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Published on: 26 Nov 2012 By (Dianne Saxe)

When will Ontario courts refuse to impose minimum environmental fines?

Now that mandatory minimum environmental fines are so high, courts occasionally refuse to impose them.  For example, in R v. KIE Farms Ltd., a justice of the peace refused to impose a $25,000 minimum fine on a local farm, even though seepage from its corn silo made a local  watercourse toxic…

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Published on: 23 Nov 2012 By (Dianne Saxe)

Large personal and corporate fines for importing refrigerant

Velocity Inc., in Valleyfield, Quebec, and Stéphane Poirier, its President, were fined $37,200 after pleading guilty to illegally importing 600 cylinders of a popular refrigerant chlorodifluoromethane (HCFC-22, or R?22). R-22 is one of many refrigerants whose import, export, use and sale in …

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Published on: 22 Nov 2012 By (Dianne Saxe)

Congratulations to Melancthon – no MegaQuarry!

Congratulations to Melancthon Township on the official announcement that the Highland Companies‘ Mega Quarry proposal has been abandoned. Large areas of Melancthon depend on drinking water from highly vulnerable aquifers, which would have been endangered by the mega-quarry. The proposa…

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Published on: 21 Nov 2012 By (Dianne Saxe)

New Guidance for Excess Soil management

The Ministry of the Environment has released its draft Best Management Practices for Soil Management in Ontario for two more months of public comment. The document outlines the MOE’s “recommendations” and “expectations” for managing the reuse of excess soils, a hugely important issue for the…

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Published on: 19 Nov 2012 By (Dianne Saxe)

Waterpower projects can't be reviewed because they don't get review?

So, waterpower development can't be reviewed by the ERT, because it gets only minimal scrutiny under the Environmental Assessment Act. Given the substantial adverse environmental impacts that waterpower development can have, it is incongruous to exempt it so fully from public review.

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Published on: 15 Nov 2012 By (Dianne Saxe)

Stadacona: Do employees know what samples to take?

Last fall, Stadacona was convicted under the (former) Fisheries Act and the Pulp and Paper Effluent Regulations. According to Environment Canada, “Stadacona General Partner Inc. pleaded guilty to having released one million litres of untreated process water into the Saint-Charles River…

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Published on: 14 Nov 2012 By (Dianne Saxe)

Want to hear my presentation on why water rates will keep going up?

Dianne’s presentation on the panel of the Financial Impact of Regulation session at the Drinking Water Leadership Summit was “exceptionally well received”, according to attendee feedback. The huge costs of the new duty of care under the Safe Drinking Water Act, which comes …

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Published on: 13 Nov 2012 By (Dianne Saxe)

Renewable Energy Approvals regulations amended again

The Ontario Ministry of the Environment has made more amendments to O. Reg. 359/09, the Renewable Energy Approvals Regulation. As a result of concerns raised during the last round of amendments (July 1), these amendments focus on: Re-issuance of draft site plans to reflect changes to the loc…

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Published on: 12 Nov 2012 By (Dianne Saxe)

Sector registration mandatory for solar, printing and waste haulers from November 18

Congratulations to the Approvals Reform team: The Ontario Ministry of the Environment has brought three new sectors into its Environmental Activity and Sector Registry Regulations under the Environmental Protection Act: Small Ground-Mounted Solar; Lithographic, Screen and Digital Printing; a…

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Published on: 9 Nov 2012 By (Dianne Saxe)

Bruce Power Receives $100,000 Penalty for Refrigerant handling Violations

Bruce Power Limited Partnership, operator of the Bruce Nuclear Power Plant, has pleaded guilty to one count of violating the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (CEPA, 1999). It received penalties of $100,000 for failure to conduct an annual leak test of all the components of a refri…

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