The Alaska-BC Memorandum of Understanding and Cooperation: Will it Affect Transboundary Environmental Assessments?

Nicole Lee | BIG Research Reports | #47

This paper begins by providing a definition of environmental assessment and details the history of environmental assessment legislation, specifying which legislation applies to
projects undertaken in northern British Columbia. The paper will then examine the Canada-USA environmental relationship by identifying key treaties, agreements, negotiations, and cases concerning cross-border environmental impacts. Two cases, the Lutsel K’e, Nihat’ni Program and the Tatshenshini-Alsek Controversy, will be used to highlight the importance of public participation in the environmental assessment process. The paper will conclude with an overview of the MOU and its implications on transboundary environmental assessment processes and crossborder participation and concerns in these processes. Conclusions about the implications of the MOU are based in applicable environmental assessment legislation and previous MOUs signed between Canada and the USA.

Nicole Lee