LAWYERS at West Coast Environmental Law say that the two provincial bills aimed at reducing barriers to development, Bills 14 and 15, that were narrowly passed by the BC Legislature on Wednesday night, promise to rush approval of certain types of projects, and in the case of Bill 15, could actually result in environmental, labour and community safety requirements being amended to allow a specific project to go ahead.
Bill 15, the Infrastructure Projects Act, is intended to give government a wide range of powers to get projects that they deem provincially significant approved. Bill 14, the Renewable Energy Projects (Streamlined Permitting) Act, is focused on fast-tracking clean energy projects such as wind energy, but also transmission lines that service both renewable projects and industrial mines.
“While government says Bill 15 is about building hospitals or schools, mining companies are lining up to use it to bypass BC’s environmental laws, often for highly lucrative gold mines that might produce small amounts of critical minerals almost as a by-product,” said Andrew Gage, Staff Lawyer, West Coast Environmental Law. “Rushing environmental approvals or allowing industry to negotiate new requirements with government agencies might seem like a good idea in the short term – but could result in another mining disaster like Mount Polley in the long run.
“If BC had started with a law focused on streamlining approvals for hospitals and schools, it could have then taken the time to meet its legal obligations to work cooperatively with First Nations, as well as to consult with the public, on laws addressing other types of projects. This rush to enact a vague but powerful law prioritizing development over environmental and public safety standards and processes is likely to result in increased litigation and uncertainty in the coming years.”
“BC’s consultations on regulations under these Bills must be broad and developed jointly with First Nations. Those consultations should result in regulations or, where necessary, amendments to the Bills, to put in place guard rails that prevent industrial projects from bypassing legal requirements necessary to protect the public.
“There are absolutely projects that need to be built in a timely manner in the coming years. In addition to schools and hospitals, infrastructure needs to be upgraded to protect British Columbians from the impacts of climate change and renewable energy projects need to be built out. But this does not mean that environmental standards, or processes to hear from communities that might be harmed as a result, should be thrown out. We call on the BC government to work with Indigenous communities, with the environmental community and with the public to develop laws that focus on streamlining the types of projects we need urgently, while ensuring that legal protections remain in place.”
