Where are electronic documents for hazardous waste?
Where are electronic documents for hazardous waste? Under Ontario’s Regulation 347, waste generators must keep some documents at the waste generation facility, in either physical or electronic form. Physical storage at each waste generation facility may be challenging. Will cloud (or o…
View the post titled Where are electronic documents for hazardous waste?Citizen science: Home spectrometer and Big Data
Do it yourself spectrometer? Cell phone spectrometer add ons? Do it yourself aerial mapping with balloons and kites? Environmental data collection with citizen science devices could fill in some of the gaps created by government cutbacks, especially if combined with the NEON Big Data project.
View the post titled Citizen science: Home spectrometer and Big DataCan biased sampling create hazardous waste?
One of our current cases deals with a question that is critical to everyone in the waste business: can biased sampling make a non-hazardous waste “hazardous”?
View the post titled Can biased sampling create hazardous waste?Contaminated site lawsuit: How not to win
Owners of a contaminated site are often too optimistic about their “rights” to compensation. Sometimes, chasing compensation for contamination just throws good money after bad. For example, Terrim Properties Ltd. wanted to build a gaming centre in Castlegar, B.C. Their loan fell…
View the post titled Contaminated site lawsuit: How not to winManaging fill: when is surplus soil “waste”, and where can it go?
Soil movement is big business in Ontario, involving perhaps 170 million tonnes/ year, and adding about 15% to infrastructure costs. Last year’s changes to the contaminated sites regulation Reg. 153/04 have made soil movement more difficult and expensive than ever, and further cost increases …
View the post titled Managing fill: when is surplus soil “waste”, and where can it go?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?Environmental Review Tribunal appeal notices must be complete
The Environmental Review Tribunal has dismissed an anti-wind appeal, because the neighbours opposed to the project did not file a proper notice of appeal: Ball v. Director. Several appeals were also dismissed in Monture v. Ontario, Ministry of the Environment, because the notices of appeal w…
View the post titled Environmental Review Tribunal appeal notices must be completeNew Canadian environmental assessment: a rose by any other name?
Officially, the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, 2012, has abolished most federal environmental assessment screenings, but the practical effect is less than it appears. Parks Canada, for example, has simply replaced the old Canadian Environmental Assessment Act process with its new, …
View the post titled New Canadian environmental assessment: a rose by any other name?Science, proof and causation: when courts and scientists disagree
Bad science should be thrown out of court. When alleged scientific data fails to meet relevant, objective quality standards specifically developed for that kind of data, no one knows whether the claimed result is either reliable or correct. It is fundamentally unfair to punish anyone base…
View the post titled Science, proof and causation: when courts and scientists disagreeHow safe is natural gas?
No source of energy is “safe”, i.e. has zero adverse effects. We are frequently consulted by people who have had their lives turned upside down by oil spills, some recent, some decades ago. Often, those spills cannot be fully cleaned up, and can tear families apart. Coal and nucl…
View the post titled How safe is natural gas?Receive Blog Posts
By subscribing to our blog, you will receive an email when a new post is added. You can unsubscribe at any time by sending an email to us at [email protected] with the word “unsubscribe” in the subject line.