Guidance re surplus construction soil
Looking for some good precedents on careful management of surplus soil from construction sites? The European Union Waste Framework Directive (Directive 2008/98 EC) requires that all surplus soil from all construction sites be treated as waste, whether contaminated or not, but several jurisdi…
View the post titled Guidance re surplus construction soil50 years of environmental law in Canada
While I was giving a seminar on environmental law to Turkish lawyers this week, I realised that 2011 is roughly the 50th anniversary of Ontario (and I think Canadian) environmental laws. It was in 1961 that the Ontario Water Resources Act and Ontario Water Resources Commission were created, …
View the post titled 50 years of environmental law in CanadaDumping construction waste: $150,000 fine
Willy’s Roll-Off Ltd., 1092066 Ontario Inc., Willis and Susan McKeown and Percy Pyper Ltd. pled guilty in February to impairing water quality, establishing a waste disposal site without approval, and failing to transport waste only to an approved site. They were fined a total of $150,000 plu…
View the post titled Dumping construction waste: $150,000 fineChevron, Ecuador, and court shopping
30,000 people, including indigenous tribes, suing Chevron (for toxic waste discharges by its predecessor, Texaco) obtained an $8.6 billion judgment this week from the Provincial Court of Justice of Sucumbios in Lago Agrio, Ecuador. The penalty is reportedly to be doubled if Chevron does not…
View the post titled Chevron, Ecuador, and court shoppingHazardous waste nonsuit decision
As mentioned last week, we won a rare non-suit motion in the Ontario Court of Justice on three counts, each against three defendants charged with improperly managing hazardous waste at a transfer site, contrary to the Environmental Protection Act. In each case, the Ministry of the Environme…
View the post titled Hazardous waste nonsuit decisionSuccessful nonsuits- hazardous waste
Successful non-suits of environmental prosecutions are rare. A non-suit is granted only when the Crown has failed to offer any evidence, no matter how manifestly unreliable, of the essential elements of the offences charged. I was therefore particularly pleased to achieve three non-suits o…
View the post titled Successful nonsuits- hazardous wasteHungarian sludge spill and our tailings ponds
The Hungarian sludge spill disaster is just another reminder of the large scale havoc and devastation that industrial sludge impoundments can create. Every few years we read about another one. On April 25, 1998, a tailings dam failure of the Los Frailes lead-zinc mine at Aznalcóllar near Sev…
View the post titled Hungarian sludge spill and our tailings pondsCan Orange Drop survive without EcoFee?
In all the fuss about the EcoFee, no one seems to have noticed Orange Drop. The much maligned EcoFee was a system to have purchasers of household hazardous products pay for the proper disposal of those products, instead of loading the cost on municipalities or future generations. Orange Dro…
View the post titled Can Orange Drop survive without EcoFee?E-waste enforcement growing across borders
Electronic waste, or ‘e-waste’, has become a significant international environmental enforcement challenge. Each year, hundreds of thousands of used electronic items – containing highly toxic substances like lead, mercury and cadmium – are shipped across the world. Some provinces, like B.C.…
View the post titled E-waste enforcement growing across bordersEco fee reset
Ontario takes a second stab at funding household hazardous waste collection.
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