Expected submission date for Springbank Project EIA revisions pushed to end of March

In early December, we advised that the revisions requested by the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA) to the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report (originally submitted by Alberta Transportation in October 2017), were anticipated to be completed by end of January. The EIA would then be resubmitted to the CEAA to continue the regulatory review process and restart the clock for its completion.
 
In meetings earlier this month with Minister Mason and his staff, we learned that the CEAA and Alberta Transportation will conduct further and enhanced consultation with the Tsuu t’ina Nation and identified Indigenous groups over the two months following the January 31 date we anticipated, until March 31.
 
We asked Alberta Transportation to provide to us a statement about this that we could post to our Members and the public:

 
Alberta Transportation has completed its work with its consultants to address the additional information the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA) requested in its initial evaluation of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the Springbank Reservoir Project.
 
In order to meet the final requirements for submitting the additional information for the EIA, Alberta Transportation is partnering with CEAA to conduct enhanced consultation efforts with identified Indigenous groups whose traditional territories will be impacted by the construction and/or operation of the Springbank Reservoir.
 
Alberta Transportation is doing everything in its power to expedite these consultations while respecting process. It is expected that the finalized EIA will be submitted to CEAA by April 1, 2018.
 
The Government of Alberta remains committed to protecting Calgary and other downstream communities from future flooding along the Elbow River. At present, the Springbank Reservoir’s target schedule is still to be operational for flood mitigation during spring 2021.
 

We were advised that CEAA’s more direct engagement would be beneficial at this stage but, of course, any possible date slippage to the regulatory review process and proceeding with the Springbank Project is very concerning to us, and we expressed this clearly to Minister Mason. We advised him that further delay in restarting the regulatory clock, past April 1, would not be acceptable to us or our Members, and he understands these concerns.
 
We also advised that we would be following up directly with the Federal Environment Minister Catherine McKenna to express these concerns, and that letter is linked here for your reference.