Environment Ministry to loosen law for waste-based alternative fuels that displace coal
Kudos to the Ontario Ministry of the Environment for finally coming to grips, at least a little, with the adverse environmental and environmental effects of labeling too many productive activities as “waste disposal”. The ministry’s proposed regulatory changes will remove the “waste disposal” label from energy-intensive and trade-exposed heavy industry (such as the cement, lime, iron and steel...
Continue reading the post titled Environment Ministry to loosen law for waste-based alternative fuels that displace coalApproving smelly facilities
Strong opposition to organic recycling facilities, particularly on the ground of odour, can make it challenging to successfully site such facilities. A recent decision of the Alberta Environmental Appeal Board illustrates the “state of art” in regulatory approvals for sites with significant odour challenges; in this case, a biogas facility.
Continue reading the post titled Approving smelly facilitiesDo Pollution Exclusion clauses work?
Will pollution exclusion clauses stand up in commercial general liability insurance policies? The Ontario Court of Appeal says yes, when they are directed at activities likely to cause traditional soil and water pollution. See ING Insurance Company of Canada v. Miracle (Mohawk Imperial Sales and Mohawk Liquidate, 2011 ONCA 321.
Continue reading the post titled Do Pollution Exclusion clauses work?ERT rejects neighbours' plea re 22 year old spill
Should it really take more than 22 years to clean up a domestic fuel spill?
Continue reading the post titled ERT rejects neighbours' plea re 22 year old spillResidents get leave to appeal landfill closure
Where evidence indicates that the landfill may be causing contamination, a precautionary approach requires that the harm be presumed to be occurring unless and until there is concrete evidence that it is not. In situations where scientific uncertainty exists as to whether an activity is having an adverse effect, the precautionary principle requires that it should be considered to be as hazardous as it could be.
Continue reading the post titled Residents get leave to appeal landfill closureReg. 419/05, s. 11 and Technical Standards
The Ministry of the Environment could, and should, give Technical Standards for industrial sectors a much bigger role in the regulation of air emissions in Ontario.
Continue reading the post titled Reg. 419/05, s. 11 and Technical StandardsNew rules on soil movement
Ontario has struggled for many years to provide clear, consistent, effective rules to govern the huge amount of soil that contractors move from place to place. Is it a product? a waste? Where can it go? How clean is clean? There is so much confusion that municipalities, such as Clarington, are now starting to pass...
Continue reading the post titled New rules on soil movementVeolia Poop Pellets Escape
Veolia Water Canada Inc. makes fertilizer pellets (sold as Nutri-Pel) from secondary sewage sludge. It was fined $70,000 for letting some of them escape into a creek.
Continue reading the post titled Veolia Poop Pellets EscapeIs the 310 Waste garbage fire case over again?
In the fall of 2004, there was a terrible garbage fire at a grossly overloaded waste transfer site on Keele Street in Vaughan, Ontario. The fire burned for days, sending choking smoke through neighbouring residences and schools. Huge amounts of public and private money were spent to fight the fire and to clean up the mess,...
Continue reading the post titled Is the 310 Waste garbage fire case over again?Ontario environmental permit by rule approvals (EASR) expanding slowly
The Ontario Ministry of the Environment has proposed some modest expansions of its permit-by-rule approval program for low impact activities similar to those already covered by the EASR system. The proposal, Regulatory Amendments to Environmental Activity and Sector Registry (EASR) Regulations to implement a Standard Systems and Equipment EASR, proposes to: 1. Expand the types of...
Continue reading the post titled Ontario environmental permit by rule approvals (EASR) expanding slowlyReceive Blog Posts
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