How you manage excess soils is increasingly important to the Ontario Ministry of Environment, Conservation, and Parks (MECP). The MECP might be more recognizable under its former name, the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change (MOECC). If it’s important to the MECP, it’s important to the regulated community. Concerns about managing excess soils was mentioned as one of the top environmental management priorities for the regulated community in our recent survey. That’s...
Read MoreProblems with Soil Dumping and Leachate Mismanaged
While there is a lot of press over big-pictures issues, including PFAS, climate change, and pollution from plastic waste, environmental management issues; however, are not nearly as lofty or newsworthy. Environmental management issues are likely to be far more pedestrian, like “What do we do with all this soil?” Dumping Soil and Debris in Open Lots One of those management issues that we talked about on numerous occasions is the soil and debris from construction activity...
Read MoreThe Growth of Data Centres
In our December 23, 2025, blog post, we discussed some of the potential environmental permitting requirements associated with data centres. Since that time, the issue of data centres has continued to garner attention, much of it negative. Background on Data Centers The first data center was built in 1945 at the University of Pittsburgh. Hyperscale data centres (that have been getting a lot of attention) began to be built in the mid-2000s (Enconnex). The definition of a...
Read MoreEnvironmental Compliance Tips and Insights
If you have a question about an environmental compliance issue or would like us to address a specific environmental compliance concern in the future, please contact Christopher Paré, P.Geo., Q.P., at 519-948-7300, ext. 114. Are you managing excess soil? See our summary: Excess Soil Regulation by Province Environmental Compliance Tips and Insights 2026 November: RPRA 2027 Program Fees When will RPRA (Ontario) post the 2027 program fees? The Resource Productivity and...
Read MoreNew Federal Chemical Reporting Requirement
In our October Environmental Compliance Tip, we noted new chemical reporting requirements under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA). Below are more details on these requirements. New reporting requirements under the Chemicals Management Plan (CMP), pursuant to CEPA, will require reporting on over 200 chemicals in two phases, beginning in March 2027. There are 184 chemicals listed in Phase 1 and 16 chemicals listed in Phase 2. The reporting applies to those...
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