PrintSeptember 7, 2013
Why do EIAs take so Long and Cost so Much?
Some jurisdictions (notably, Canada) are attempting -- at least on face -- to streamline the environmental impact assessment (EIA) process for major resource development projects. Not only does the length of time required for such assessments need to be reduced, so does the complexity. I have witnessed substantial scientific "overkill" on several projects (particularly the fisheries- related components), often resulting in long, expensive, unproductive, and downright scientifically nonsensical navel-gazing exercises (a gravity flow fish sky-way directly over a large open pit mine and connecting two basins of a lake that was proposed by a senior biologist comes immediately to mind). That said, the current streamlining efforts are welcome news, but some questions remain to be answered regarding how we got to this point of overly lengthy and expensive EIAs?
The short answer is money. Nothing more, nothing less. The EIA process is less about science and the environment than it is about...(Read Full Article)
