$350,000+ fine for cement plant dust and noise
Essroc Canada Inc. was fined $350,000, plus the victim fine surcharge of $87,500, for dust and noise from its cement manufacturing facility near Picton. The fine was suggested jointly by the company and by the Ontario Ministry of Environment and Climate Change. Essroc pleaded guilty to disch…
Continue reading the post titled $350,000+ fine for cement plant dust and noiseOslo Principles on Climate Change: Governments are Breaching Legal Duties
A group of preeminent international jurists have put together a series of legal principles, called the Oslo Principles on Global Obligations to Reduce Climate Change. These principles demonstrate that the governments of the world are breaching their legal duties to their citizens, by doing …
Continue reading the post titled Oslo Principles on Climate Change: Governments are Breaching Legal DutiesExpert Evidence at the Environmental Review Tribunal
Dianne Saxe spoke last week at the Ontario Bar Association seminar on Using Environmental Experts Effectively at the Ontario Environmental Review Tribunal. Here is a copy of her presentation: Experts at Environmental Review Tribunal. In theory, expert evidence at the Tribunal is governed by …
Continue reading the post titled Expert Evidence at the Environmental Review TribunalRetrial: lower fines for environmental consultant
In 2011, we wrote about the record $161,000 in fines imposed upon an environmental consultant and his company. In addition, $40,500 in fines were imposed on their clients, Mr. James Sinclair and his company Sinclair Landing, owner of a contaminated site. Following an appeal and retrial, the …
Continue reading the post titled Retrial: lower fines for environmental consultantWind appeals starting to settle?
Now that the Divisional Court has upheld Ontario’s renewable energy approval process, and the decisions of the Environmental Review Tribunal on concerns about adverse health effects, wind appeals are starting to settle. The Tribunal has heard appeal after appeal against renewable energ…
Continue reading the post titled Wind appeals starting to settle?Kawartha oil spill cost recovery litigation drags on
City of Kawartha Lakes taxpayers continue to pay heavily for the Ministry of the Environment’s 2009 order, which required the City to cleanup an oil spill that it did not cause. While everyone agreed that the City was an innocent victim of the spill, the Ministry saddled the City with $471,6…
Continue reading the post titled Kawartha oil spill cost recovery litigation drags onAnother court refuses to impose minimum environmental fines
I’m glad to see the courts making more use of s. 59(2) to offset the unreasonable harshness that the minimum environmental fine regime can create.
Continue reading the post titled Another court refuses to impose minimum environmental finesEnvironmental Tribunal rejects two more anti-wind appeals
The Ontario Environmental Review Tribunal has rejected two more anti-wind appeals, Cham Shan Temple v. Director, Ministry of the Environment (13-140) and County of Lambton v. Director, Ministry of the Environment (14-065). Citing the Divisional Court decisions in Dixon v Director, the Tribun…
Continue reading the post titled Environmental Tribunal rejects two more anti-wind appealsHazardous waste carrier fined $120,000 + $30,000 VFS
Buckham Transport Limited, a registered carrier of hazardous waste, was recently fined $120,000 following a guilty plea to three offences under the Environmental Protection Act (EPA): Providing false or misleading information to a Provincial Officer; Failing to transport waste to the receivi…
Continue reading the post titled Hazardous waste carrier fined $120,000 + $30,000 VFSYes, Ontario lawyers can talk to their experts
Lawyers must work with experts to focus and clearly express their opinion testimony. The lawyer cannot tell the expert what to say, but must ensure that the export report addresses the relevant questions in a clear and comprehensible way that will assist the judge to decide the lawsuit.
Continue reading the post titled Yes, Ontario lawyers can talk to their experts