MP3

5th Ministry of Environment Update

Members of our section are frequently consulted on disputes over the wording of contracts between environmental engineers and their clients. Some contracts are just badly drafted, so it's hard to know what they mean. Others are clearly drafted, but don't describe what the client was promised.

Wastewater is liquid waste (including liquids containing waste solids) that is discharged from domestic residences, commercial properties, institutional facilities and industrial processes.

Vapour intrusion (VI) is about an exposure pathway and the volatilization of contaminants in soil and groundwater that migrate to indoor air. VI exposes occupants of buildings to potentially harmful contaminant vapours arising from exposure to volatile and semi-volatile contaminants.

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 O. Reg. 153/04 have made soil movement more difficult and expensive than ever, and further cost increases are expected.

Environmental Compliance Approvals, under section 9 of the Environmental Protection Act, now incorporate noise and vibration as integral elements of all air emission applications and approvals.

Not all test results are created equally. Different legal regimes and technical protocols deal with testing water quality in lake, river, surface and ground waters.

The economic challenges faced by some of the natural resources and related sectors in recent years, including in the mining and pulp and paper industries, have precipitated new and wide-reaching responses from environmental regulators.

It's 5 o'clock and you get a call from a client saying their tanker truck just rolled over. Fuel is spilling into a creek, the nearby residents are being evacuated and the 401 is closed both ways...

Lynda Tanaka, the recently appointed Executive Chair of the Environment and Land Tribunals Ontario (ELTO) provides her insights and answers questions on the "State of the Boards" and the cluster concept embodied by ELTO