By: Sydney Sybydlo
This is a list of select proposed EHS regulatory changes in Canada, the United States, and the European Union. Nimonik monitors EHS legislation, regulations and standards in over 30 countries and 400 jurisdictions. If you would like to track EHS legislation in specific regions, jurisdictions or countries, we are happy to help. Please send us a request for more information here and we will get in touch shortly.
Canada
- Federal – Notice with respect to the availability of an equivalency agreement
- Federal – Regulations Respecting the Reduction in the Release of Methane (Waste Sector)
- Federal – Notice with respect to the availability of an equivalency agreement with Saskatchewan (Upstream oil and gas sector)
- Federal – Order Designating Certain Excluded Classes of Projects
- Alberta – Bulletin 2024-18: Invitation for Feedback on Proposed Directive 065
- Alberta – Bulletin 2024-20: Invitation for Feedback on Proposed Changes to Directive 071
- Ontario – Discussion Paper: Regulating Commercial-Scale Geologic Carbon Storage Projects in Ontario
- Ontario – Modernizing wildland fire management in Ontario
- Ontario – Expanding Protected Areas in Ontario – Sites Proposed to be Regulated under the Provincial Parks and Conservation Reserves Act, 2006
- Quebec – Safety Code for the construction industry—Amendment
- Quebec – Certain prohibitions as regards motor vehicles and internal combustion engines
- Quebec – Fertilizing residual materials management—Enactment; Regulatory scheme applying to activities on the basis of their environmental impact; Agricultural operations; Water withdrawal and protection; Reclamation of residual materials—Amendment
United States
European Union
- No newsworthy proposals this month.
Canada – Federal
Notice with respect to the availability of an equivalency agreement
Published Date: 29 June 2024
Industry Sector: Oil & Gas Industry
The Government of Canada announced its intention to enter into an equivalency agreement with the Government of British Columbia concerning the regulation of methane emissions by the oil and gas sector.
This agreement will pave the way for the suspension of certain provisions of the Regulations Respecting Reduction in the Release of Methane and Certain Volatile Organic Compounds (Upstream Oil and Gas Sector) in British Columbia.
Interested persons can make comments on the proposed agreement until 28 August 2024.
Additional information is available here and here.
Regulations Respecting the Reduction in the Release of Methane (Waste Sector)
Published Date: 29 June 2024
Industry Sector: Other
The Government of Canada has announced its intention to establish rules to reduce methane emissions from certain privately- and municipally-owned landfills that receive municipal solid waste. According to the government, they would take “a performance-based approach that sets surface methane concentration limits and requires regular monitoring to confirm these limits are being met, to identify methane leaks and to ensure methane recovery is optimized.”
The rules would be enacted by the Regulations Respecting the Reduction in the Release of Methane (Waste Sector), and by amending the Regulations Designating Regulatory Provisions for Purposes of Enforcement (Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999).
Interested parties may submit comments until 28 August 2024.
Additional information is available here.
Notice with respect to the availability of an equivalency agreement with Saskatchewan (Upstream oil and gas sector)
Published Date: 6 July 2024
Industry Sector: Oil & Gas Industry
The Government of Canada announced its intention to enter into an equivalency agreement with the Government of Saskatchewan concerning the regulation of methane emissions by the oil and gas sector.
This agreement will pave the way for the suspension of certain provisions of the Regulations Respecting Reduction in the Release of Methane and Certain Volatile Organic Compounds (Upstream Oil and Gas Sector) in Saskatchewan.
Interested persons can make comments on the proposed agreement until 4 September 2024.
Additional information is available here and here.
Order Designating Certain Excluded Classes of Projects
Published Date: 27 July 2024
Industry Sector: General Industry
The Government of Canada has announced its intention to update the types of projects subject to impact assessment reporting and approval rules. According to the government, the changes would “increase the number of excluded classes of projects for which obligations [concerning the carrying out of projects on federal lands or outside Canada] would not apply. The proposed new project classes include those that, in the Minister’s opinion, will cause only insignificant adverse environmental effects.”
The changes would also make small changes to existing project classes and the general conditional applicable to all project classes.
These changes would be made by replacing the Designated Classes of Projects Order with the Order Designating Certain Excluded Classes of Projects.
Interested parties may submit comments until 10 October 2024.
Additional information is available here.
Alberta
Bulletin 2024-18: Invitation for Feedback on Proposed Directive 065
Published Date: 18 July 2024
Industry Sector: Oil & Gas Industry
The Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) is seeking feedback on proposed changes to rules that apply to fluid disposal activities at oil and gas reservoirs. According to the AER, the changes would include requirements “when applying for new fluid disposal wells, […] when amending the operating conditions of an existing fluid disposal well, […] for existing operating disposal wells that become associated with induced seismicity, and […] for the development and implementation of monitoring, mitigation, and response (MMR) plans.”
Changes would also be made to acid gas disposals and carbon capture, utilization, and storage rules, such as expanded notification requirements, broader applicability of the two-step application process, and new requirements for “equity for acid gas disposal” and “containment assurance”.
Interested parties are invited to submit feedback until 16 September 2024.
The changes would be made by amending Directive 065: Resources Applications for Oil and Gas Reservoirs.
Additional information is available here.
Bulletin 2024-20: Invitation for Feedback on Proposed Changes to Directive 071
Published Date: 29 July 2024
Industry Sector: Oil & Gas Industry
The Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) is seeking feedback on proposed changes to emergency preparedness directives. According to the AER, the proposed changes would:
- expand the rules’ scope to include all energy activities, “aand not just wells, facilities, and caverns […] and pipelines,” i.e., all activities in a development’s life cycle;
- require “all duty holders within the scope of [the exsting rules] to have an [emergency management plan]”;
- require duty holders “to perform hazard identification and consequence analysis to identify potential emergency scenarios associated with their operations (both human and natural causes of emergencies) and to consider the potential consequences for both public and environmental receptors”; and
- update “the assessment matrix for incident classification […] to improve consistency in communication and response.”
The changes would be made by amending Directive 071: Emergency Preparedness and Response Requirements for the Petroleum Industry and Manual 026: Emergency Preparedness and Response Guide.
Interested parties may submit feedback until 25 November 2024.
Additional information is available here.
Ontario
Discussion Paper: Regulating Commercial-Scale Geologic Carbon Storage Projects in Ontario
Published Date: 9 July 2024
Industry Sector: General Industry
The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry is seeking feedback on the “design of a regulatory framework for commercial-scale geologic carbon storage projects in Ontario that would enable the development of technology-ready commercial-scale projects and the continued testing and demonstration of newer carbon storage technologies.” According to the government, commercial-scale carbon storage projects could help reduce emissions, produce low-carbon hydrogen, encourage innovation, and expand access to federal incentives for carbon storage.
Interested parties are invited to read the discussion paper and submit feedback until 23 August 2024.
Additional information is available here.
Modernizing wildland fire management in Ontario
Published Date: 15 July 2024
Industry Sector: General Industry, Office Spaces, Building Management & Maintenance
The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry is seeking feedback on updates to wildland fire management protocols to improve wildfire prevention and mitigation. According to the government, the modernized wildland fire management approach would “strengthen collective responsibility for wildlife fire management; improve awareness of wildland fire risk; expand prevention and mitigation of wildland fire; enhance preparedness and response to wildland fire; [and] strengthen rules and consequences for non-compliance with forest fire laws”.
Interested parties are invited to read the discussion paper and submit feedback until 29 August 2024.
Additional information is available here.
Expanding Protected Areas in Ontario – Sites Proposed to be Regulated under the Provincial Parks and Conservation Reserves Act, 2006
Published Date: 16 July 2024
Industry Sector: General Industry
The Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks has announced its intention to increase the size of various provincial parks and conservation reserves regulated under the Provincial Parks and Conservation Reserves Act, 2006. In total, 27 parks and reserves would be expanded.
The list of areas proposed for expansion is available here, organized by administrative zones.
Interested parties may submit comments until 30 August 2024.
Additional information is available here.
Quebec
Safety Code for the construction industry—Amendment
Published Date: 3 July 2024
Industry Sector: Construction
The Government of Quebec has announced its intention to update rules governing fall protection equipment and working at heights. According to the government, the changes would “[promote] the control of fall hazards by establishing a hierarchy of prevention measures [and set] out the rescue procedures for an employee who is suspended in a safety harness or retained in a safety net after a fall.”
The changes would be made by amending the Safety Code for the construction industry.
Interested parties may submit comments until 17 August 2024.
Additional information is available here.
Certain prohibitions as regards motor vehicles and internal combustion engines
Published Date: 10 July 2024
Industry Sector: Other, Road Transportation
The Government of Quebec has announced its intention to prohibit the sale and lease of certain motor vehicles equipped with internal combustion engines (ICEs) and such engines beginning in 2035. According to the government, the rules would prohibit the selling and leasing “of certain motor vehicles whose gross vehicle weight rating is less than 4,536 kg that are not propelled solely by an electric motor or another means of propulsion that emits no pollutant.”
The selling and leasing of ICEs that “propel a new or used motor vehicle, irrespective of the model year of the engine, except where the engine is purchased or leased to replace the original engine of a motor vehicle of model year 2034 or a previous model year that was acquired in Québec, or of a motor vehicle acquired outside Québec that is authorized for operation in Québec” would also be prohibited.
The change would be made by enacting the Regulation prescribing certain prohibitions as regards motor vehicles and internal combustion engines.
Interested parties may submit comments until 24 August 2024.
Additional information is available here.
Fertilizing residual materials management—Enactment; Regulatory scheme applying to activities on the basis of their environmental impact; Agricultural operations; Water withdrawal and protection; Reclamation of residual materials—Amendment
Published Date: 24 July 2024
Industry Sector: General Industry, Building Management & Maintenance
The Government of Quebec has announced its intention to establish new rules governing fertilizing residual materials. According to the government, the rules would apply “to fertilizing residual materials that may be reclaimed by storage or spreading on a raising site, a spreading site, or a site where a forest development activity is carried out.”
The proposed rules would “[provide] for the classification of materials or blends of such materials on the basis of their chemical parameters, their microbiological parameters, their olfactory characteristics, their foreign matter content and their preventive investigator parameters [‘preventive thresholds for emerging substances of concern and substances that present a risk’].” They would also “[set] out the classification criteria and the rules for the sampling and analyses required for classification [and specify] how and under what conditions the storage and spreading of fertilizing residual materials must be carried out, as well as the obligations and responsibilities of operators and promoters of projects for the reclamation of such materials, in particular the preparation of an agro-environmental reclamation plan.”
Thresholds would be established for per – and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) in fertilizing residual materials.
Some rules would also be introduced for “fertilizing residual materials intended for domestic use.”
Amendments would be made to various existing regulations notably to clarify their applicability against and harmonization with the proposed rule framework.
The changes would be made by enacting the Fertilizing Residual Materials Management Code and amending the Regulation respecting the regulatory scheme applying to activities on the basis of their environmental impact, the Agricultural Operations Regulation, the Water Withdrawal and Protection Regulation, and the Regulation respecting the reclamation of residual materials.
Interested parties may submit comments until 7 September 2024.
Additional information is available here.
United States
National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants From Hazardous Waste Combustors Malfunction and Electronic Reporting Amendments
Published Date: 24 July 2024
Industry Sector: General Industry
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced its intention to update National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) from Hazardous Waste Combustors (HWC).
The changes would “remove the exemptions and revise other provisions associated with emission standard exemptions for periods of malfunction, [add] electronic reporting provisions, [amend] emergency safety vent provisions, and [correct] other minor provisions. The removal of the exemption for periods of malfunction is predicated on the previous vacatur of emission standard exemptions for periods of startup, shutdown, and malfunction (SSM) from the applicable general provisions.”
They would also “remove or revise some associated requirements that are unnecessary, inappropriate, or redundant in the absence of the malfunction exemption, such as in recordkeeping and reporting. Emission standards will apply during periods of malfunction as required under the Clean Air Act (CAA). The addition of electronic reporting provisions will provide for simplified reporting by sources and will enhance the availability of data on sources to the EPA and the public.”
Interested parties may submit comments until 9 September 2024.
Additional information is available here.
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