Performance Reporting

Report on Results

Goal 1: Efficient and Effective Delivery of Environmental Assessment

This goal was met through two objectives: continual improvement of provincial environmental assessment and greater procedural certainty when both the provincial and federal CEAA review processes are involved.

Objective 1: Continual Improvement of Provincial Environmental Assessment

Improvements to environmental assessment are ongoing. Most recently, reforms to the Act have streamlined and improved the process by making it less prescriptive and more flexible.

Key Strategies

• Timely and cost efficient delivery of the provincial environmental assessment process;
• Evaluation of the environmental assessment process and development of refinements based on implementation experience;
• Alignment of environmental assessment and permitting/licensing;
• Fulfillment of government's legal obligations towards First Nations; and
• Facilitating proponents' and review participants' understanding of relationship-building with First Nations.

Performance Measures and Results

1. Success meeting timelines

One key objective of environmental assessment is timeliness and process certainty. The British Columbia process has legislated timelines and the Environmental Assessment Office monitors whether these timelines are being met. Early in the review, a schedule is prepared that shows the major milestones and targets. The Environmental Assessment Office is proactive at anticipating and scheduling activities and encouraging effort, for example consultation during the pre-application stage, to ensure that projects stay on track to meet schedules and stay within legislated timelines.

Reviews of the Coursier Dam Decommissioning, Eagle Rock Quarry, and the Prince George Groundwater Projects were completed within the legislated timeline of 180 days. The Environmental Assessment Office Executive Director issued two timeline extensions for the Vancouver Island Energy Corporation (VIEC) which caused the Vancouver Island Generation project review to exceed the 180-day timeline. Both timeline extensions were related to the concurrent British Columbia Utilities Commission (BCUC) hearing into VIEC's application for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity. The Environmental Assessment Office needed time to consider the implications of the BCUC decision before referring VIEC's application for an Environmental Assessment Certificate to Ministers, hence the delay in concluding the environmental assessment review.

Several proponents have expressed interest in the new broader concurrent permitting provisions which can be effective in aligning environmental assessment and provincial permitting and licensing requirements. Most power project proponents are considering concurrent permitting of Water Act and Land Act tenure applications, and in 2003, a proponent for an aggregate quarry requested concurrent processing of permit applications. As a result, the quarry was granted a Mines Act permit within 7 days of the environmental assessment certificate being issued. Early experience with concurrent permitting suggests that this could become a highly valued feature of the new Act where applicable. For example, concurrent permitting is easier to arrange for more straightforward projects, such as aggregate mines, but may be a less attractive option for proponents of complex major mines (e.g., where the mine plan is rapidly evolving).

To assist the Environmental Assessment Office with understanding First Nations concerns and issues with environmental assessment, the Environmental Assessment Office set up the First Nations Environmental Assessment Working Group (FNEAWG) with representation from several First Nations. During the 2003/04 period, FNEAWG was responsible for preparing a First Nations Environmental Assessment Tool Kit, a guide to environmental assessment from the perspective of First Nations. It is expected that this guide will facilitate a better understanding of environmental assessment and help improve working relationships with First Nations communities on project reviews.

2. Participants' perceptions of a professional, expert, fair and open review process

The Environmental Assessment Office relies on surveys of review participants to provide feedback on the environmental assessment process to determine where improvements are needed.

The findings of the Environmental Assessment Office Client Satisfaction Survey (2004) conducted from April 19, 2004 to May 6, 2004 are being reviewed to identify areas for improvement that will be reported in the 2004/05 Service Plan Report.

3. Costs per Project Under Review

During Core Services Review it was estimated that the costs to government in conducting environmental assessment reviews could be reduced by one-third, without a significant reduction in the number of projects that are subject to review and with no reduction in review quality. The number of reviewable projects has more than doubled compared to levels expected during Core Services Review.

This performance measure was changed in the 2004/05 Environmental Assessment Office Service Plan to reflect average annual Environmental Assessment Office costs per project for environmental assessment instead of average annual government costs since Environmental Assessment Office costs are a more meaningful measure of output and more accurate. The 2002/03 base data was recalculated to reflect Environmental Assessment Office costs to allow comparisons with current and future years.

The average annual Environmental Assessment Office cost per project for 2003/04 ($106K) exceeds both the 5 per cent and 10 per cent targets for 2003/04 and 2004/05 respectively.

4. Reducing unnecessary red tape and regulation

The Government of British Columbia is committed to reducing unnecessary red tape and regulation by one-third within three years. The Environmental Assessment Office set a target of 33 per cent reduction for fiscal year 2004/05.

In 2002/03 the Environmental Assessment Office reduced regulations by 56% from the previous year which more than exceeded the target for 2004/05.

Objective 2: Enhance federal/provincial cooperation to increase timeliness and certainty and minimize overlap and duplication

When a project is subject to both CEAA and the Act, the Environmental Assessment Office works closely with the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency 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 on Environmental Assessment Cooperation (2004), the requirements of both processes are met through coordinated assessments to minimize overlap and duplication. Work plans, signed off by the Environmental Assessment Office and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency are developed for each project requiring a harmonized review. Work plans set out project-specific procedures for completing a harmonized review, which includes determining the scope of project, scope of assessment and project review schedule.

Key Strategies:

• Implement operational processes (work plans, dispute resolution mechanisms) to facilitate federal/provincial cooperation; and
• Negotiate a new federal/provincial agreement for environmental assessment cooperation.

5. Harmonized Intergovernmental Review

The findings of the Environmental Assessment Office Client Satisfaction Survey (2004) conducted from April 19 to May 6, 2004 are being reviewed to identify areas for improvement that will be reported in the 2004/05 Service Plan Report.

Strategies completed or underway to improve harmonized intergovernmental reviews.

When a project is subject to both CEAA as well as the Act, the purpose of coordinated assessments is to minimize duplication and overlap and ensure timely reviews. In March 2004, the governments of Canada and British Columbia approved the Canada-British Columbia Agreement on Environmental Assessment Cooperation (2004). This agreement reflects the amendments to CEAA and changes to the Act. Amendments included in the 2004 agreement improve and update the earlier agreement first completed in 1997:

• A recognition that work planning will be approached on a project-by-project basis, so that provincial timelines are more likely to be achieved by both levels of government;
• A dispute resolution mechanism was incorporated to involve senior-level officials from both governments in cooperating to resolve policy and process disputes. There is now a provision to allow third party intervention to resolve issues, if both parties agree; and
• The recently introduced role of the Federal Environmental Assessment Coordinator is included in the agreement as an improvement to managing federal participation in cooperative reviews.

The Environmental Assessment Office and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency are developing operational procedures where CEAA screening level reviews and the Act reviews are being conducted jointly. These procedures are designed to:

• Facilitate implementation of the Canada-British Columbia Agreement on Environmental Assessment Cooperation (2004) by providing guidance and establishing procedures for notification, establishing common information requirements, developing project work plans and coordinating decision-making during cooperative reviews;
• Clarify how key steps and decision points under CEAA and the Act will be managed during cooperative assessments so that both parties are able to meet their legislative and policy requirements; and
• Promote consistency in the interpretation and implementation of the agreement.