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36 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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What are the main objectives of EA? |
- Identify the negative impacts - Find ways to avoid or minimize significant negative biophysical and social-economic impacts - ensure development decisions are made in the full knowledge of environmental consequences - Identify, enhance, and create potentially positive impacts |
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What are the 'generic' stages in the EA process? Label and define each |
i. Project Description a. Outlines proposal,alternatives, & characteristics. ii. Screening a. Is it needed. iii. Scoping and Baseline assessment a. Refine to focus on the biggestissues. iv. Impact Prediction andEvaluation a. Identify the bi products v. Impact Management a.How will you fix the biproducts vi. Significance determination a. How bigs the bi product, giventhe fixvii. Submission and Review of EIS a. Make is public access viii. Recommendations and Decision a. Should we ’go ahead’? ix. Implementation and Follow-up a. Verify predictions, determineeffectiveness of fixes, ensure proponent complies. |
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What are the main benefits of EA? |
- Public participation - Avoidance or minimization of adverse environmental effects - Catching future issues early saves money - Increase in public acceptability through participation |
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What are the main challenges of EA? |
- does not apply to all projects, in particular many private sector projects - EA often examines already selected - Narrow scope, failing to properly address cumulative impacts and complex issues - poor performance in terms of follow-up and monitoring - view of EA as a bureaucratic hurdle by developers |
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What is the main focus of EA under the current CEAA? |
• minimize or avoid negative environmental effects beforethey occur; and • incorporate environmental factors into decision making. i. Identifying/Assessing negative impacts ii. Determining which negative impacts are significant iii. Proposing measures to mitigate/reduce significant negative impacts |
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What are the main differences b/w the Federal EA process and the Ontario EA process? |
Federal EA Process - not enforceable Ontario EA - enforceable |
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What is Harmonization and when is it needed? |
- Concerns about duplication + inefficiencies, when EA applies to more than one jurisdiction - objective: greater consistency, predictability, and timely/efficient use of resources where two or more parties are required by law to assess the same project |
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What are the strengths and weaknesses of CEAA? |
Weaknesses - sometimes late triggering of the act - exclusive focus on projects - narrow definition of environment - discretionary requirements to examine purposes and alternatives - ineffective mechanisms to ensure adequate follow-up, monitoring and enforcement Strengths - covered most projects with the federal ambit - opportunities for public participation - clearly defined streams for major and minor undertakings - required attention to cumulative effects - could be used to ensure a comprehensive and sustainability-based approach |
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What is systems thinking? |
- Holistic way of looking at the world with multiple perspectives in mind whilst acknowledging the complexity and uncertainty of the situation |
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What is bounded rationality? |
decisions are bounded by our knowledge at the time, our mental capacity & our timeframe |
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What happened in the Voisey's Bay Case? |
- important because there was a more demanding test of acceptability to not only mitigate negative impacts, but also positive contribution to sustainability - guidelines for sustainable development - preservation of ecosystem integrity - respect for the right of future generations - durable + equitable social/economic benefits |
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What are the EA types under CEAA 1995 and 2012? |
1995 - Screening - Comprehensive study - Mediation (voluntary) - review panel - most rigorous 2012 - standard EA - review panel: from notice of commencement, minister has 60 days to decide whether to use review panel, one person panels now permitted, overall timeline 2 years |
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What are the two exceptions to the EA act? |
- designation order: request to minister that project not subject to EA be declared subject, by regulation - declaration order: request to minister that project subject to EA be exempt requires cabinet approval, usually for private sector projects |
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What are the characteristics of CEAA 2012, and how are they different from 1995? |
- three main agencies responsible (NEB, CNSC, CEA Agency), vs. all federal authorities - designated projects: all out unless specifically included (list of projects that require registration) vs. all in unless excluded - scope: limited to portions of particular undertakings listed on designated project list vs. full project - definition of environmental effect (most drastic): changes to a small number of environmental components vs. ANY effect a project had on biophysical environment |
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What are the basic steps for a standard EA under CEAA 2012? |
1. proponent of designated project registers with CEA agency 2. CEA agency has 10 days to decide if they need more info 3. posts notices to registry, allowing 20 days for public comments 4. EA requirement decision made within 45 days 5. if required, notice of commencement posted 6. 365 days to complete standard EA (minister can grant extension up to 3 months) |
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What happens if a project is found to cause significant adverse effects? |
Governor in council determines if adverse effects are "justified under the circumstances" |
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How does CEAA 2012 reduce opportunities for meaningful public involvement? |
- reduction in numbers of assessed undertakings - tight timelines + narrower windows for public engagement - new triggering - narrow concept of "interested party" may limit public access to review panels (must be directly affected) - participant funding retained, but not for subsituted processes |
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What are the EA types under the Ontario EA act? |
- individual EAs: apply to large projects, more detailed than class EAs, less than 5% of all applications - streamlined EAs (routine projects with predictable + manageable environmental effects): increase EA efficiency, seeks approval for a group of projects that are common, predictable, routine, etc., less detailed evaluation |
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What is a bump up? |
- any entity that has significant environmental concerns with a class EA project, or manner of proponent meeting requirements may request minister to order a project to undergo an individual EA |
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What happened in the Kabinakagami River Hydro project? |
- joint venture partnership of northland power inc, and constance lake first nation - proponent did not make it easy for other first nations to participate - out-of-date data for river - fish passages: proponent said that no fish passage will be used, but no scientific justification was used (other dams used different types of fish passage), which goes against Class Ea and fisheries act - pro judgement was sketch - result with new CEAA: Federal EA was cancelled |
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What implications did the omnibus bill have? |
Navigable waters protection act: protected water and environment, but now, only water bodies listed in schedule are protected, excluding 99.7% of Canada's lakes and over 99.9% of canada's rivers from federal oversight
canadian environmental assessment act: fewer federal EAs with much narrower scope of assessment, cloaked in secrecy |
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In the Victor Diamond Mine case, what are the components, structure, boundaries, and scales? |
Debeers - components: provincial crown land, FN communities, reserves, registered trap lines - structure: formal property rights/ownership, formal resource management rights - boundary: spatial (study area), temporal (life of the mine) - scales: mine site, study area - type: resource extraction Fort Albany First Nation - components: families, family traditional territories, reserve lands - structure: family use of land, part of land - boundary: spatial (traditional lands), temporal (oppression and marginalization since colonialism) - scales: territory, treaty 9, FN issues - type: FN, traditional knowledge |
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What is the purpose of Screening in EA? |
- narrows the application of EA - intended to ensure unnecessary assessments are not carried out - projects warranting assessment are not overlooked |
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What are the pros and cons of each screening process? |
case-by-case - advantages: flexible, better consideration for particular features of local/regional env, common sense + good judgement - disadvantages: time-consuming + cost, inconsistent + difficult to defend if criteria is vague, open to abuse by decision makers threshold-based - advantages: simple/easy-to-use, consistent - disadvantages: inflexible rules on a variable environment (does not consider particular features of env), less room for common sense/judgement list-based - advantages: straightforward/quick, consistent - disadvantages: does not consider particular features of the local/regional env |
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Define and describe scoping |
To focus the assessment on the big issues - open scoping: content + scope of EA determined by transparent participative process - closed scoping: content and scope based on law 1. scope project alternatives 2. identify VECs 3. define boundaries 4. establish environmental baseline + trends 5. identification of stakeholders + concerns 6. inform affected ppl of proposed undertaking 7. identify potential impacts + issues of concern 8. create terms of reference |
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What are valued ecosystem components (VECs)? |
- Any aspect of the environment that is considered important by the proponent, public, FN, scientists, and gov't involved in assessment process - focus attention on most likely affected VECs = more detailed evaluation |
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What is the difference between 'alternatives to' and 'alternative means' in EA work? |
Alternatives to: diff ways of meeting the need and purpose of proposed project Alternative means: different options of carrying out the project |
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What are the three main approaches to screening? |
Case-by-case: evaluate project characteristics against screening criteria (flexible, open to abuse by decision makers) threshold-based: categories of projects and set thresholds for each type - fossil fuel-fired electrical generating facility production capacity of 200 MW or more - oil sands mine with bitumen production of 10000M^3/day or more - all-season runway with length of 1 500 m or more list-based (prescriptive): checklist of projects - EA is or is not required |
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What is a hybrid screening approach? |
- threshold-based screening system + case-by-case considerations |
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What are the five levels of project information required under CEAA 2012? |
- general info - project info - project location info - federal involvement - environmental effects |
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What is the difference between the need for the project and purpose of the project? |
need for: particular problem project intends to address purpose of: what is intended to be achieved |
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What methods can we use to identify, predict, and evaluate impacts? Pros + cons of each |
Checklists - advantages: easy to understand, cost-effective, summarizes key impacts - disadvantages: no distinguish b/w direct/indirect impacts, no link b/w action and impact (cause-effect) Impact matrices - advantages: useful for identifying cause-effect, good for displaying EA results, can identify magnitude of impacts - disadvantages: difficult to distinguish direct/indirect impacts Networks - advantages: identifying cause-effect, incorporate multiple variables, direct/indirect impacts - disadvantages: very complex/difficult to communicate results, no indication of impact magnitude or significance Simulation modeling - advantages: good visual tools for results, direct/indirect impacts, good for quantifiable issues - disadvantages: data demanding, complex/expensive, time-consuming GIS - advantages: impact identification and spatial analysis, good siting tool, large data sets - disadvantages: likelihood + reversibility of impacts not well addressed, heavy reliance on knowledge + data, complex/expensive |
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How can we define impact significance? |
Impact significance = Impact characteristic X impact importance |
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Why is significance determination necessary in EA practice? |
Because it is hard to be fully comprehensive and always possible to address more potential impacts, interactions, and alternatives, but there is always going to be a resource limitation |
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What are some of the criticisms/challenges associated with significance determination in EA? |
- confusion around the concept (magnitude vs. significance) - assessors (rely on their own judgement) - driven by non-aboriginal values - resistance if the public has more power - ignore the importance of context in determinations |
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What are the fundamental principles of EA? |
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