Air pollution: They're cleaner than you think?
Ontario’s air pollution regulation, 419/05, uses an American computer model to estimate how much air pollution from a stationary source reaches a point of impingement, usually the property boundary. This model, AERMOD, is used to determine whether organizations are complying with air e…
View the post titled Air pollution: They're cleaner than you think?BP to spend $400M to reduce emissions from tar sands refinery
When BP received approval to re-engineer its Whiting operation in Indiana, intended to refine oil from Canada’s tar sands, environmental groups challenged the permits. It turned out that BP’s air permit application did not accurately reflect the real emissions from the refinery. As exp…
View the post titled BP to spend $400M to reduce emissions from tar sands refineryAir regulation 419/05 amended for site-specific standards
The Ontario Ministry of the Environment (MOE) has amended Ontario Regulation 419/05: Air Pollution, Local Air Quality to make the process of seeking exceptions to generic criteria less punitive and more useful to businesses. The process has been given a new name, “Site-specific Standard”, an…
View the post titled Air regulation 419/05 amended for site-specific standardsUS database on impacts of electric generation
How clean is each form of power?
View the post titled US database on impacts of electric generationAir pollution class action against the tar sands?
The successful class action by Port Colborne residents, Smith v. Inco, has opened the door to a similar class action against the tar sands. In Inco, nickel particles were emitted from the refinery for 80 years. There was no proof that Inco ever operated illegally or negligently, or failed …
View the post titled Air pollution class action against the tar sands?Limitations: why not too late to sue for contamination?
No one can count any longer on the limitation period having run for any of it.
View the post titled Limitations: why not too late to sue for contamination?Can garbage give us gas?
Energy from waste was anathema to Ontario regulators twenty years ago, but now they have changed their mind, due to better technology, a critical shortage of landfill space and strong demand for renewable sources of energy. One increasingly popular way is through biogas. Instead of burning t…
View the post titled Can garbage give us gas?New cars: greenhouse gas limits and ethanol
Canada will control greenhouse gases, although only when the US does. Last week, Canada and the US jointly announced stricter limits on GHG emissions from new cars (light-duty vehicles). This is the first-ever federal regulation to directly control GHG emissions across Canada. Our federal go…
View the post titled New cars: greenhouse gas limits and ethanolApprovals Reform gets closer
For most businesses that need new or amended approvals, these changes probably cannot come quickly enough. But the transition period could be painful.
View the post titled Approvals Reform gets closerE-approvals
The Ministry of the Environment is starting Approval Reform by putting existing certificates of approval online. According to a recent EBR posting, they will start being available in March. An excellent step, long overdue.
View the post titled E-approvalsReceive Blog Posts
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