Perhaps as a result of the huge public response that the proponent’s environmental screening report did not adequately address significant issues, on May 14, 2010 the Ministry of the Environment’s Environmental Assessment and Approvals Branch wrote this letter to those who requested that the project be elevated to require a individual environmental assessment.
The letter requires that the proponent conduct “further study with respect to navigtion matters and economic impacts” and to report back in 60 days (presumably by July 14, 2010).
The good news is that the Ministry of the Environment apparently agrees that the environmental screening report avoided responding to serious issues.
The bad news is that we don’t know exactly what information or level of detail is required from the proponent or whether we will have an opportunity to see this additional information. And over 7 months after the public comments on the environmental screening report have been provided to the Ministry of the Environment, we still don’t know whether they agree that this project requires an elevation to an individual envrionmental assessment.
(And why is it not called the Environmental Assessment and Decisions Branch?)