Green groups outraged after Ottawa changes the rules on environmental assessments

Major industrial resource projects under provincial jurisdiction that spew massive amounts of carbon emissions will no longer trigger federal environmental assessments — a move that's angering environmental groups.

The Liberal government walked back the requirement in amendments to its controversial 2019 Impact Assessment Act, parts of which the Supreme Court deemed unconstitutional in the fall.

Environmental groups are raising the alarm and expressing their «disappointment» in a recent letter about the amendments introduced in Parliament on Tuesday.

«We are concerned that the government is not fully living up to its responsibility to protect Canadians and the environment from the climate impacts of major projects across Canada,» says the letter, which was signed by various environmental groups, including the environmental law group Ecojustice.

«We urge you to act immediately to retain these important aspects of federal decision-making within the scope of the act.»

Major industrial projects, such as oilsands mines, tend to fall under provincial regulatory authority. Under changes introduced to the Impact Assessment Act, oilsands projects will no longer be subject to federal environmental reviews of the amount of emissions they would add to the atmosphere.

They can still be assessed by the federal government for their impacts on fish, aquatic species and migratory birds.

Under the original law, a major project could fall within Ottawa's regulatory jurisdiction if it resulted in «a change to the environment … in another province.» The recent amendments dropped this part of the law, which would have allowed the federal government to withhold approval of industrial projects if their emissions could worsen the impact of climate