Deregulation Backgrounder - Bill 38 The New Environmental Assessment Act

On May 9, 2002, the BC government introduced Bill 38, a completely rewritten Environmental Assessment Act. In December of 2002, the government followed up the new Act with a new set of Regulations governing environmental assessment. Taken together, the new Act and Regulations abolish the previous assessment process entirely and increase the thresholds for review, reducing the number of projects that will be subject to environmental assessment.