Considering small project assessment : À propos de l'evaluation des petits projects

Otherwise, to the extent the consultations in the previous review addressed the small projects issue, the desire seems to have been to bring this heavy EA workload in line with the likely risk of environmental damage by confirming what is known about the risk of adverse effects of the projects and adjusting level of effort accordingly by improving the existing tools provided by the Act. [...] Screenings Identify Environmental Benefits One of the developments arising out of the last review of the CEAA was the establishment of a quality assurance program. [...] This programme is intended to have the capacity to track and report on data relating to a variety of important questions relating to the implementation of the CEAA. [...] With these principles in mind the following suggestions are made to ensure the public can have confidence that the process for assessing small projects considers the environment while adjusting the level of assessment effort to match the risk of adverse environmental effects. [...] Increasing development of class assessments and ongoing review of the exclusion list combine with a documented reduction in the time required to complete screenings to suggest that the practice of small project assessment is maturing and becoming more efficient with experience and with appropriate amendments to the Act.