Demand-side management goes to court
Pollution Probe is taking the Ontario Energy Board to court over demand-side management (DSM) for gas utilities. DSM refers to programs that utilities use to assist and encourage their customers to conserve. For example, electric utilities use DSM programs to encourage customers to use less …
View the post titled Demand-side management goes to courtWas I right about air?
Was I right about air regulation 419/05? Ten years ago, the Ministry of the Environment asked for my opinion on the regulatory reform initiative that culminated in the new air regulation, O.Reg. 419/05. I wrote a column about it in the August/September 2001 issue of Hazardous Materials Manag…
View the post titled Was I right about air?Drive Clean relaxes a bit
Ontario is proposing changes to the Drive Clean auto emission testing program. The changes would exempt all vehicles–cars, trucks and busses—less than 7 years old from being tested as part of their registration renewal. Any vehicle plated as historic would be exempted too (Vehicles pla…
View the post titled Drive Clean relaxes a bitFracking and hazardous waste
Nova Scotia has followed Quebec, and has launched its own investigation into the potential environmental hazards of hydraulic fracturing to produce shale gas, especially the impacts on water. Meanwhile, the US EPA is anxious to formally start its own review. Its Science Advisory Board will …
View the post titled Fracking and hazardous wasteEPA cuts: return of the 90s?
The US Congress has cut the budget of the American Environmental Protection Agency by 16%, with especial cuts to programs to fight climate change and pollution of air and water. Other agencies with environmental mandates, such as the National Ocean Administration, also saw large cuts, such a…
View the post titled EPA cuts: return of the 90s?MacQueen/ Sydney tar ponds class action update
MacQueen v Nova Scotia, the Sydney Tar Ponds class action, is still mired in wrangling over the proper definition of the class. Last fall, the plaintiffs were hopeful that certification was just around the corner, and proposed a revised, narrower class definition for the court’s approv…
View the post titled MacQueen/ Sydney tar ponds class action updatePCB Cleanup Dispute goes to the CEC
Bennett Environmental has filed a complaint with the Commission on Environmental Cooperation, alleging that Canada, and more specifically the province of Québec, is failing to effectively enforce Québec’s Environment Quality Act (EQA) and the Regulation Respecting the Burial of Contami…
View the post titled PCB Cleanup Dispute goes to the CECExtra time for Toxic Reduction plans?
The Ministry of the Environment plans to give Ontario industries an extra year to prepare their toxic substance reduction plans and plan summaries, under the Toxics Reduction Act 2009. Proposed amendments to O. Reg. 455/09 have been reposted for further comment; comments are invited until …
View the post titled Extra time for Toxic Reduction plans?Social media, pollution and enforcement
I think it is fascinating how environmental groups are using electronic media to name and shame polluters that governments have chosen not to rein in.
View the post titled Social media, pollution and enforcementHome Insurance and the Pollution Exclusion
A BC court has upheld the pollution exclusion in a home insurance policy. The issue was the scope of the “pollution exclusion” clause in a policy of home insurance issued by the defendant, BCAA Insurance Corporation, to the plaintiff, Brian Corbould. Corbould sought a declaration of coverage…
View the post titled Home Insurance and the Pollution ExclusionReceive Blog Posts
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