The (Contaminated) Ground Beneath our Feet
The extent and nature of contaminated land in Canada — the toxic legacy of our collective history of poor environmental stewardship, including through weak environmental regulation — continues to invade the headlines. A few weeks ago, a CBC/Radio-Canada report revealed that dozen…
View the post titled The (Contaminated) Ground Beneath our FeetToronto's proposed contaminated land policy
Ontario’s Environment Industry Association wrote a thoughtful and helpful comment on the City of Toronto’s proposed Policy for Accepting Potentially Contaminated Lands to be Conveyed to the City under the Planning Act. Much progress has been made, but the proposed Policy still ha…
View the post titled Toronto's proposed contaminated land policyBuyer can’t void purchase of contaminated land
Crosslink Bridge Corp. (Crosslink) purchased contaminated land from CN Railway (CN) in 2008 to develop a tourism, entertainment, retail and sports venue in the Niagara region. Crosslink received a box of environmental reports, including the Certificate of Requirement (also registered on titl…
View the post titled Buyer can’t void purchase of contaminated landDo the innocent get compensation after MOE orders?
Cleaning up your neighbour’s mess: Recovery of spill clean-up costs by the innocent party. It is clear that any civilized system of law is bound to provide remedies for cases of what has been called unjust enrichment or unjust benefit, that is to prevent a man from retaining the money of or …
View the post titled Do the innocent get compensation after MOE orders?Sustainable remediation: what is the status?
The United Kingdom program, Contaminated Land: Applications in Real Environments, provides excellent resources on contaminated site remediation. One of their contributors, the University of Cambridge, is now seeking input on sustainable remediation. Study participants will receive the final report.
View the post titled Sustainable remediation: what is the status?Expropriating contaminated land
When a municipality expropriates contaminated land, can it deduct the full cost of remediating the contamination from the amount paid to the reluctant seller? Surprisingly, the answer is still not clear.
View the post titled Expropriating contaminated landGuidance for Environmental Site Assessments
Now that Reg. 153/04 sets strict new standards for Environmental Site Assessments of contaminated sites, it is good news that the Ministry of the Environment has finally released its guidance document for performing those ESAs. Although the new rules are only mandatory when seeking a Record…
View the post titled Guidance for Environmental Site AssessmentsEnvironmental moot court
Congratulations to everyone who participated in the weekend Environment Moot Court at Osgoode Hall. I was very impressed by the calibre of the students, and by the wide support that both judges and the environmental bar gave to make the event a success.
View the post titled Environmental moot courtReceive Blog Posts
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