De-polluting end of life vehicles, at last?
After years of effort by Ontario’s mainstream auto recyclers, in cooperation with automobile manufacturers, the Ministry of the Environment is getting close to a permit-by-rule system for recycling end of life vehicles. Given the elaborate market that already exists for vehicle recycling, this is far better than the MOE’s standard “extended producer responsibility” model for...
Continue reading the post titled De-polluting end of life vehicles, at last?Escheat is very popular
One of the popular ways of dealing with contaminated sites that are “underwater” i.e. where the economic value of the property does not justify remediation, is to abandon it by letting it escheat to the Crown. Escheat happens when a corporation is dissolved, leaving no one to receive its property, or when a person...
Continue reading the post titled Escheat is very popularCascades/ Superior paper mill cleanup: final settlement?
Going after individuals for cleanups of historic contamination continues to pay off for the Ontario Ministry of the Environment.
Continue reading the post titled Cascades/ Superior paper mill cleanup: final settlement?$150,000 fine and jail for illegal non-hazardous waste dumping
Penalties for environmental offences continue to rise. North Shore Express Ltd was fined $150,000 and its owner sentenced to 30 days in jail and two years’ probation for depositing non-hazardous sludge contrary to the terms of its environmental compliance approval. Daniel Andrew Tiessen owns and operates North Shore Express Ltd., in Leamington, Ontario. The company is...
Continue reading the post titled $150,000 fine and jail for illegal non-hazardous waste dumpingCreditor or regulator? Nortel, the MOE and environment v insolvency
If there are continuing operations, there has to be ongoing compliance with environmental legislation. But if there are no ongoing operations, the environmental regulator has to rely on its security, failing which it has unsecured status.
Continue reading the post titled Creditor or regulator? Nortel, the MOE and environment v insolvencyReg. 511/09: did they really mean this?
Some of the previously unannounced Reg. 511/09 amendments to Ontario’s brownfields regulation, 153/04, seem to have unexpected effects. For example, wells for dewatering or for groundwater treatment may now require every property within 250 metres to use potable (not non-potable) cleanup standards. This is how it works:
Continue reading the post titled Reg. 511/09: did they really mean this?Port Stanley Harbour
Here's an update on one of our community projects, the Port Stanley Harbour. Transport Canada wants to download the badly contaminated harbour onto the local municipality and its ratepayers.
Continue reading the post titled Port Stanley HarbourRenewable energy approvals
One great feature of the Green Energy Act will be freeing renewable energy projects from the current straightjacket of Ministry of the Environment rules on “waste”.
Continue reading the post titled Renewable energy approvalsSunrise Propane class-action, plaintiffs win a skirmish
Proposed plaintiffs in the Sunrise Propane class action have won a court order, forcing provincial regulators to immediately turn over photographs, videos, and parts of witness statements concerning the explosion site.
Continue reading the post titled Sunrise Propane class-action, plaintiffs win a skirmishUnlimited personal no fault liability for directors and officers?
The Ontario government argued in Superior Court on April 18 that former corporate directors and officers have presumptive, unlimited, personal, no-fault liability to orders to pay all environmental costs associated with the assets of their former corporation, or of the subsidiaries of that corporation. Northstar Aerospace (Canada), which is now bankrupt, owned 695 Bishop Street,...
Continue reading the post titled Unlimited personal no fault liability for directors and officers?Receive Blog Posts
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