Orgaworld wins organic waste odour appeal
Orgaworld Canada, a composting company, has won a hard-fought appeal for permission to compost disputed wastes at its Ottawa facility, despite MOE fears about potential odours. The disputed wastes include pet faeces, urine, and organic waste in plastic bags. In rejecting the Ministry of the Environment’s ultraconservative approach to the Orgaworld application, the Environmental Review...
Continue reading the post titled Orgaworld wins organic waste odour appealOntario Human Rights Tribunal Awards over $150,000 to Former Employees That Suffered Sexual Discrimination
A recent ruling by the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal (the “Tribunal”) has set a new high-water mark for damages awards against employers. Employers that are found to have allowed their employees to suffer from sexual discrimination, including sexual harassment, in the workplace face potentially significant damage awards for “mental distress”. In the past, such damage...
Continue reading the post titled Ontario Human Rights Tribunal Awards over $150,000 to Former Employees That Suffered Sexual DiscriminationZephyr Wind REA Appeal dropped
To date, every Renewable Energy Approval for a wind farm has been appealed to the Environmental Review Tribunal. The Environmental Review Tribunal rejected the first appeal, for the Kent Breeze wind farm, but ruled that it will allow the same or similar evidence in subsequent cases.11-208 MIDDLESEX-LAMBTON WIND ACTION GROUP INC. Essentially, the claim is that noise...
Continue reading the post titled Zephyr Wind REA Appeal droppedAlberta Court of Appeal Upholds Termination of Employee for Cocaine Use That Resulted in Workplace Accident
As most employers know, the Ontario Human Rights Code (the “Code”) prohibits discrimination on the basis of, among other things, “disability”. While the Code’s definition of disability does not specifically include drug or alcohol addiction, the Ontario Court of Appeal confirmed over 16 years ago that drug or alcohol dependency would, or could, amount to...
Continue reading the post titled Alberta Court of Appeal Upholds Termination of Employee for Cocaine Use That Resulted in Workplace AccidentBig Drive Clean fines for car owners
Ontario car owners are now receiving thousand dollar fines, or higher, for trying to evade Drive Clean testing.
Continue reading the post titled Big Drive Clean fines for car ownersCertificate of analysis ok as evidence despite minor error and delay?
A court accepted a Maxxam certificate of analysis into evidence in an environmental prosecution, despite a minor error in an internal chain of custody, and a two month delay in issuing the certificate. The decision is useful for anyone who takes samples, analyses them or uses the result in court.
Continue reading the post titled Certificate of analysis ok as evidence despite minor error and delay?Can biased sampling create hazardous waste?
One of our current cases deals with a question that is critical to everyone in the waste business: can biased sampling make a non-hazardous waste “hazardous”?
Continue reading the post titled Can biased sampling create hazardous waste?Inco awarded $1,766,000 in costs for contamination class action
Justice J. R. Henderson of the Ontario Superior Court has awarded Inco $1,766,000 in legal costs arising from the Smith v. Inco nickel contamination class action in Port Colborne, Ontario. This is less than a quarter of Inco’s actual legal costs, which exceeded $5,340,000 after certification.
Continue reading the post titled Inco awarded $1,766,000 in costs for contamination class actionKivalina loses its climate change nuisance case again
The City and Village of Kivalina, population about 400, sits on the tip of a six-mile barrier reef on the northwest coast of Alaska. The residents depend on the sea ice that forms along the coast to shield them from violent storms. Sea ice has consistently declined in recent years – it is thinner, smaller,...
Continue reading the post titled Kivalina loses its climate change nuisance case againBruce Power Receives $100,000 Penalty for Refrigerant handling Violations
Bruce Power Limited Partnership, operator of the Bruce Nuclear Power Plant, has pleaded guilty to one count of violating the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (CEPA, 1999). It received penalties of $100,000 for failure to conduct an annual leak test of all the components of a refrigeration system, contrary to the Federal Halocarbon Regulations, 2003 and paragraph 272(1)(a) of CEPA,...
Continue reading the post titled Bruce Power Receives $100,000 Penalty for Refrigerant handling ViolationsReceive Blog Posts
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