Canada has changed its federal impact assessment rules to remove interprovincial and international pipelines and several other types of energy projects from the Impact Assessment Act, as the government seeks to speed up major project approvals and reduce regulatory duplication.
Under the changes, interprovincial and international pipelines will no longer face an assessment led under the Impact Assessment Act. Instead, projects regulated by the Canada Energy Regulator will be reviewed solely by the CER under the Canadian Energy Regulator Act.
The government said the move is intended to establish a simpler, single-regulator process. The CER already considers environmental, health, social and economic effects, as well as impacts on Indigenous rights, when reviewing pipeline applications.
The changes also remove international and interprovincial power lines, certain offshore renewable projects, some federally regulated oil and gas facilities, large in-situ oil sands projects and fossil fuel-fired power plants from the federal Impact Assessment Act project list.
The reforms are part of Ottawa’s broader effort to move toward a “one project, one review” approach and follow a government commitment to make decisions on major projects within two years.
Many have strongly supported placing pipeline reviews solely under the CER, arguing it would improve regulatory certainty, reduce duplication and help attract investment.
The government said projects removed from the Impact Assessment Act will continue to face environmental and regulatory oversight through the CER, provincial regulators and other federal requirements.
The amendments took effect when they were registered on Sept. 3.