Evaluating Cumulative Effects Assessment in Environmental Impact Assessment: A Case Study on the Pacific NorthWest LNG Project

As new projects are being developed in various sectors throughout British Columbia and Canada, there is an increased need to assess how these projects collectively impact the environment. While environmental impact assessment is the process used to analyze and assess the environmental impacts from a single project, cumulative effects assessment (CEA) analyzes and assesses the environmental impacts from multiple projects and activities over space and time. I evaluate the quality of CEA through a case study analysis on the Pacific NorthWest LNG project, using a defined set of best practice criteria for CEA. The evaluation specifically focuses on the assessment of the eight biophysical valued components included in the environmental assessment application for the project. Based on the results of the evaluation, I identify strengths and weaknesses in the CEA and provide recommendations for improvement.