ID: 1857
Presenting Author: Kostantina Northrup
Session: 592 - Streamlining IA in an era of global uncertainty
Status: pending
This paper explores the opportunities for and risks of streamlining IAs of offshore wind projects in Atlantic Canada, drawing on international examples to assess what is emerging and on the horizon.
Local and national conversations about offshore wind development in Atlantic Canada are evolving rapidly. Following the Regional Assessment of Offshore Wind Development in Nova Scotia and amendments to the Accord Acts to establish joint federal-provincial management of offshore renewable energy resources, the Government of Canada and Government of Nova Scotia moved swiftly to designate Wind Energy Areas and direct the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Energy Regulator to initiate processes to inform Canada’s first offshore wind licencing round. The Government of Nova Scotia’s initial ambition to licence sites for 5 gigawatts’ worth of offshore wind development by 2030 is now understood to be a stepping stone on the path to achieving the far more ambitious “Wind West” vision, which imagines a future in which more than 25% of Canada’s electricity needs are supplied by wind energy from Nova Scotia’s offshore. The “Wind West” vision has been recognized as a contender for future listing as a project of national interest under the Building Canada Act, generating both excitement and concern: excitement that a transformative clean energy project may be enabled through federal support, and concern that the Act may be used to curtail impact assessments of offshore wind projects and vary laws that are designed to ensure that major projects proceed in the best way possible. This paper explores the opportunities for and risks of streamlining impact assessments of offshore wind projects in Atlantic Canada, drawing on international examples to assess what is emerging and on the horizon.
Kostantina (Tina) Northrup is a staff lawyer at East Coast Environmental Law: a regional charity that provides public-interest environmental law services throughout Atlantic Canada.