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Published on: 29 Oct 2013 By (Dianne Saxe)

Baker (Northstar Directors') liability appeal has settled

Ten corporate officers and directors have paid $4.75 million to be released from the Northstar Canada cleanup order, even though the Ministry of the Environment admits that none of them were at fault for causing the contamination.  Some were not even on the Northstar Canada board. The Enviro…

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Published on: 28 Oct 2013 By (Dianne Saxe)

Approvals Modernization spreads to Public Lands Act

The trend towards “modernization of approvals” (otherwise known as “permit by rule” for what are supposed to be routine, lower risk, routinely-permitted activities) continues to spread across the Ontario government. Now it’s the turn of the Ministry of Natural Resources’ Public Lands Act.

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Published on: 23 Oct 2013 By (Dianne Saxe)

Good news: updated Ontario noise guideline

After three years of consideration, the Ontario Ministry of the Environment has adopted a more up-to-date guideline for assessing noise impacts.   “Environmental Noise Guideline Stationary and Transportation Sources – Approval and Planning, Publication NPC-300” is now in force. See NPC 300 o…

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Published on: 3 Oct 2013 By (Dianne Saxe)

Perverse Abitibi test produces perverse results in Nortel, Northstar appeals

The Ontario Court of Appeal has released its decisions in the Ministry of the Environment’s appeals from Justice Geoffrey Morawetz in Re Nortel and Re Northstar. In both cases, Justice Morawetz rejected MOE attempts to claim priority over secured creditors by ordering insolvent compani…

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Published on: 9 Sep 2013 By (Dianne Saxe)

One less hazardous waste in Ontario: automotive aluminum sludge delisted

The line between “hazardous” and “non-hazardous” waste is often drawn in a somewhat arbitrary way, sometimes for historical reasons. Occasionally, it is possible to persuade the Ontario Ministry of the Environment to readjust the line. Canadian automotive manufacturer…

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Published on: 16 Jul 2013 By (Dianne Saxe)

No personal environmental conviction without knowledge or participation

When is an individual liable to conviction for a corporate environmental offence? The Ontario Ministry of the Environment has insisted that management personnel are automatically liable for corporate environmental offences, and has laid numerous charges on this basis. The Summary Conviction …

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Published on: 8 Jul 2013 By (Dianne Saxe)

Agent Orange report confirms: some Ontario workers were poisoned

The Ontario government has released a report concluding that some pesticide applicators in Ontario were exposed to dangerous levels of Agent Orange between 1948 and 1979 — the same chemical used to defoliate the jungle during the Vietnam War. Although most Agent Orange was used by municipali…

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Published on: 21 May 2013 By (Dianne Saxe)

Modernization of Approvals a big step in the right direction

The Ministry of the Environment’s Modernization of Approvals process is starting to make a real difference: kudos to Marcia Wallace, Doris Dumais and the others involved. It still takes far too long to get many kinds of Environmental Compliance Approvals (often well over a year), but t…

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