Entries by John Nicholson

AGAT partners with SiREM to provide the Waterloo Membrane Sampler™ for passive soil vapour sampling

July 30, 2020 in , /by

AGAT Laboratories in partnership with SiREM, recently announced that the Waterloo Membrane Sampler™ (WMS) is now available for passive soil vapour sampling exclusively at AGAT. The Waterloo Membrane Sampler™ (WMS) is a cost-effective, simple-to-use passive sampler for soil vapour. The WMS provides quantitative concentration measurements with similar accuracy and precision to conventional active soil vapour […]

Ontario Delays the Commencement of the new Excess Soil Regulation

July 3, 2020 in /by

In response to impacts from COVID-19, the Ontario Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP) recently announced it was  delaying implementation of requirements under the new Excess Soil Regulation from July 1, 2020 to January 1, 2021. MECP also stated that they are exempting municipalities and health care providers from filing a Record of Site […]

British Columbia fuel-supply company fined $200,000 for environmental offences

July 3, 2020 in /by

Recently, Scamp Industries Ltd., a fuel supplier based in Western Canada, was fined $200,000 in the Provincial Court of British Columbia after pleading guilty on June 17, 2019, to five counts of transferring petroleum products into a storage-tank system where storage-tank-system identification numbers were not visible. This action is contrary to subparagraph 29(b)(i) of the […]

Sunlight and marine spills

June 19, 2020 in /by

A recent article in EOS Magazine from researchers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Louisiana State University have shed new light on the role sunlight in substantially altering petroleum floating at the sea surface. The article describes the findings of research following the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) disaster in the Gulf of Mexico that killed 11 […]

Canadian Report on Environmental Fines and Penalties in 2019

June 19, 2020 in , /by

The Environmental Insurance Group at Berkley Canada recently released there latest report on Environmental Fines and Penalties: 2019 Update Report which covers all of Canada.  The report summarizes the use of fines and penalties by regulators across Canada and explains how environmental insurance may respond to the risk. The report acknowledges that Canada has historically […]

Keeping Up With Environmental Obligations In The Time Of COVID-19

April 16, 2020 in , , /by

Written by Jessica E. M. Boily , Anna Côté , Mark Youden , Alexei Paish and Harry Dahme, Gowling WLG COVID-19 has brought upheaval across all industries and sectors of society. While this is no less true with respect to environmental matters, many environmental legal requirements remain in place and require continued compliance, despite challenges faced by […]

Guide to Community Actions that drive Brownfields Development

April 15, 2020 in , /by

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) recently developed a Guide to help communities with brownfields to more successfully address community revitalization and brownfields-related challenges.  The guide outlines concrete actions communities can take to address these challenges. Through the three case studies described in the Guide, it is shown that attracting public or private investment for the […]

Tritium Spill at Nuclear Power Plant in Ontario

April 5, 2020 in , /by

As acknowledged by Bruce Power, there was a spill of 20-litres of heavy water containing radioactive tritium at the Bruce Nuclear Power plant near Kincardine, Ontario on March 28th. Staff at Bruce Power Unit B responded to a release of approximately 20 litres of heavy water in Unit 6 which has been shut down since […]