Environmental Assessment and Resource Extraction

Synonyms

Environmental impact assessment

Introduction

Environmental assessment (EA) is a planning tool used to systematically consider the potentially serious environmental and social effects of projects, programs, or policies on societal values in order to inform decision-making. In some jurisdictions, project-specific EA is legally required for major land and resource developments and results in a “go” or “no go” decision with final decisions resting with the highest order of governments. A substantial part of EA involves the public, interest groups, local governments, Indigenous peoples, and provincial and federal government agencies weighing evidence and information in order to defend alternative preferred futures.

The most commonly applied EAs today are those required by legislation to assess large or complex development projects and inform decisions on whether or not such a project will proceed. There is no similarly strict legislative requirement for governments to consider...