Maintaining SuperNatural BC for Our Children - CoalWatch Comox ...

• Destroy an important cultural and spiritual area of the Tsilhqot’in people;and• Create long term impacts on the physical and mental health of theTsilhqot’in.This federal decision stood in marked contrast to the approach taken by BC’sEnvironmental Assessment Office. The provincial office rejected expertisefrom its own Ministry of Environment and recommended approval ofthe project. This was consistent with the BC Office’s record – it has onlyrecommended that a project be rejected twice in its history.Furthermore, the flawed provincial process fell far short of the promises madeto First Nations in 2005 when the BC government announced its commitmentto a “New Relationship.”In 2011, the BC Auditor General highlighted deep flaws in the provincialenvironmental assessment process. The government watchdog stronglycriticized the lack of rules governing mitigation and compensation for adverseenvironmental effects once a project is approved; the lack of measurableand enforceable conditions in EA certificates; and lack of compliance andenforcement.Government has responded with some minor tinkering, but it is time for amajor overhaul of BC’s Environmental Assessment Act. It is particularlyimportant to strengthen the BC law in light of Ottawa’s recent gutting of thefederal Environmental Assessment Act. Under the new federal law, Ottawawill rely increasingly on provincial reviews – instead of conducting its ownmore rigorous reviews like the one that saved Fish Lake in 2010.Without an effective federal regime, the environment will clearly be atrisk if we perpetuate BC’s deeply flawed system. After all, in 2010, the BCassessment actually supported the draining of Fish Lake.The Environmental Law Centre (ELC) published a comprehensive study in2010 on how the Act can be improved to protect places like Fish Lake and stillencourage sustainable development. The study focused on ways of making theBC system more effective – and more efficient.The ELC report concluded that our current provincial law is remarkably weakcompared to many other jurisdictions. Citing precedents from other countriesand provinces, the ELC report recommended the following measures:• Adopt a “traffic light” (green/amber/red) approach that addresses bigpicture issues such as Aboriginal title and rights, land use planning andcommunity suitability up front – before millions of dollars are investedin detailed engineering and feasibility studies. This would provide morecertainty to industry and avoid situations like Fish Lake, where thecompany invested 17 years and millions of dollars in vain;• Utilize “strategic-level” environmental assessments of overall regionaldevelopment, government programs, policies and laws – instead ofrequiring everything be addressed by proponents at the “project-level”;Maintaining SuperNatural BC: Selected Law Reform Proposals 13