consider envi-
ronmental costs and enhancement opportunities when taking any action.
However, in comparison to the U.S. NEPA, there is a stronger emphasis on pre-
venting environmental damage. The Act also provides a mechanism to resolve
conflicts over environmental issues during the process rather than the provision
in NEPA to elevate to the Council on Environmental Quality after the environ-
mental analysis has been completed. The resolution mechanism specified in the
Canadian Act is mediation, which is a voluntary process using an independent
and impartial mediator to assist interested parties resolve their issues. After
the Minister of the Environment consults with the interested parties and the
responsible authority, the minister appoints the mediator.
Search WWH ::
Custom Search