Environmental or legislative issues, and any level of approval they may enjoy, will vary based on geography, industry, and a variety of other factors. Cases in point, Bill C-69 and algal blooms. Officially, Bill C-69 goes by the not-so-short title, “An Act to enact the Impact Assessment Act and the Canadian Energy Regulator Act, to amend the Navigation Protection Act and to make consequential amendments to other Acts.” Opposition to Bill C-69 Not everyone is “a fan” of...
Read MoreDo I Need to Register with the MECP’s Environmental Activity and Sector Registry (EASR)?
It’s been almost two years since the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP) finalized regulation requiring facilities with air, noise, and odour emissions to register with the Environmental Activity and Sector Registry (EASR). This regulation, entitled Ontario Regulation (O. Reg.) 1/17 of the Environmental Protection Act, dated January 2017, applies to all Ontario facilities not explicitly excluded in the regulation. These excluded facilities, which are...
Read MoreThe Court of Public Perception
Environmental management issues go beyond a cut-and-dried reading and application of the regulations. Often there is more than just “scientific facts” and a strict reading of the regulations. Sometimes perceptions and sentiment trump facts, and sometimes the regulations have not caught up with the science. This extra-regulatory approach to environmental management is often lumped under what is referred to as a social licence. Defining Social Licence The idea of a social...
Read MoreLimiting Environmental Events and More Fines
The Professor of my graduate class in Principles of Pollution Control stated if we can eliminate preliminary events (e.g., long working hours, poor maintenance, etc.), initiating or triggering events never occur; nice concept, but not so easy to execute. In an earlier blog, we said that, more often than not, human error (including communications) plays a key role in mishaps. These errors can be dangerous, costly, and can pose public relations challenges to the companies...
Read MoreEnvironmental Liability: Communities, Buyers, Sellers, and Consultants
Environmental liability protection seems to be nothing more than paperwork … until it’s not. Who Pays for Environmental Damages? We often discuss issues surrounding environmental liability, because every time a property changes hands, this is, potentially, a very big deal. Earlier this year, my colleague Allan Clifford Lawton, discussed the Redwater Energy Case and who will pay for abandoned oil wells when an oil company goes bankrupt. The Redwater Decision has potentially...
Read MoreEnvironmental Enforcement News Across Canada
We are taking a break from news regarding vapour intrusion, managing excess soils, and the hot button issue of PFAS to provide a brief update on environmental enforcement activity. Below are just a few of our environmental enforcement observations. Pipeline Release How we move natural resources from their point of extraction to refinement and then to actual distribution is an important issue. Mishandling these products can affect human health and the environment. We move a...
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