Budget 2004 -- Government of British Columbia.
   

Goals, Objectives, Strategies and Results — Continued

Goal 1: Efficient and Effective Delivery of Environmental Assessment.

This goal will be met through two objectives — continual improvement of provincial environmental assessment and greater procedural certainty when both the provincial and federal review processes are triggered.

Objective 1:
Continual Improvement of Provincial Environmental Assessment.

Improvements to environmental assessment are ongoing. Most recently, reforms to the BC Environmental Assessment Act have streamlined and improved the process by making it less prescriptive and more flexible. The strategies set out below address areas of the process to focus improvements.

Performance Measures 2003/04 Actual/Base 2004/05 Target 2005/06 Target 2006/07 Target
Duration of government application review. Base data collection in progress. 90% of application reviews completed in 180 days. Maintain or improve. Maintain or improve.
Proponents' level of satisfaction with the review process1.

• EA review is focused on key issues

• Mitigation measures canvassed and applied

• EA Report to the Minister is fair and balanced

Develop methodology and undertake survey to determine baseline.

Continual process improvement based on feedback from proponents and identification of key issues. Continual process improvement based on feedback from proponents and identification of key issues. Continual process improvement based on feedback from proponents and identification of key issues.
Average annual2 EAO costs per project for environmental assessment. The average annual project cost for 2003/04 is $106,000 which is down from $131,000 in 2002/033. Maintain or reduce. Maintain or reduce. Maintain or reduce.
Deregulation: reducing unnecessary red tape and regulation. 56% reduction in regulatory requirements of provincial environmental assessment. Maintain or reduce regulatory requirements of provincial environmental assessment. Maintain or reduce regulatory requirements of provincial environmental assessment. Maintain or reduce regulatory requirements of provincial environmental assessment.
Stage of Enterprise Wide Risk Management4 Implementation. Risk Management assessment is intuitive and ad hoc. Formal risk management assessment applied to key EAO strategies. Formal risk management assessment updated. Identified risks are proactively managed. Risk management is strongly integrated with EAO management practices.
1   Measure changed from 2003/04 Service Plan. See Appendix 2 for details.
2   Measure changed from 2003/04 Service Plan. See Appendix 2 for details.
3   The 2003/04 – 2005/06 EAO Service Plan sets out targets of a reduction from 2002/03 levels for 2003/04 and 2004/05 of 5 per cent and 10 per cent respectively. The average annual project cost for 2003/04 ($106,000) exceeds both the 5 per cent and 10 per cent target reductions.
4   Enterprise-Wide Risk Management (ERM) is a structured and disciplined approach to managing risk — both adverse effects and potential opportunities — in the achievement of organizational goals. The ERM targets are consistent with those identified in the Ministry of Finance, Risk Management Branch, Maturity Model.
Strategies:
1. Deliver a timely and cost-efficient provincial environmental assessment process.
2. Evaluate the environmental assessment process, and refine based on implementation experience.
3. Align environmental assessment and permitting/licensing.
4. Fulfill government's legal obligations towards First Nations.
5. Apply Enterprise-Wide Risk Management (ERM) to Environmental Assessment Office key strategies by implementing ERM program activities.
Objective 2:
Enhance federal/provincial cooperation to increase timeliness and certainty, and minimize overlap and duplication.

When a project is subject to both the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act as well as the British Columbia Environmental Assessment Act, the Environmental Assessment Office works closely with the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA) and other federal agencies to ensure the requirements of both levels of government are met through a harmonized process. Under the Canada/British Columbia Agreement for Environmental Assessment Cooperation, the requirements of both processes are met through coordinated assessments to minimize duplication and overlap. Work plans, signed off by the Environmental Assessment Office and CEAA, are developed for each project requiring a harmonized review. They set out the project-specific procedures for completing a harmonized review, which includes scope of project, scope of assessment and project review schedule.

Performance Measure 2003/04 Actual/Base 2004/05 Target 2005/06 Target 2006/07 Target
Per cent of harmonized reviews that meet provincial timelines1. Finalize new Canada/BC Agreement on Environmental Assessment Cooperation. 80% of all harmonized reviews meet provincial timelines. Maintain or improve. Maintain or improve.
1   New Measure. Two measures from 2003/04 Service Plan deleted. See Appendix 2 for details.
Strategies:
1. Early consultation with CEAA and federal agencies and proponents on projects entering the process.
2. Develop and implement operational procedures for work plans to facilitate federal/provincial harmonization.
3. Maintain the CEAA/Environmental Assessment Office Harmonization Working Group to address federal/provincial coordination issues.

 

  
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