Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - April 22, 1990, Winnipeg, Manitoba 14 Winnipeg free april Earth Day views vary on Impact assessments by Bohdan Gembarski do environmental Impact assess ments go far enough to protect the or Are they merely a nuisance to business and economic expansion views vary on these which have become so routine Over the last two on the such variance of opinion has been dramatized in the proposal by ducks unlimited to build its Headquarters at Oak Hammock in recaps plans for expanding and restructuring the former Manfor pulp and paper Mill at the and in the disagreements Between different governments and agencies Over pro posed construction of the Rafferty Alameda dam in Southeastern Sas seven Steps the Federal government has adopted a procedure of seven Steps to be followed in putting together an environmental Impact statement guidelines modelled after those published in a Green paper in the Early 70s by the department of the seven Steps Are d define the study d determine the d compile Baseline data from the available literature Case d assess the predictions of negative Impact on the environment water species depletion and d do a cos Benefit Dat this a usually Politi Cal decision is made by the minis Given a Choice of at least two options from the clean environment d pos Impact assessment by its this is usually not undertaken until after a licence for develop ment has been four broadly based factors must be considered during the seven step assessment process the ecological system what Are the violations to the natural sys tems the social system How Are peo Ples eco Monics affected the economic system what Are the economic advantages and disadvantages d the political John a University of Manitoba botanist who teaches courses in environment says a certain amount of flexibility is allowed at each in some May Lead to errors or abuses of the the proponent of a development project should fulfil each require ment in its environmental Impact statement the provincial environment minister retains the right to refuse a licence to any regardless of How Many requirements Are or whether or not the clean Environ ment commission recommends a How can a company assure itself of a licence to develop there is no realistic chances Are quite Good that the minister will Grant a licence if if a proponents Etc Satis fies the in the Raffert Alameda two separate reviews of the water re source project in Southeastern Saskatchewan have been completed and severely criticized for shoddy the Federal environment Lucien Bou is conducting a court ordered logging is just one of Many activities at the Centre of environmental reassessment of the entire the courts action followed Bou cards earlier issuance of licence to the project to proceed with the million construction of twin dams based on an internal review done by environment but there were conditions to be met 22 stipulations to mitigate damage to the environment of the Souris late last Howe a coalition of area Farmers and environmental groups asked the courts to Stop the project because of the failure of the Saskatchewan governments Environ Eis to fully outline the damage the project would cause to the Environ the group also Felt the environment Canada review should not have advised the project to restart the 22 conditions notwithstanding without first completing a Thor Ough the court saying the government had to hold Public hearings into As part of yet another the project was conceived nearly five years and held great prom ise for the the harnessing of the Souris River and Moose Moun Tain the Grant Devine government would provide thousands of jobs for a depressed agricultural would water thousands of hectares of land Bone dry from years of unrelenting would create better flood control for the Souris Basin in North would stimulate still More jobs through a recreational years behind schedule and millions of dollars Over Rafferty is a continuous headache to two governments hoping again that the project will finally be Back on track before what can be done to the Environ mental assessment process to pre vent recurrence of another Rafferty Are we doing everything we can but were working on and Earth Day reminds us a of whats at stake at Amoco we take environmental principles so do our that Why were implementing a paper recycling program at our head office in our employees Are starting to Recycle virtually All papers White computer coloured file seismic we expect that will result in the recycling of one tonne of paper every single we know it took 17 Gallons of water and kilowatt hours of electricity to produce and process that tonne of paper were our paper recycling program is a its a Good but just a Start building a healthy world is serious business business that must go on Long after Earth Day 90 is we will be announcing further working Day Amoco Canada Petroleum company readers in Canadian Oil and natural Gas production Stewart says the trouble with environmental Impact statements is that their very flexibility makes the potential for abuse quite real especially during their first phase when definitions and parameters Are supposed to be can be abused these can be if the Boun Daries Are left vague and diffuse All sorts of ramifications the Legal profession gets their hands on these scientific Docu and As a it becomes a that Why the assessments get Hung up in and have become extremely expensive the two environmental Impact statements completed for the Saskatchewan and North Dakota phases of the projects failed to take several factors into Manitoba Liberal environment Harold says the Saskatchewan study research was far too they selectively chose certain and they chose Post drought they didst use the the weather and water flow data is sufficiently accurate from 1911 on they chose not to include that they took the Shorter weather that a fairly major in both they didst use an Asis Case to look at what the Impact would when youre doing you should look at what the existing Model is How that River regime is today before you do anything to they tie it Back to the present whether its volume of temperature of the whats in the and the effects on Plant and animal Manitoba environment minister Glen Cummings says other Boun Daries also need to be outlined jurisdictional there is a great Lack of clarity in Respo Sibil which lies at the base of the Saskatchewan has claimed All along that they had done All the assessments but the Legal interpretation of the Federal guide lines has caused and will continue to cause until the Federal government Clari fies its we have to make sure the pro Cess is that we have adequate examination of the projects and there has to Imp a Clear delegation of author Ity in terms of environmental assessment and blames governments Taylor says the current and past provincial administrations Are both to what we have Here is Manitoba choosing totally unwise on the part of the and particularly the nip govern ment to depend on the Federal government and then not ensuring that Ottawa carried Manitoba didst do its so they were going to be dependent on a systems so you have one part Saskatchewan poorly done one part North Only a Little better and then Manitoba not done at and no systems so what you had Here Are within four Juris of How things be Stewart favors having mandatory assessments done on economic development projects in but not in the same manner As has been the Case ridiculous id like to see them done in a if without a High Cost to the because some of them Are almost if you get into As with some scientific issues where youre Al most considering the response of every animal and Plant then it gels crazy there would be no devel the nip environment Harry says the guide lines for conducting environmental assessments Arent Clear Harapiak would like to see standardized methods introduced to Lessen the i think its ironic that the courts have to show us the i think that the government should have recognized that there is a greater need for thorough environmental assessment i think there has to be a consistent set of standards that apply Light across the the environmental assessment re View process has been ruled by the courts to have the Power of it has never been enacted into Cummings speculates that situation May change even though the responsibility for the environment has been largely delegated to the provinces a number of years theres obviously a Lack of clarity from a Legal Point of and it cant be straightened out until the Federal government deals with it from a legislative they May clarify that there willing to make equivalency agreements with the they May decide that there going to do something entirely but it has to be clearly spelled so the courts and the proponents of develop and the provinces All have a better understanding of what our responsibilities arc ;