In the process of design…

In the process of design development for a site, there are several points at which even a straightforward miscalculation can be caught by reviewers and corrected by the project team. This proposal is very concerning to me as it would seem to shift the responsibility for ensuring that safety regulations are met to the Proponent and the project team, without oversight from a reviewing agency. This assumes that Proponents would put environmental safety before the threat of delays, additional costs, and even a project being cancelled. That’s a conveniently naive way of viewing the world; there is an unfortunately long history of greed leading to environmental disasters.

If the goal of this proposal is expediency, the government can and should be hiring more technical staff to review applications.