It has been a while since we’ve written about the Impact Assessment Act (IAA).
It’s time for an update.
Last month, the federal government amended the IAA – and the changes mean that major projects can no longer be rejected based on their climate impacts.
But before we dig in, a reminder of why impact assessments are crucial.
Fighting for climate consideration in project reviews
Environmental impact assessments are supposed to ensure that only projects which keep our communities safe and healthy get approved. A strong project review process is the only way governments can assess the environmental and social impacts of major projects like pipelines, mines, transmission lines and dams.
In 2012, the previous government gutted Canada’s federal environmental assessment rules. This left communities with a flawed decision-making process that put the environment and the public at risk.
Years of advocacy for better project review rules resulted in the passage of the IAA in 2019. The improvements in the IAA were the result of years of hard work, with supporters like you defending the bill as it moved through Parliament and the Senate.
Groups with close ties to the oil and gas industry bombarded decision-makers with inaccurate and downright misleading information in an attempt to derail the bill as it moved through Parliament and the Senate. Industry groups didn’t want to see pipelines and energy projects assessed on their impact on Canada’s climate targets. They preferred the previous process, which rubber-stamped their projects.
In the end, the IAA did not fully restore the protections lost in the 2012 rollbacks. However, we did secure some important wins. For the first time, Canada’s federal environmental assessments were legally required to consider a project’s climate impacts.
Alberta’s Attack on Canada’s Impact Assessment Act
During the development of the IAA, Alberta’s Premier, Jason Kenney, warned that if the amendments suggested by the oil and gas industry were not adopted as a whole, he would challenge the new law.
Even though many of the oil and gas industry’s demands were actually met, Premier Kenney launched a legal attack.
We went to court to defend it—first at the Alberta Court of Appeal in 2021 and then at the Supreme Court of Canada in 2023.
The federal government abandons climate
Last fall, the Supreme Court of Canada made its ruling and found parts of the act were unconstitutional.
In response, the federal government amended the act. But the government went far beyond the minor changes required by the court. Alarmingly, the government removed greenhouse gas emissions as effects under the federal government’s jurisdiction.
This means that we’ll no longer be able to get a project reviewed based on its climate impacts, and the federal government won’t be able to reject a project because of its climate pollution. Essentially, climate considerations will once again be excluded from decision-making, potentially allowing more and more carbon-intensive projects to proceed unchecked.
It’s important to note that the Supreme Court decision does not require the federal government to take this action. The ruling emphasized the need for the government to undertake further work to properly define how greenhouse gas emissions would be considered.
The Supreme Court Reference Decision called on the federal government to better define its responsibility, not to abandon it.
The Government of Canada must walk back its decision – and properly assess the climate impacts of major projects in Canada.
