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Published on: 17 Oct 2013 By (Dianne Saxe)

MOE Director admits that the Northstar directors were not polluters

Our high-stakes case, appealing the imposition of infinite retroactive personal liability on directors for contamination they did not cause,  will be heard by the Environmental Review Tribunal starting October 28. Initial witness statements in Baker v Director, Ministry of the Environment we…

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Published on: 15 Oct 2013 By (Dianne Saxe)

Imposing liability on the innocent bad news for economy

Current Ministry of the Environment efforts to impose environmental cleanup liability on the innocent are bad news for the Ontario economy, according to an Expert Report by noted economist Sherry Cooper. They are also harmful to the social contract and the rule of law, according to Dianne…

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Published on: 25 Sep 2013 By (Dianne Saxe)

Ministry of Transport pays $250,000 for Fisheries Act charges

Ontario’s Ministry of Transportation has plead guilty to two charges under the old federal Fisheries Act, and has agreed to pay a $250,000 penalty. The charges were laid by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), and  relate to sediment released from a Highway 11 construction project near B…

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Published on: 19 Sep 2013 By (Dianne Saxe)

Sage Grouse to be protected by Emergency Protection Order, later

Following a recent loss in the Federal Court of Appeal, Minister of the Environment Leona Aglukkaq announced earlier this week that the federal government will (later) introduce an Emergency Protection Order for the Greater Sage-Grouse, or at least for those of this rapidly declining species…

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Published on: 29 Aug 2013 By

Tiny amount of hazardous material can make a whole waste load “hazardous”

A recent court decision has dramatically widened Ontario’s rules on what constitutes “hazardous waste”. Now, any hotspot can be enough to make an entire load “hazardous waste”. This is a particular risk for those handling spill cleanup materials and other small …

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Published on: 22 Jul 2013 By (Dianne Saxe)

Northstar directors liability to be decided by Environmental Tribunal

The Ontario Superior Court will not take over the hearing of the appeal of the former Northstar directors against their personal cleanup order for TCE contamination in Cambridge Ontario. The former directors applied to the Commercial List of the Superior Court of Justice to change the venue …

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Published on: 15 Jul 2013 By (Dianne Saxe)

Northstar/ Baker Order: Government doesn't have to explain its case

The Environmental Review Tribunal has ruled that the Director, Ministry of the Environment, doesn’t have to specify its basis for imposing personal liability, by order, on the former directors and officers of two Northstar companies (Baker v. Director), at least not now. Despite uncont…

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Published on: 9 Jul 2013 By (Dianne Saxe)

No Ostrander wind farm because access road bad for turtles

Bravo to the Environmental Review Tribunal for standing up for endangered species.  On July 3, after a 40-day hearing, the ERT revoked Gilead Power’s renewable energy approval (REA) to develop a wind farm on 324 hectares of Crown land in Prince Edward County’s Ostrander Point. But not becaus…

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