Congratulations to the Approvals Reform team: The Ontario Ministry of the Environment has brought three new sectors into its Environmental Activity and Sector Registry Regulations under the Environmental Protection Act: Small Ground-Mounted Solar; Lithographic, Screen and Digital Printing; and Non-Hazardous Waste Transportation Systems. Qualifying activities in these sectors can therefore now take place through registration, instead of obtaining an Environmental Compliance Approval. Any facility that is eligible to register may do so from November 18, 2012.
The province has also decided to adopt a specific regulation for each sector, instead of including them all in Regulation 245/11. The new EASR regulations are:
- Ontario Regulation 245/11: Registrations Under Part II.2 Of The Act – General
- contains requirements on the information that is to be filed in the EASR as well as requirements related to the Director providing a confirmation of registration
Ontario Regulation 350/12: – Solar Facilities
- Ontario Regulation 349/12: – Printing
- Ontario Regulation 351/12: – Waste Management Systems
- Ontario Regulation 346/12: Heating Systems and Standby Power Systems
- Ontario Regulation 347/12: Automotive Refinishing
See EBR Registry Number 011-6567
Meanwhile, progress on four other potential sectors, proposed earlier this year, seems to be stalled:
- on-farm anaerobic digestion
- landfill gas electricity generation
- ready-mix concrete manufacturing
- concrete product manufacturing