Triclosan, mentioned in our July 17th blog, is just one of thousands of existing chemicals and compounds that are being assessed under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA). CEPA has been called the “catch all legislation” because it is meant to address chemicals and compounds that were already in use in Canada that may not have been assessed. These 23,000 existing chemicals and substances are found on the Domestic Substance List. Substances not on this list...
Read MoreEnvironmental Enforcement at Dry Cleaners
On July 8, 2014, Environment Canada announced that a Vancouver-based dry cleaner had plead guilty and was fined $9,500 under the Tetrachloroethylene Regulations (SOR/2003-79). The offences included two open containers of wastewater, one open container of sludge waste, and the absence of proper secondary containment around these three containers. Dry Cleaners Will be Inspected If you have dry-cleaning operations in Canada, you would do well to pay attention to this and...
Read MoreToxics Reduction Act — Are You Compliant?
Prior to the deadlines for the Toxic Substance Reduction Plan (TSRP) under the Toxics Reduction Act, the Ministry of the Environment (MOE) conducted a number of educational and outreach programs. These were done in order to “help ensure compliance with the act and regulation.” Now that the deadlines have passed, the MOE is focusing on activities to ensure facilities are in compliance. Wait – What is a TSRP? Essentially, a TSRP starts with a review of your inventory of...
Read MoreSave Hundreds-of-Thousands of Dollars? No Trouble!
I remember when I first interviewed for my job in 1993 with Dr. James Dragun, I asked him how he responds when people ask, “Why should I hire your company?” Jim didn’t hesitate when he said, “It’s simple; I tell everyone the same thing – we get you out of trouble, we keep you out of trouble, and we don’t make trouble.” In the subsequent 21 years, I’ve seen my associates at Dragun “execute this philosophy” time and again, including the project outlined below that got our...
Read MoreEnvironmental Fine Approaches Seven Figures
Environmental Fines by Environment Canada According to Environment Canada there were some big environmental fines recently, “Plains Midstream has been ordered to pay $850,000 after pleading guilty to one count under the Fisheries Act and one count under provincial environmental legislation. The charges relate to the failure to notify authorities of a deposit of a deleterious substance into the Red Deer River, which is fish-bearing.” The violation dates back to 2012 when...
Read MoreEnvironmental Forensics: Putting Together the Puzzle Pieces
While there is no cost to attend our September 25th seminar on Environmental Forensics in London, ON, you will have to invest a few hours of your time to attend. So, should you attend? To help you answer this, consider that as we explain how to solve the puzzle, we will also share with you actual examples (mini case studies) where we solved problems others could not! In one case study, solving the puzzle helped our client avoid cleaning up groundwater contamination that...
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