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

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 ap...