Province Welcomes Details On Streamlined Environmental Review
Tuesday, April 17, 2012 @ 1:24 PM
Prince George, B.C.- The Provincial Minister of Jobs, Tourism and Innovation, Pat Bell, says the Province welcomes the details of the Federal Government’s move to a single review process for the environmental review of major projects. The details of the plan say the Federal Government will recognize provincial processes as substitutes or equivalents to federal ones as long as they meet the requirements under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act.
“It’s great news for British Columbia and we certainly pass on our thanks and congratulations to the Federal Government for this” says Pat Bell. “We are very pleased with that (recognition that Provincial assessment is sufficient) we think it will make a significant difference in terms of being able to attract big projects to British Columbia, and give them the certainty that they need, so another real significant step forward.”
Bell says the Province doesn’t think this shift will put the burden of cost on the shoulders of the Province, “In fact, what it does is reinforce the value of the provincial process sop we already do a detailed environmental process, we believe it ( provincial environmental assessment) will meet all of the needs of Act , we may have to do a couple of minor tweaks but I think it will accomplish what is necessary so it will simply eliminate the necessity of an overlapping review.”
The other details released by the Federal Government today include;
- Consolidating the number of organizations responsible for reviews from more than 40 to three: The Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency, the National Energy Board and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission;
- Improve time lines by ensuring decisions by the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency on whether a federal environmental assessment is required are made earlier in the process (within 45 days);
- Setting timelines for hearings and assessments, namely, 24 months for panel reviews, 18 months for National Energy Board hearings and 12 months for standard environmental assessments;
- Setting legally binding timelines for key regulatory permitting processes, including the Fisheries Act, the Species at Risk Act, the Navigable Waters Protection Act, the Canadian Environmental Protection Act and the Nuclear Safety and Control Act
- Providing more than $35 million over two years for marine safety and $13.5 million over two years to strengthen pipeline safety, including regulations to strengthen the tanker safety regime and increasing the number of oil and gas pipeline inspections each year by percent, from 100 to 150 inspections.
- For the first time, introducing enforceable environmental assessment decision statements under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act. Proponents failure to comply could face fines of $100 thousand to $400 thousand dollars.
- For the first time, providing federal inspectors with the authority to examine whether or not conditions of a decision statement are met;
Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver says the changes will be positive for the economy “It will help prevent the long delays in reviewing major economic projects that kill potential jobs and stall economic growth by putting valuable investment at risk.”
Comments
The province welcomes the changes or the Lieberals welcome the changes?
Follow the money. BC isn’t getting any and they are going to push this through. We need our government to take a position now. No more sitting on the fence
I would have thought the only important question was whether any changes made to process will result in weaker, or diminished protection of the environment. If it does, then the changes should not be made. Damaging the environment should be avoided as the long term costs in doing so are just not worth it. Surely, we have learned from the pine beetle epidemic that environmental protection is necessary to avoid damaging our economic potential.
Much needed.
When the review process starts to take longer than the work itself (years and years), you know there must be some streamlining opportunities to remove some of the excessive bureaucracy and red tape.
So let me guess, if the Province is in support of the project, they will do the review and if they are against it, the Feds will handle it . . .
pine beetle epidemic caused by forest pratises.
Pine beetle epidemic not caused but allowed to get out of hand by a guy who was a Forest Minister in Victoria named Dave Z. who said, “We don’t log parks”. The rest, folks is history.
Harbinger, Dave Z. was NDP wasn’t he?
Wow, I have to give it to those beetles and how smart they were to stay within the park boundaries where they were safe from logging, all the while increasing their numbers and strength so they could unleash their destruction in BC when they were good and ready to!
If it would have been so easy to stop the pine beetles as the anti-NDP crowd constantly bray, I have always wondered why the Liberal Minister of Forests has been so incapable of bringing it under control. After all, they have had control of the forests for eleven years now. Longer than the NDP did, and far longer than the period the beetles were a problem under the NDP. Surely, with all their expertise on the subject they must have been able to solve the problem, musn’t they?
The beetle infestation took off because of warmer winters allowing beetle survival. Logging or not logging particular areas would not have stopped it. There were multiple sources of infestation, not just one, and the beetles were not just in parks.
My point, which you pine beetle fanatics appear to have missed, was that environmental damage affects our economy. Environmental damage as a consequence of weak or non-existent regulation and review will have the same consequence. I’m surprised that people who are so focused on beetles are equally as focused on oil spills, as an example.
Sorry, “I’m surprised that people who are so focused on beetles are not equally as focused on oil spills”
I grew up with slogans like Super Natural BC and Beautiful British Columbia,with the most recent slogan The best place on earth I am beginning to realize that this means the best place to abuse. I miss the days of ethics and morals
Right on Littlebuds I’ll bet they almost broke the bank by throwing in 35mill to ensure marine safety. The 13.5mill to strengthen pipelines and tanker safety and pay for 100-150 inspections by “percent” ??each year could hardly even begin to pay for the damage done by an oil spill. Who in the hell does our prime minister think he is?
We need to kick Christy’s butt out of office. Harper thinks he’s the new sherrif in town, but I don’t think he has been out west yet.
Ammonra, stay out of the beetle debate. You are clearly as clueless as NDP were when it started. It started in Twedesmuir Park and dippers don’t log parks. Its kinda like a forest fire. If you don’t deal with it when its small, it quickly gets out of control.
No, dow7500, I will not. I will continue to comment on the established facts whether you Liberals like it or not.
Here are a few more facts from the BC Ministry of Forests – that is, information provided by our Liberal government.
To compare beatle infested areas under the NDP (2001) and the Liberals (2007 – last map available), compare
http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/ftp/hfp/external/!publish/Aerial_Overview/2001/pdfs/prov_pdfs/prov_ibm_2001.gif
with
http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/ftp/hfp/external/!publish/Aerial_Overview/2007/pdfs/provincial/prov_ibm.gif
There are other similar maps for 2002-2006 as well, and it is clear from looking at them that there was more than one single area involved.
Once again I ask, since the response to my earlier comments was to be told to shut up, how come the Liberal government hasn’t eliminated the infestation if it is as easy to do as Liberal supporters claim? Why have they allowed it to spread so widely?
At are some facts about mountain pine beetle. Under the heading “Contributing Factors”, the Ministry says:
* The mountain pine beetle prefers mature timber. After 80 years, lodgepole pine trees are generally classed as being mature.
* B.C. is believed to have three times more mature lodgepole pine than it did over 90 years ago, mainly because equipment and techniques for protecting forests against wildfire have greatly improved over time
* Hot and dry summers leave pine drought-stressed and more susceptible to attack by the mountain pine beetle.
The section following those comments, under the heading “Beetles and Cold Weather”, basically supports the comments I made about the infestation being due to warmer winters.
Look at the maps on the Ministry of Forests web site to get the facts, then make your own evaluation.
death ,taxes and projects passing the BC environmental assessment 100%. What a pathetic radical right wing Harper government.SOBs!
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