Ottawa

The quiet cuts

Postmedia tallies nearly 3,000 cancelled environmental assessments.

Out of 2,970 project reviews that were stopped by the legislation that rewrote Canada’s environmental laws and weakened federal oversight on industrial development, 678 involved fossil fuel energy and 248 involved a pipeline, including proposals from Alberta-based energy companies, Enbridge and TransCanada. The numbers were calculated using the agency’s new online database that is still undergoing some revisions, additions and corrections.

“Federal environmental assessment is only one among many regulatory instruments aimed at ensuring that projects do not cause significant adverse environmental effects, and it is important to note that these smaller projects will still be subject to relevant federal and provincial laws, regulations and standards,” said Isabelle Perrault, a spokeswoman for the agency …  Perrault was not immediately able to confirm whether all projects on the list would face a mandatory environmental review from another regulatory body.

The Citizen looks at assessments impacted around Ottawa.

See previously: The quiet cuts

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