Comparing the Vancouver International Airport Authority’s environmental assessment process with proposed federal regulations for airport authorities under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act

One of the 2003 amendments to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act (CEAA) enabled the federal government to pass regulations requiring prescribed authorities to conduct environmental impact assessments (EIAs) of projects carried out on federal lands. In 2005, federal legislators proposed regulations for one such prescribed authority – airport authorities. However, the Vancouver International Airport Authority (VIAA) already had its own EIA process in place. This study evaluates and compares the EIA process for the VIAA with that proposed under the CEAA to determine whether changing EIA practices at the Vancouver International Airport would improve overall environmental management. The International Association for Impact Assessment’s (IAIA) Principles for EIA Best Practice are used as a framework for the evaluation. Results indicate that the VIAA process better meets the IAIA Principles in fifteen instances. Thus, some areas of the VIAA EIA process may be diminished if the proposed CEAA regulations come into force.