Submission ID 102773
| Session Title | EN - Environmental Successes and Lessons Learned |
|---|---|
| Title | Northern Road Link Project - Environmental Successes and Lessons Learned in Permitting |
| Abstract or description | The communities of Marten Falls First Nation and Webequie First Nation are remote Indigenous communities in northwestern Ontario and are not currently accessible by all-season roads. The proposed Northern Road Link is a multi-use road between the proposed Marten Falls Community Access Road and the proposed Webequie Supply Road. The Northern Road Link Project will connect the Ring of Fire mineral deposits in the McFaulds Lake area to the highway network via the MFCAR. The Project is subject to a provincial and federal environmental assessment. While the Project is still in the early stages of the assessment processes, the project team has already faced challenges with regards to permitting, as the regulatory environment results in a complicated and convoluted permitting process. The consultation and review requirements, while necessary, tend to stall the process and add a level of complexity which is difficult to manage due to difficulties in aligning consultation programs with remote communities, refusal to consult by some stakeholders, and long review/approval times of documents, and time sensitive permits for field programs due to a presumed lack of agency staffing. These communications and permitting delays often lead to confusion and more questions. The remote location and environmental sensitivity of the project study area is another aspect of the project which has resulted in baseline data collection challenges. Field data collection for the NRL project includes all aspects of the biological environment including species at risk (SAR) as well as the physical environment such as groundwater, surface water, soils and surficial geology. Several of these field programs required federal and provincial approvals, permits and authorizations. from the MNRF and MECP Species at Risk Branch. Most of these permits, particularly those related to SAR, have (time/seasonal) sensitive windows and the process to receive permits and approvals was convoluted, complicated and took a great deal of time to secure. |
| Presentation Description (for Conference App) | Successes and challenges in environmental permitting on the Northern Road Link Environmental Assessment project |
| Presenter and/or Author Information | Ange Brooks, AtkinsRéalis |
