Report - Agence canadienne d'évaluation environnementale

Assessing the risks related to the project
publique, the ministère des Affaires municipales et des Régions also refers to these
criteria in one of its guides 1 dating back to 1994. In this regard, Environment Canada
stated that:
The MIACC’s criteria are the only Canadian criteria to date which have been
defined through a members’ consensus, i.e. industries, NGOs and various federal
and provincial departments. These criteria are valuable and relevant for this
circumstance, because no legislation exists at this time.
(Mr. Robert Reiss, DQ88.1)
The MIACC specified the following criteria for corresponding land uses and
occupancies (MIACC, p. 19 et 20 2 ):
– For the contour corresponding to 100 deaths for every million years (risk of 10 -4
per annum), no land use other than industrial shall be allowed.
– For the areas between the risk contours of 100 deaths for every million years and
10 deaths for every million years (between 10 -4 and 10 -5 per annum), the uses that
require permanent access, the presence of a limited number of people, and permit
an easy and timely evacuation are allowed (manufacturing plants, warehouses,
etc.).
– For the areas between the contours corresponding to 10 deaths for every million
years and one death for every million years (between 10 -5 and 10 -6 per annum),
the uses requiring permanent access, the presence of a limited number of
occupants (offices and other similar commercial companies), and premises which
can be easily evacuated, with a low residence density, are allowed.
– For areas beyond contours corresponding to one death for every million years or
less (10 -6 per annum or less) (high-density residential areas), no limit shall be
required for land occupancy designations.
In order to put these risk acceptability criteria into perspective, and taking into account
social practices and modern lifestyles, the Canadian Society for Chemical
Engineering provided some information on risks, both voluntary and imposed. As an
example, the individual mortality risk associated with road accidents is estimated at a
probability of 109 per million deaths every year. The same risk associated with
residential fires is estimated at 7.9 per million deaths per annum. Lastly, the same risk
associated with rail transport is estimated at 1.1 per million deaths per annum 3 .
1. Ministère des Affaires municipales, Détermination des contraintes de nature anthropique, March 1994.
2. Op. cit.
3. Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering, Risk Assessment – Recommended Practices for Municipalities and
Industry, Ottawa, 2004.
120 Rabaska Project – Implementation of an LNG Terminal and Related Infrastructure