Federal Government to Consolidate, Speed Environmental Reviews
The Conservative government will significantly reduce federal environmental oversight of natural resource developments and other projects by consolidating assessments into three departments, eliminating reviews for small projects and handing more regulatory responsibility to the provinces. The government is also looking at limiting environmental groups from intervening in regulatory hearings for major natural resources projects in an effort to expedite reviews. Ottawa indicated it will also have final say on pipeline decisions in the "national interest." Industry groups lauded the changes announced Tuesday as critical to attracting investment and creating jobs, while environmental watchdogs and opposition parties attacked the plan as another example of the federal government abandoning its responsibility for protecting Canada's land, air and water. View full article posted on Canada.com.

BC Regulations to Govern First Nations Projects
The British Columbia government has introduced legislation that will permit provincial regulations to apply to commercial, industrial and residential developments on two aboriginal development projects. The move is meant to make it easier for First Nations entrepreneurs to conduct business on reserve lands, according to BC's Minister of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation, Mary Polak. "This is really an historic opportunity," Polak said at a news conference shortly after introducing Bill 43, The First Nations Commercial and Industrial Development Act Implementation Act. "It's a huge step forward in terms of ensuring that the development that occurs on reserves is much more similar to what happens off reserves," said Polak. View the full article posted at CBC News.

Proposed Fisheries Act Changes Upend Cohen Commission Salmon Inquiry
The federal government's bid to make sweeping changes to the Fisheries Act has prompted an 11^th-hour scramble at the $26.4-million Cohen Commission, which was created by Prime Minister Stephen Harper in 2009 to study dramatic declines in the West Coast sockeye fishery. Senior commission counsel Brian Wallace sent a letter to all hearing participants – including governments, industry, First Nations, and environmentalists – late last week asking them to submit by May 14 their views on how the budget bill affects their previous positions on the state of B.C.'s top fishery. The letter was in response to the Conservative government's tabling of a 431-page omnibus budget-implementation bill that includes Fisheries Act amendments which would, according to critics, "gut'' key provisions to protect fisheries habitat. View full article posted by Post Media News.

Province Considers “Option” of Overruling Chief Forester to Secure Timber Supply for Industry
A leaked Ministry of Forests document reveals a proposal that the BC government override the top official charged with managing the province’s forests to find a timber supply for Burns Lake. The forestry-dependent town west of Prince George lost its main employer in a December fire that destroyed its sawmill and killed two workers. The April 7 document addressed to the cabinet under the name of Forests Minister Steve Thomson has come to light at a time when the government is under increasing pressure to reveal plans it has so far kept confidential to address the pending collapse of the Interior timber supply. At least 12,000 of 22,890 associated forest industry jobs are at risk, a second document briefly posted Tuesday on a government website shows. Read more.

WorkSafeBC Directive to Sawmill Employers
WorkSafeBC issued a directive order to all sawmill employers. The directive order was delivered by email or by WorkSafeBC officers to all sawmill employers in BC. All employers in this classification will have received the order by April 28.

Minister Unveils B.C. Forest Sector Strategy
Gorman Bros. Lumber Mill in Westbank was the backdrop for the provincial government's announcement of the implementation of the latest segment of its BC Jobs Plan. Steve Thomson, Minister of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations, unveiled "Our Natural Advantage: Forest Sector Strategy for British Columbia" at a press conference held just outside the main mill. The strategy will build on, and grow, six priorities identified by the Working Roundtable on Forestry, which convened in 2009, to chart a path to sustainable growth in the industry. Thomson says the strategy overview put forward by the roundtable includes:

• The commitment to using wood first.
• Growing trees, sequestering carbon, and ensuring land is available to produce a range of forest products.
• Creating a globally competitive, market-based operating climate.
• Embracing innovation and diversification.
• Supporting prosperous rural forest economies.
• First Nations becoming partners in forestry.

B.C. Coastal Loggers Violating Softwood Lumber Deal, U.S. Claims
Accusation based on fact B.C. hasn’t updated stumpage data for three years
The American lumber lobby says the B.C. government has been under-charging coastal forest companies for timber harvested on Crown lands to the tune of $70 million a year. And that throws into question the accuracy of B.C.’s market-pricing system, according to the U.S. Lumber Coalition, the American industry lobby group that opposes open access for Canadian lumber producers to the U.S. market. The charge against coastal producers comes on top of a $300-million claim against Interior producers levied by the U.S. government that is now in the final stages of a lengthy hearing process before the London Court of International Arbitration. Read more.

Proposed Changes to Forest Act Introduced
Bill 41, the Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act (No. 2), 2012, was introduced on May 1^st. The Bill proposed two amendments to the Forest Act. The first enables flexibility in the minister’s authority to delegate an authority under the act to officials in the ministry. The amendment was previously approved, but contained a minor typographical error that needs to be corrected. The second re-instates the requirement for a deposit to be made at time of application for forest tenure to prevent speculative bidding.