Stephen Harper’s Conservative government has washed its hands of environmental assessments of nearly 500 projects in B.C. as a result of a revised Canadian Environmental Assessment Act.

The 492 wide-ranging projects include gravel extraction on the lower Fraser River, run-of-river hydro projects and wind farms, bridge construction as well as demolition of the old Port Mann Bridge, shellfish aquaculture operations, hazardous-waste facilities and liquid-waste disposal.

Ottawa is also walking away from conducting assessments on various agricultural and municipal drainage works, log-handling facilities, small-craft harbour and marina development and expansion, the sinking of ex-warships as artificial reefs, the disposal of dredged material, and a 73-hectare mixed-use development on Tsawwassen First Nation lands.

Under the new legislation, BC Hydro also no longer requires a federal assessment for replacement of its John Hart Generating Station near Campbell River on Vancouver Island because the project won’t increase the generating capacity by more than 50 per cent or 200 megawatts. No provincial assessment applies, either.

The Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency provided details on changes to its environmental assessments at The Vancouver Sun’s request.

Agency spokeswoman Isabelle Perrault said “numerous small, routine projects that posed little or no risk to the environment” — something that critics vehemently challenge — had previously been subject to federal environmental assessments.

Under the new legislation, she said, the government plans to focus on those “project proposals that have a greater potential for significant adverse environmental effects in areas of federal jurisdiction.”

Perrault stressed that even projects no longer subject to federal assessment “will still be subject to relevant federal and provincial laws, regulations and standards.”

And there will be no change to more substantial projects already undergoing a comprehensive study or Joint Review Panel investigation — which applies to the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline project, Taseko’s planned New Prosperity mine in the Chilcotin, and BC Hydro’s planned Site C dam on the Peace River.

Perrault said that federal screening assessments on the 492 projects ceased when the new law came into effect on July 6, 2012. Screening assessments related to sea disposal of materials from the Kitimat LNG terminal, the Vancouver Airport Fuel Delivery Project, and the Kutcho copper-zinc-silver-gold mine project in Dease Lake will all continue.

The federal withdrawal from all but major projects puts a greater focus on the role of the B.C. government.

Derek Sturko, associate deputy minister with the B.C. Environmental Assessment Office, said from Victoria on Tuesday that the province will continue to consider environmental factors during the permitting process for various projects — whether or not they qualify for formal provincial or federal environmental assessments.

“The province is interested in assuming responsibility around environmental assessment,” he added, noting having just one jurisdiction in charge would streamline the process. “That’s been a long-term objective of the province.”

The B.C. and federal governments had been involved in 19 joint environmental reviews when the new act took effect.

Provincial reviews of those projects will continue, including: Teck’s expansion of its Fording River coal operations, and hydroelectric projects such as Europa near Kitimat, Glacier-Howser near Invermere, Kinskuch near Alice Arm, Nascall River near Bella Coola, and upper Lilloett near Pemberton.