The expert panel on environmental assessment processes also recommended the federal cabinet be responsible for handling appeals to assessment decisions, which some worry will further politicize the process.

The expert panel convened by the Trudeau government to review environmental assessment processes is calling for Ottawa to strip assessment powers from agencies like the National Energy Board, which regulates energy infrastructure, as the debate over pipelines and, in turn, Alberta's vast oilsands, such as this development in Fort McMurray, Alta., heats up.