EIA

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Feb 20, 2024

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The Strengths and Weaknesses of Environmental Impact Assessment The environmental impact assessment process was brought into Canada in the late 1970s and into the 1990s it was then fully put into place by the Canadian government (B.Noble, 2013). The aim of this act was to ensure that new development projects do not cause any significant environmental effects, it was also put in place to help to promote a sustainable development future for big projects. Environmental impact assessments have been used for many projects and have been proven to be very useful. When looking at the effectiveness of this process it is good to look at the strengths and weaknesses of this process in order to further improve this important process in the planning of future projects in Canada. The Strengths that comes with environmental impact assessments are; increased project acceptance, which means that the more projects that companies propose with a safe environment process the faster and more projects can be approved. Next is an overall healthier environment, by using this process helps to improve the environment in Canada and around the world. This also improves public relationships with bigger companies. One huge positive impact that this process gives is to help avoid treatment and clean-up costs for bigger companies, like for example oil pipeline companies. The environmental impact assessment process also comes with weaknesses. The first is the low public input on projects, as this is something that is improving (Beaver Dam Mine Project,2021) this is a very important process, and if ignored causes issues for the project proposal. The next weakness that the impact assessment process brings forward is the reliance on technology and what happens if the technology is not accurate. Finally, the last weakness that the impact assessment possesses is the possible time delays, if a project is behind in the timeline process, most of the time the environmental impact assessment process is rushed through and issues may go unnoticed. The first strength to be looked at for the impact assessment is the ability of this process to cause a higher project acceptance rate. With there being many new projects occurring every day like new developments for housing or new pipelines trying to be built, there is a need for an environmental impact assessment. There are many current examples of projects that are in the process of an impact assessment. One current example of this is just outside of Halifax Nova Scotia. Atlantic Mining NS is proposing the construction, operation, decommissioning and reclamation of an open pit gold mine (Fifteen Mile Stream Gold Project, 2022), this project would have an effect on the local landscape and wildlife, as well as the water shed in the area. One other project that benefits from this impact assessment process is the Regional Assessment of Offshore Wind Development in Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia. The goal of This project is to produce offshore wind farms to help the green energy sector of Canada improve, their proposal is two locations, one off the shore of Halifax and the other at the cost of St Johns (regional assessment of offshore wind, 2022). Projects like this use the impact assessment process to go forward with a safe plan to ensure the low risk of an environmental impact and to make future projects like this easier to go ahead and this helps to improve future green energy projects. Throughout the process of the impact assessment, there is a post-project follow-up to help ensure everything is going as planned and no new issues have surfaced to ensure proper environmental impact assessments. The next strength that Environmental impact assessments possess is a healthier environment for the local area where the project is being built and used. When a new project is being proposed near or on an environmental landscape that is put at risk with the development of a new project there are many environmental components that are put at risk. There is the risk of disturbing the landscape and all the benefits of the land that could have a chain effect on the local wildlife in the area (Hall,2022). For example, if there is a new development for a mine in an area, the removal of the landscape could remove specific habitats for animals that live on that land and could lead to the death of many animals. There is also the risk of chemicals leeching into the above and below-ground water systems which many local wildlife systems could benefit from. There is a current project that is in the planning process of removing 5000 plus acres of agricultural land on the border of Toronto and Durham to create new development in the area. Parks Canada has already warned against this as it will cause irreversible damage to the local wildlife including harm to endangered species in the area (Clarkson,2022). With a proper environmental impact assessment done, it should mitigate the risk of a big impact on the environment at risk. This is one of many stories that would greatly benefit from an environmental impact assessment to help preserve and protect the local wildlife to achieve a healthy environment.
The final strength that the environmental impact assessment process helps meditate on is the cost and effects of issues that comes from projects. The purpose of an environmental impact assessment is to help lower or eliminate the risks of bundling new projects. One huge area that needs and benefits from this is oil and gas pipeline construction and the ability to maintain and operate a safe pipeline. There are many examples out there of pipeline spills which cause lots of harm to the environment and the ecosystems within the area, but also the money and time it takes to clean up the spills. One recent example of a pipeline spill in Canada was in 2020. The Canadian trans mountain pipeline spilt over 50, 193 gallons of crude oil in Abbotsford British Columbia (Rosane,2021). This oil spill iced onto local indigenous lands and Chief Dalton Silver of the Sumas First Nation community stated that the spill on his reserve “leaked into the aquifer that supplies his nation with drinking water. It marks the fourth time in 15 years that the pipeline has spilt on his community’s land.” (Rosane,2021). Oil spills also have effects on wildlife, they can harm many different animals health and take away their water source, for the aquatic life it completely ruins their habitat. According to a case study done in Finland, it can cost billions of dollars to clean up larger-scale oil spills and cause severe harm to the environment In the area (Montewka, 2022). Of the high cost and high risk of oil spills, it is very important for the impact assessment to be put in place to help prevent issues like this. An ongoing issue that is concerning is the pipeline that runs the risk of an oil spill is the Enbridge Line 5 pipeline. This line runs from Superior, Wisconsin and ends in Sarnia, Canada. The main issue with this pipeline is when it crosses the channel between Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. The pipeline runs under the water and is not properly protected from issues like anchor strikes from the many ships that pass through this channel. If there is a spill in this pipeline it would have huge effects on the aquatic wildlife and the wide shoreline of Lake Huron and Michigan. (Maybe, 2022). Now focusing on the weakness of the environmental impact process is the issue of low public input on the proposed projects. One constant topic that should be addressed during the environmental impact assessment period is the public’s input on the project proposal. When companies skip over this step in the process it causes many issues with public relations and the community no longer supports the project proposal. It is very important to keep every party that is involved in the process happy and listen to every side. One example of a proper public hearing and one of the first is from the Canadian Arctic gas Pipeline. This was a proposal for a pipeline to be built from Prudhoe Bay Alaska to Norther Yukon to the Mackenzie Delta. The inquiry process consisted of preliminary hearings designed to allow whoever wanted to speak their concerns from the community to share their ideas (Hall, 2022). The second was an overview hearing where participants and experts presented a wide range of issues in front of a judge. This resulted in a stop in production until a better plan could be formed. This set the president for future projects and shows why a public hearing is important to include. Without this step which many companies try to avoid many projects would have many issues. The next weakness that environmental impact assessments bring forward is the reliance on technology. The science of impact assessment is not a precise or straightforward process. The technology behind making the important impact assessment is very important to the logistics of the project. The issue with this is the environmental impact assessment depends greatly on the field analysis data to predict the further outcome of the project and if this data is not executed properly it has the possibility to put the entire project at risk and becomes very ineffective. Slowly technology is becoming more and more reliant and this issue will start to phase out but it still is a very big issue that is involved with the impact assessment process. There is an example in 2020 where an offshore drilling site in Newfoundland and Labrador put the local marine ecosystem at risk from a rushed impact assessment. This resulted in local environmental groups in the surrounding area taking legal action against the federal government for failing to do a full proper assessment of the impact areas for oil and gas drilling (Flawed environmental assessment, 2022). The final weakness of environmental impact assessment is the time schedule most companies are on with their specific projects. Most companies that need to go through the assessment are trying to get their projects approved and start the production process. Most companies will try their best to rush this process along and will
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