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
- Manitoba – Bill 31 – The Captured Carbon Storage Act
- New Brunswick – Designated Materials Regulation – Clean Environment Act
- Ontario – Proposed amendments to development permit exemptions under R.R.O. 1990, Regulation 828 for lands in the Niagara Escarpment Planning Area that is under the area of development control
- Ontario – Bill 190, Working for Workers Five Act, 2024
- Quebec – Bill 63, An Act to amend the Mining Act and other provisions
- Yukon – New public lands legislation
United States
- HB2925 – Mining Regulatory Clarity Act of 2024
- Schedules of Controlled Substances: Rescheduling of Marijuana
European Union
Manitoba
Bill 31 – The Captured Carbon Storage Act
Published Date: 21 May 2024
Industry Sector: General Industry, Building Management & Maintenance
The Government of Manitoba has announced its intention to develop a carbon capture regulatory framework “to enable the safe storage of captured carbon dioxide in geological formations in Manitoba.” According to the government, the framework would include “a licensing scheme for subsurface carbon storage projects” that would permit persons to:
- “reserve an area to explore for geological formations suitable for storing captured carbon”;
- “explore for carbon repositories within a reserved area,[by conducting] geophysical exploration, which requires a permit, or [drilling] one or more test wells, which requires a well licence”; and
- “apply for a carbon storage licence for a specified area of land” after obtaining information about a carbon repository, which “allows for the storage of captured carbon in a carbon repository within the storage area.”
The framework would also contain rules for “surface and subsurface rights in relation to storage areas” and require applicants to have “the necessary surface and subsurface rights” to obtain carbon storage licences and well licences.
The rules would be established by finalizing The Captured Carbon Storage Act, which also amends The Contaminated Sites Remediation Act, The Crown Lands Act, The Forest Act, The Gas Pipe Line Act, The Groundwater and Water Well Act, The Mines and Minerals Act, The Oil and Gas Act, The Peatlands Stewardship Act, The Public Utilities Board Act, The Real Property Act, and The Surface Rights Act.
Additional information is available here.
New Brunswick
Designated Materials Regulation – Clean Environment Act
Published Date: 1 May 2024
Industry Sector: General Industry
The Government of New Brunswick has announced its intention to establish producer responsibility rules for designated classes of materials. The rules would regulate the supply of tires, require entities to register as a producer to participate in the sale and distribution of designated materials, and empower the provincial entity, Recycle New Brunswick, to regulate the “manufacture, importation, distribution, sale, supply, offering for sale or supply, packaging, labelling, use, storage, collection, transportation, recycling, processing, disposal or other handling of a designated material.” The rules would also permit producers to designate a producer responsibility organization and require them to submit stewardship plans for designated materials.
Designated materials would include tires, paint, oil & glycol, electronic products, packaging & paper, pharmaceutical products & medical sharps, beverage containers, batteries, and lamps.
The changes would be made by replacing the existing Designated Materials Regulation with a new regulation of the same title.
Interested parties may submit feedback until 31 May 2024.
Additional information is available here.
Canada – Ontario
Proposed amendments to development permit exemptions under R.R.O. 1990, Regulation 828 for lands in the Niagara Escarpment Planning Area that is under the area of development control
Published Date: 3 May 2024
Industry Sector: General Industry, Building Management & Maintenance
The Government of Ontario has announced its intention to exempt certain development activities in the Niagara Escarpment that are unlikely to have a significant environmental impact from requiring development permits.
According to the government, it is considering adding or modifying exemptions for specified accessory structure activities, agricultural activities, business activities, construction and decommissioning activities, environmental management activities, forestry and vegetation management activities, infrastructure activities, and private servicing activities.
The change would be made by amending the Development Within the Development Control Area regulation.
Interested parties may submit comments until 17 June 2024.
Additional information is available here.
Bill 190, Working for Workers Five Act, 2024
Published Date: 16 May 2024
Industry Sector: General, Office Spaces, Building Management & Maintenance
The Government of Ontario has announced its intention to update various employment standards rules to “open pathways into the skilled trades, remove barriers to employment, protect frontline heroes and workers and support women at work.” The changes would notably:
- provide that employers “are not permitted to require a certificate [of sickness] from a qualified health practitioner”;
- “impose duties on constructors and employers with respect to the maintenance of washroom facilities”;
- update definitions of “workplace harassment” and “workplace sexual harassment” to include types of virtual harassment;
- provide that occupational health sand safety rules “[apply] to telework performed in or about a private residence”;
- require certain health and safety information “to be posted in a readily accessible electronic format”;
- expand the applicability of entitlements to “benefits under the insurance plan for posttraumatic stress disorder arising out of an in the course of the worker’s employment”; and
- add a presumption that primary-site skin cancer is an occupational disease for firefighters and fire investigators.
The changes would be made by amending the Building Opportunities in the Skilled Trades Act, 2021, the Employment Standards Act, 2000, the Occupational Health and Safety Act, and the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997.
Interested parties may submit comments until 10 June 2024.
Additional information is available here, here, and here.
Canada – Quebec
Bill 63, An Act to amend the Mining Act and other provisions
Published Date: 28 May 2024
Industry Sector: Mining & Minerals Industry
The Government of Quebec has announced its intention to update rules concerning mining exploration and operations. According to the government, the changes would notably:
- update “the method of granting [exclusive exploration rights] as well as certain conditions governing its exercise, including with respect to the costs of work required to renew it”
- provide “that a lease for the exploration of surface mineral substances is required for the mining of collector minerals and crystals”;
- provide “that a specific mining lease is required for the mining of tailings”;
- harmonize “the issue of mining operation rights with the issue of the authorizations required under the Environment Quality Act (RSQ,cQ-2)”;
- provide “that all new mining projects are subject to the environmental impact assessment and review procedure”;
- update “the obligations and process for rehabilitating and restoring mining sites in order to introduce, among other things, an obligation for the holder of the mining lease to perform monitoring and maintenance to ensure follow-up to the holder’s rehabilitation and restoration work”;
- provide “for the cases where compensation is payable for harm caused to the environment by mining activities”; and
- provide “for the withdrawal from prospecting, mining exploration and mining operations of mineral substances situated in lands in the private domain and within urbanization perimeters.”
The changes would be made by amending various documents, including the Mining Act, the Sustainable Forest Development Act and the Act respecting the lands in the domain of the State.
Additional information is available here.
Canada – Yukon
New public lands legislation
Published Date: 9 May 2024
Industry Sector: General, Office Spaces, Building Management & Maintenance
The Government of Yukon is seeking feedback on proposed changes to land use rules intended to uphold Aboriginal and treaty rights, balance interested uses of public land, and promote ecological health and sustainability. The government is requesting feedback on the following specific policy issues:
“Management of activities on the land: the rules that determine how people can use the land for activities that don’t need a permit. Camping on public land (i.e., not in a campground) is an example of this type of activity.
Permits and tenure: the rules for obtaining tenure like titled (private) land and leases and administering permits like land use permits and licences of occupation.
Compliance, monitoring and enforcement: how inspectors and enforcement officers monitor land use activities and enforce the rules.
Land planning: considers the development and implementation of land use plans in the Yukon.
Decisions: determining who makes decisions and how the decisions are made. This includes the involvement of Indigenous governments and the role of the public.”
Interested parties are invited to read the discussion document and complete an online survey, submit comments by email, and/or attend one of the twelve scheduled public meetings.
Additional information is available here.
United States
HB2925 – Mining Regulatory Clarity Act of 2024
Published Date: 8 May 2024
Industry Sector: Mining and Minerals Industry
The Government of the United States has announced its intention to update land use rules regarding mine operations. According to the government, the change would establish “a process to allow mine operations to use, occupy, and conduct operations (e.g., construction of roads and other mining infrastructure activity) on public land regardless of whether a mineral deposit has been discovered on the land.”
The change would be made by amending 30 USC 2 Mineral Lands And Regulations In General.
Additional information is available here.
Schedules of Controlled Substances: Rescheduling of Marijuana
Published Date: 21 May 2024
Industry Sector: General Industry, Office Spaces, Building Management & Maintenance
The United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has announced its intention to downgrade the scheduling of marijuana, reflecting new information about its medical uses and abuse potential.
The change would list marijuana as a schedule III substance (“drugs with a moderate to low potential for physical and psychological dependence”) and would make schedule III regulatory controls, “along with existing marijuana-specific requirements and any additional controls that might be implemented,” apply to the substance.
Interested parties may submit comments until 22 July 2024.
Additional information is available here.
European Union
Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EU) No 2023/2124 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 October 2023 on certain provisions for fishing in the GFCM (General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean) Agreement area
Published Date: 30 April 2024
Industry Sector: General Industry
The European Commission has announced its intention to further implement into the EU law the fisheries conservation and management measures adopted by the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM).
According to the content of the proposal, this would be made by amending Regulation (EU) 2023/2124, focusing on “(i) the sustainable conservation and management of fisheries; and (ii) the impact of fishing activities on certain marine species in the Mediterranean and Black Sea areas”. Notable proposed changes include the following:
- the inclusion of “technical measures for: (i) the sustainable exploitation of european eel and, red coral in the GFCM Agreement area; (ii)[…] the mitigation of incidental captures of seabirds, sea turtles and cetaceans in the GFCM Agreement area; and (iii) the conservation of monk seals, sharks and rays in the GFCM Agreement area”;
- the implementation of “certain measures for fisheries for small pelagic stocks in the Adriatic Sea”;
- the establishment of “new provisions on spart and piked dogfish in the Black Sea”; and
- the introduction of “two new chapters on transhipments and recreational fisheries in the GFCM area.”
Additional information about this initiative is available here and here.
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