The Role of Strategic Environmental Assessments in Improving the Governance of Emerging New Industries: A Case Study of Wind Developments in Nova Scotia

Abstract

This article explores the potential for strategic environmental assessments to enhance project decisions. It does so by taking a retrospective look at Wind energy project decisions in Nova Scotia in the past 15 years, decisions that have been made in the absence of a strategic environmental assessment. The study considers both individual project approvals and two contrasting municipal responses to the emergence of the industry.

The aim of the retrospective is to identify the key challenges this industry faced in establishing itself in Nova Scotia. The article then considers to what extent the challenges could have been avoided through the implementation of a strategic environmental assessment in the early stages of the emergence of this industry in Nova Scotia. The article concludes with some lessons for the design and implementation of strategic environmental assessments.