An environmental assessment is the decision-making process used by federal and provincial governments to assess potential adverse environmental effects of proposed energy and natural resource development projects before they decide whether to allow the project to proceed.
Environmental assessments often concern energy and natural resource development projects that stand to adversely effect on Aboriginal and Treaty Rights, and in such cases, the assessment should always carefully consider impacts on Aboriginal and Treaty Rights, and whether those impacts can be avoided, mitigated, offset or addressed through compensation. Environmental assessment processes are also often relied on by federal and provincial governments to fulfill portions of their duty to consult and accommodate. As such, the Wolastoqey Nation in New Brunswick often provides technical support and advice to the Wolastoqey Communities in environmental assessments to ensure that the Crown considers the impacts of proposed energy and natural resource development projects on Wolastoqey Aboriginal and Treaty Rights and fulfills its duty to consult with and accommodate the Wolastoqey. In the Province of New Brunswick, environmental assessments are known as Environmental Impact Assessments and are undertaken under the Environmental Impact Assessment Act. The federal environmental assessment process is known as an Impact Assessment and are undertaken under the Impact Assessment Act.
Some environmental assessments currently being reviewed by the Wolastoqey Nation in New Brunswick on behalf of the Wolastoqey Communities include:
• Upham East Gypsum Quarry Project
• Sisson Mine – permitting process and EIA Conditions
• Sagewill Limestone Quarry
• Amkis Sand Pit – Not an EIA Project
• Mactaquac Dam refurbishment – Pre-EIA
• Scott Falls Dam decommissioning – Pre-EIA
• Milltown Dam decommissioning – Pre-EIA
• NB Power transmission lines – (Fundy Isles, Rainsford Line, Kedgewick, and Houlton)
• Madawaska-Edmundston International Bridge
• Coles Island Bridge – EIA conditions
• Bay du Nord Development Project
• 10 proposed Offshore Newfoundland Exploration Projects
• Deep Panuke and Sable Offshore Energy Project decommissioning – Conditions
• Chipman Wastewater Treatment Facility Replacement – EIA Conditions
• Nicholson’s Waste Management – EIA Conditions
• Hanwell School
• Wocawson Wind Farm – EIA Conditions
• Port of Saint John – Not an EIA Project
For more information, please contact Gordon Grey, EIA Coordinator at gordon.grey@wolastoqey.ca