Environmental assessment underway for salmon farm in Placentia Bay for now

After more than a year of back and forth, a complete environmental assessment is now underway for a proposed salmon farm in PlacentiaBay.

But, if a case underway in the Court of Appeals rules in the government's favour, it could get dropped.

Minister of EnvironmentEddie Joycegave Grieg NL, the company behind the project, official notice Thursday that an environmental impact statement the province's highest level of environmental assessment is required in order for the companyto proceed with its plans to build thesalmon farm.

The project would be one of the biggest salmon farms in the country, more than doubling the province's annual production of farmed salmon.

A year of back and forth

In July2016,the government decided an environmental impact statement (EIS) wasn't necessary. Joyce saidthat decision was made because government felt itsown environmental regulation and monitoring would suffice.

"We felt at the beginning that the regulatory reforms that were in place and the regulatory process would cover a lot of the mitigating factors in the whole Grieg proposal," said Joyce.

The Atlantic Salmon Federation disagreed and appealed that decision. It went to the Supreme Court in May2017.

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In July, the court decided that, in fact, an EIS was required.

• Judge orders further environmental assessment of proposed Placentia Bay fish farm

Then, in August, government announced it would beappealing that decision.

• Government appealing Supreme Court decision on environmental assessment for Placentia Bay salmon farm

And though Joyce told Grieg NL Thursdaythat an EIS is required, theappeal is ongoing in court.

'Everything that we do is by legislation'

Joyce saidthe appeal is intended to determine what parts of the government's existing regulations don't measure up.

"What we're saying to the court [is that] we feel confident that there were regulatory bodies in place to cover this," he said.

Wherever we improve science, that'salways a good thing to do.- Gerry Byrne

"We're asking the court for some direction, we're appealing. What is it in our environmental regulations [that] are not there that we should have there, if there's another project that comes up?"

The request for an EISsentThursday, he said, was issued because right now, as the law demands it.

"Right now, everything that we do is by legislation," he said.

He also said that if government wins this latest appeal, the EIS could be dropped.

"If the court case comes back and says the regulatory reviews that [we] had in place in the first place [were] sufficient, I'm not sure there's any need for the EIS," he said, stressing that any research or studies done in the process would still be valuable.

Minister of Fisheries Gerry Byrne agrees.

"Wherever we improve confidence, wherever we improve evidence, wherever we improve science, that's always a good thing to do," he said.

'Unneccessary'

Following Joyce's announcement, Griegissued itsown statement sayingitwould oblige, but that itbelieves the "completion of an EIS is unnecessary from an environmental perspective."

"Grieg NL looks forward to resuming work on the project if the appeal is successful," the companywrote.

Joyce saidthat it's hard to tell how long the EIS will take. There is a 120-day window for an environmental assessment committee to be chosen and for the guidelines to be drafted. After that, the public will be invited to weigh in.

Then, said Joyce, it's up to Grieg to ensure the project meets the EIS requirements.

In the meantime, hearings begin in the government's appeal of the Supreme Court ruling in December.