Alberta Transportation has submitted responses to all Round 1 SR1 information requests from the federal regulator, the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada (IAAC).

It is expected that these latest responses (to the IAAC’s July 16, 2019 deficiency questions) will satisfy the regulator. If so, the Round 1 information requests will be considered complete and ready for review.

The following is a notice provided by Alberta Transportation:

On June 14, 2019, Alberta Transportation submitted responses to the Round 1 Springbank Off-Stream Reservoir (SR1) Information Requests from the provincial and federal regulators.  

On July 16, 2019, following a review of the Round 1 responses, the federal regulator asked Alberta Transportation additional questions in 3 parts.  On November 5, 2019 Alberta Transportation completed and filed responses to the first of the three parts.On December 10, 2019 Alberta Transportation completed and filed responses to the third of three parts.  On December 16, 2019, Alberta Transportation completed and filed responses to the second of three parts (including information requests IR3-19, IR3-29, IR3-30, IR3-41 and IR3-42).  The responses are posted on https://www.alberta.ca/resources-springbank-off-stream-reservoir.aspx. 

The Government of Alberta is committed to flood mitigation for Calgary and surrounding areas.  AT has completed the responses to all the federal questions asked in Round 1 and continues to work diligently on the newly released provincial Round 2 responses. We will inform you when the responses have been filed with the Agency.   

For more information about SR1, please visit Alberta Transportation’s website at https://www.alberta.ca/springbank-off-stream-reservoir.aspx. 

Provincial regulatory review

Remember, as part of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) the ministry is answering questions from the federal regulator, the IAAC; as well as the provincial regulators, the Natural Resources Conservation Board (NRCB) and Alberta Environment and Parks (AEP).

On November 18, the Round 2 provincial questions were released; a combination of both NRCB and AEP inquiries.

AT expects two rounds of questions from the NRCB, plus third round of questions to be posed at the public hearings, which aren’t likely to begin any earlier than Q3 2020.

Background: Review conducted by multiple agencies

Since this isn’t a joint review, the timing is off from all the different agencies.

All information requests (from all agencies) for Round 1 were received by AT within a couple of months of each other in summer/fall 2018. AT’s responses to all respective agencies were submitted at the same time in June 2019.

In the 8,000-page response, the ministry answers nearly 600 questions collected from the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA), Natural Resources Conservation Board (NRCB), and Alberta Environment and Parks (AEP).

CRCAG

The federal regulator returned to AT in July 2019 citing some deficiencies in the June IR responses, whereas the provincial regulator did not and thus was able to progress to Round 2.

Read more:

• Round 1 IRs begin – CEAA information request pauses regulatory clock
• Round 1 Part 2 and 3 from CEAA – More questions added to CEAA information request
• Round 1 responses submitted – Alberta Transportation submits responses to SR1 information requests
• Round 1 response deficienceis –CEAA requests additional info on SR1 response package, clock paused again

For more information on the NRCB’s review of SR1 visit nrcb.ca.

If you have any questions or comments for us, please reach out to info@crcactiongroup.ca.

Regards,

Your CRCAG Board