A Commentary on Environmental Impact Assessment for Large Projects Affecting Lakes and Streams

Abstract

In this essay I look at environmental impact assessment as it concerns major projects influencing aquatic environments in Canada. Environmental impact assessment is a process aimed at guarding the public interest in the proper use of resources in the aggregate. Compromises are usually worked out on a local basis for each project. More widely conceived trade-offs are favored by all but practised by few. All projects go through various stages, all begin as vague schemes; some crystallize as firm proposals and then go through the assessment process to construction and a subsequent period of operation. Environmental impact assessment as a process should reflect this pattern of activity rather than being just the preparation of statements about projects that are imminent. I have given particular emphasis to the need for follow up on whether what occurred was what was predicted. Also I have stressed the importance of anticipating that some impacts will not be foreseen and, therefore, the necessity for making appropriate financial provision. Environmental impact assessment, as presently practised, does not make the contribution it might to environmental science. Impact assessment should not be seen as a substitute for research that would lead to new understandings of ecological systems and to new appreciations of what to look for in making environmental impact assessments.