Environmental groups call on the BC government to deliver on its long-delayed promise to establish a public participation funding program for environmental assessments
xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) & səl̓ilwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Territories/VANCOUVER – Today, a coalition of BC environmental groups is urging the BC government to follow through on a key commitment that would better enable members of the public to participate in environmental decisions.
Together, MiningWatch Canada, Northwest Institute, Sierra Club BC, SkeenaWild, West Coast Environmental Law Association and Wildsight issued the following joint statement to mark the five-year anniversary of the enactment of BC’s updated Environmental Assessment Act:
One of the BC government’s primary goals in enacting the new Environmental Assessment Act was to enhance public confidence and meaningful public participation in environmental assessments (EAs). A key element of meeting this goal is delivering on BC’s repeated promises since 2018 to establish an EA public participant funding program.
The materials informing an assessment are mostly developed by the proponent, which has an interest in advancing a project. When communities want to review this evidence or address information gaps, they must find their own funding for expert support, which is often prohibitively expensive. A public participant funding program can level the playing field by allowing impacted communities to access funds for expert support. It is a critical step in supporting meaningful public participation in EAs.
Unfortunately, despite repeated promises over more than five years, the BC government has made no tangible progress whatsoever towards its commitment of establishing an EA participant funding program. As we mark the five-year anniversary of the new Environmental Assessment Act, we call on BC to finally commit to a concrete timeline and process for establishing the EA participant funding program before autumn 2024.
BC’s failure to establish a participant funding program has real impacts on communities. One example is the experience of What Matters in Our Valley (WMIOV), a community group based in Telkwa that sought public participant funding in 2021 during the EA of the Tenas Coal project, to study potential project impacts to the Telkwa and Bulkley Rivers from acid mine drainage and other potentially toxic materials.
BC rejected WMIOV’s request, stating that BC currently has no public participation funding program. A decision has not yet been reached in the EA.
“BC provides no resources for the public or community groups like ours to obtain the type of professional advice and assistance we need to analyze the impacts of development proposals. Since these proposals generally involve highly technical questions, without access to such resources the environmental assessment process fails to provide an authentic or effective mechanism for public participation,” said Jay Gilden of WMIOV.
Last month, the BC government issued its first decision in an EA conducted entirely under the new Environmental Assessment Act, approving the Cariboo Gold Project in Wells, BC. No participant funding was made available during the EA.
“Over the past three years that we as residents of Wells were involved in the environmental assessment of the Cariboo Gold Project, we were unable to get either the proponent or the BC Environmental Assessment Office to commission independent studies of crucial issues,” said Wells resident and EA Community Advisory Committee member Cam Beck.
“It would have made an immense difference if we had access to participant funding to independently evaluate questions around the project configuration and access, including power and road routing. BC has shown that it is unable to address critical information needs in the assessment process. The public needs to be able to secure expert assistance to fill those gaps.”
Environmental groups, including those issuing this release, sent a joint letter to Minister Heyman in September 2023 reiterating their request for a concrete timeline for near-term establishment of the promised EA participant funding program. They continue to await a response.
---
For more information, please contact:
Gavin Smith, Staff Lawyer, West Coast Environmental Law
604-601-2512, gsmith@wcel.org
Jay Gilden, What Matters In Our Valley
778-210-0542
Cam Beck, Wells resident an Cariboo Gold EA Community Advisory Committee member
jcameronbeck@hotmail.com
Pat Moss, Northwest Institute
250-877-9745, pat@northwestinstitute.ca
Additional resources:
Timeline of BC’s Unfulfilled EA Participant Funding Promise & Links to Correspondence