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Environment @ Gowlings - March 2005.

Article Excerpt
Edited by Katherine van Rensburg

Contents

FEDERAL

Expansion of Mandatory Greenhouse Gas ("GHG") Emissions Reporting

CEPA Toxic Substances

Replacement of CEPA's Prohibition of Certain Toxic Substances Regulations

Proposed Amendment to Regulations Under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act ("CEAA")

Recommended Procedures for Information Exchange

International Climate Change Partnerships

What's New at the CCME

NEWS FROM THE PROVINCES

BRITISH COLUMBIA

Increased Funding for Environment

The State of British Columbia's Forests - 2004

ONTARIO

Proposed Changes to the Blue Box Program Plan

Report on Smaller, Private Drinking Water Systems

Environmental Commissioner Recommends Change

QUEBEC

Recent Amendments to the Quebec Forest Act Regarding the Annual Allowable Cut

Enforcement of Environmental Compliance in Quebec

Minister & Ministry Renamed Again

WHAT'S NEW IN THE COURTS

Regulatory Negligence: the Ministry of Environment and a City Condemned by the Court of Appeal

WHAT'S HAPPENING

Lexpert Directory 2005 Recognizes Gowlings' Environmental Law Practice

Canada and Kyoto

Groundwater Quality Management

Contracting Out of Water and Wastewater Services: a Changing Landscape

Provincial Environmental Law, Regulations and Policy

Quebec's Used Oil Recovery Regulation

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) - Working a Social Ethic into the Bottom Line

GHG Trading in the North Atlantic: Linking the Canada, U.S. and European Marketplaces

Contaminated Sites Transactions - Challenges and Sollutions

FEDERAL

Expansion Of Mandatory Greenhouse Gas ("GHG") Emissions Reporting

Requirements for the submission of GHG emissions data were expanded on March 12, 2005 to require additional facilities to report their 2005 emission levels. GHG reporting is now mandatory for facilities emitting 100,000 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent or more of the six GHGs named under the Kyoto Protocol - carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, sulphur hexafluoride, hydrofluorocarbons and perfluorocarbons. Whether a facility meets the reporting threshold is determined by a calculation that weighs each GHG emitted using total mass of emissions and the GHG's Global Warming Potential.

The deadline for submission of 2005 GHG reports is June 1, 2006. This reporting regime will remain in force until March 12, 2008.

The Minister of the Environment intends to publish the information collected on 2005 emissions. Parties wishing to keep this information confidential may apply to do so under s. 52 of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 ("CEPA").

This is a continuation of the first phase of the Government of Canada's mandatory greenhouse gas reporting system discussed in Gowlings' March 2004 Environmental Bulletin.

CEPA Toxic Substances

Following assessments conducted by Environment Canada ("EC") and Health Canada ("HC"), substances recently added to CEPA's List of Toxic Substances include:

Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT),

2-methoxyethanol, and

2-butoxyethanol.

2-ethoxyethanol was also subject to an EC and HC assessment. The conclusion of this assessment was that 2-ethoxyethanol does not pose a danger to either the environment or to human life or health in Canada and is not considered to be CEPA toxic.

For more information see:

http://www.ec.gc.ca/substances/ese/eng/PSAP/final/glyclos.cfm.

Replacement Of CEPA's Prohibition Of Certain Toxic Substances Regulations

Effective May 15, 2005, CEPA's Prohibition of Certain Toxic Substances Regulations, 2003 ("2003 Regulations") will be replaced by the Prohibition of Certain Toxic Substances Regulations, 2005 ("New Regulations"). The 2003 Regulations, which remain in force until May, prohibit the manufacture, use, sale, offer for sale or import of certain toxic substances and provide some exception for listed uses. The 2003 Regulations also provide an exclusive exemption for some circumstances involving hexachlorobenzene.

The New Regulations will also prohibit the manufacture, use, sale, offer for sale or import of certain toxic substances and will explicitly expand this exemption to "a mixture or product containing certain toxic substances." However, the New Regulations' prohibition will not apply to instances where the content of toxic substances is incidental.

The New Regulations will impose new reporting requirements related to the manufacture or import of a listed toxic substance or mixture containing a listed toxic substance in quantities greater than the New Regulations' reporting thresholds. The applicability of these New Regulations to some of the listed toxic substances will be subject to permitted uses as well as concentration limits. The New Regulations...