In June 1992, Parliament passed the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, which was proclaimed in January 1995. The Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (the Agency) is charged with administering the Act and promoting federal environmental assessment processes, policies and practices.
The Agency reports directly to the Minister of the Environment and operates independently of all federal departments and agencies, including Environment Canada.
The Agency is also responsible for:
The following eight regulations have been developed:
The Comprehensive Study List Regulations describe those types of projects that must be assessed through a more detailed study. These projects have the potential of causing significant adverse environmental effects. Examples include:
Under the Act, an environmental assessment is required ("triggered") when a federal department or agency is asked to provide a license, permit, certificate, or other regulatory authorization under a statutory or regulatory instrument that is cited in the Law List Regulations. The Law List helps to define the scope of the application of the Act by identifying those federal authorizations that will be counted as triggers for an environmental assessment.
Under the Act, a project is defined as either:
Regulations apply to each of these two types of projects:
These regulations describe the procedures for conducting environmental assessments of projects located outside Canada and involving the federal government, while respecting the sovereignty of states and international law.
The Regulations Respecting the Coordination by Federal Authorities of Environmental Assessment Procedures and Requirements help to ensure, as far as possible, that only one environmental assessment is done for a project; the regulations include the following key elements:
These regulations are commonly known as the “Federal Coordination Regulations.”
These regulations apply to all port authorities created pursuant to the Canada Marine Act. They define the environmental assessment process to be followed for projects where a port authority is the proponent, is funding a project, or is disposing of an interest in land for a project to proceed.
These regulations prescribe specified bodies to be federal authorities for the purposes of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act.
DISCLAIMER
Information contained in this section is of a general nature only and is not intended to constitute advice for any specific fact situation. For particular questions, the users are invited to contact their lawyer. For additional information, see contact(s) listed below.
New Brunswick Contact(s):
Mr.
Bill
Coulter
Director, Atlantic Region
Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency
Suite 200
1801 Hollis Street
Halifax, Nova Scotia
B3J 3N4
Telephone: (902) 426-0564
Fax: (902) 426-6550
E-mail: Bill.Coulter@ceaa-acee.gc.ca
Web site:
http://www.ceaa-acee.gc.ca/index_e.htm