Hazardous Material Management Fall 2012

management

HazMat

FALL 2012 www.hazmatmag.com

Remediation • Clean Technology

PIPELINE EMERGENCIES The Alberta Environment Support and Emergency Response Team — page 8

An EcoLog Group Publication / CPMP no. 40069240

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CONTENTS : VOL 24 NO. 4 FALL 2012

m 2

on the cover

8

HAZMAT: PIPELINE EMERGENCIES

Our web editor profiles Martin Bundred, Consequence Manager of the Alberta Environment Support and Emergency Response Team and discusses how ASERT responds to petroleum pipeline spills, including the Plains Midstream spill near Sundrie, Alberta.

by Dave Nesseth

T

C

IC

departments

features 17 HAZMAT: LABELS

Tool helps integrate leak detection and repair into O&M programs.

by Jack Rubinger

18 HAZMAT: OIL SPILL RESPONSE A new product to adsorb oil on surface waters.

by John Hosty

21 HAZMAT: TRAINING Inside the Emergency Film Group.

by Dave Nesseth

22 HAZMAT: ASBESTOS

Editorial

4

Up Front

6

Environment Business

32

Health & Safety

35

Spotlight

37

Remediation Technology

42

Products

43

Event Report

44

Ad Index

45

Legal Perspective

46

Canada and Quebec end their support for this hazardous material.

by Kathleen Ruff

27 CLEANTECH: OPINION

Political factors affecting cleantech company fortunes.

by Aaron Atcheson

28 CLEANTECH: WASTE-TO-ETHANOL Companies that turn food waste into fuel.

by John Nicholson

40 REMEDIATION: CASE STUDY

A pilot project in Toronto’s film district uses BioSoil technology.

by Martin Sloojier

Advance show guide, pages 23-26

next edition winter 2013 SUPPLEMENT: Annual Buyer’s Guide Contaminated site cleanup ◆ Lead & mould abatement ◆ Risk mitigation ◆ Insurance ◆ HazMat storage ◆ PCBs destruction Space closing: November 21, 2012 Artwork required: November 24, 2012 Call 1-888-702-1111 .

FALL 2012 HazMat Management 3

HAZMAT : EDITORIAL

Enbridge’s version of Douglas Channel

Crude Awakening

I

by Guy Crittenden

“Enbridge said it would add $500 million to enhance the safety of its Northern Gateway pipeline.”

4 www.hazmatmag.com FALL 2012

t hasn’t been a good year for the companies seeking to build pipelines to transport Alberta oilsands crude to destinations south, east and west; public relations disasters have flowed from a seemingly ceaseless number of real pipeline emergencies.

The public’s trust in oil and gas companies was, of course, damaged by the Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, which replaced the Exxon Valdez spill in our collective consciousness as the worst spill in history.

To the south, the media has carried a steady stream of bad-news stories about TransCanada’s expropriation tactics as it attempts to build the Keystone XL pipeline.

Sierra Club and landowner groups in Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska and elsewhere have mounted opposition campaigns; the US president delayed approval during the heated election year.

To the east, Environmental Defence is fighting Calgary-based Enbridge Inc.’s plan to ship oilsands petroleum along the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence, between Montreal and Sarnia.

To the west, the biggest proposed oilsands project is Enbridge’s $6-billion, 1,177 km Northern Gateway pipeline that would pump Alberta oilsands crude to a port in Kitimat, BC, from where it’d be shipped to Asia.

The project proponents needed some good news, but 2012 hasn’t been their year.

In June just under 1,000 barrels of light sour crude oil was released from a Plains Midstream Canada pipeline into Jackson Creek, a tributary of the Red Deer River near Sundre, Alberta. The spill and cleanup was splashed across newspapers and TV screens across the country. (See Cover Story, page 8.) The spill was a repeat of a similar 125 barrel spill in the area in April 2008, and occurred while the company was still cleaning up a 4.5-million litre spill from last year northeast of Peace River, Alberta.

Not long after the Sundrie spill, on June 18 a pipeline leak gushed 230,000 litres of heavy crude oil northeast of Edmonton at an Enbridge pumping station.

Then, at the very time Enbridge needed to convince folks in BC that its Northern Gateway pipeline won’t leak, in July the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) issued a damning report in which it reminded everyone that Enbridge committed 24 violations of pipeline regulations surrounding a 2010 spill of more than 3.03 million litres of crude oil into Michigan’s Kalamazoo River and a tributary creek.

The spill triggered a $3.7-million civil penalty for Enbridge, along with over $700 million in cleanup costs for the company. (Most troubling was allegations the

What Douglas Channel really looks like

From the SumOfUs.org campaign.

company failed to detect the rupture for 17 hours after it happened during a scheduled shutdown.)

The NTSB issued a long list of safety recommendations to the company.

Then, at the end of August, Kenneth Lee, a scientist for the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans, referring to the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline, stated that Enbridge hasn’t studied the effects of a possible spill from diluted oilsands bitumen, and instead submitted its response plan based on conventional crude. He wrote that he was “uncertain” whether traditional methods to contain an oil spill and clear contaminated water would be effective if deployed in a Northern Gateway spill.

Activist group SumOfUs.org launched an internet campaign opposing the project, claiming Enbridge has experienced 800 spills in the last decade. SumOfUs.org pointed out that the company deleted 1,000 square kilometres of islands in its public videos and maps to try and convince the public its pipeline and oil tanker plan is less dangerous than it really is. If approved, up to 500 oil tankers a year laden with heavy crude would weave through a dangerous waterway, “making sharp 90 degree turns through twisting, rocky passages,” the group says.

The group has called for an end to the misleading ads.

In the face of all the bad news and mounting pressure from environmentalists and First Nations, Alberta’s government announced on July 23 that an independent agency will review pipeline safety in the province.

Energy Minister Ken Hughes made the announcement in Calgary, noting that the agency will look at pipeline integrity management, ensuring pipe safety across water, and how responses to pipeline incidents are handled.

Hughes noted the new review could take less than a year to complete.

Hughes’ announcement came just as Enbridge said it would add $500 million to enhance the safety of its Northern Gateway pipeline.

What can one conclude from all this?

Two things.

First, petroleum companies like Enbridge need to do a better job convincing the public their pipeline proposals are safe, and not hurt their credibility by airbrushing maps or otherwise distorting facts.

Second, they need to build pipelines that actually are safe; given its record of spills, Enbridge can’t claim that today.

As someone building a pipeline might say, there’s much work ahead.

HMM Guy Crittenden is editor of this magazine. Contact Guy at gcrittenden@hazmatmag.com

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HazMat

HAZMAT: UP FRONT

FALL 2012

management

Vol. 24, No. 4

Solutions for the Business of the Environment

Guy Crittenden EDITOR gcrittenden@hazmatmag.com Brad O’Brien PUBLISHER 416-510-6798 bobrien@hazmatmag.com Kimberly Collins PRODUCTION MANAGER 416-510-6779 kcollins@bizinfogroup.ca Anita Madden CIRCULATION MANAGER Carol Bell-LeNoury GENERAL MANAGER, ECOLOG GROUP Bruce Creighton PRESIDENT

AWARD-WINNING MAGAZINE HazMat Management, USPS 016-506 is published four times a year by EcoLog Group, a division of BIG Magazines LP, a div. of Glacier BIG Holdings Company Ltd., a leading Canadian business-tobusiness information services company.

HazMat Management magazine provides strategic information and perspectives to North American industry and government on pollution prevention and waste management issues.

Readers include corporate executives, compliance and safe ty officers, industrial plant managers and operators, municipal govern ment environment officials, working scientists, and consulting engineers.

EcoLog Group products include Solid Waste & Recycling magazine, the ERIS risk information service, and a number of newsletters affiliated with EcoLog.com Head Office:

Internet: Email:

80 Valleybrook Drive Toronto, ON M3B 2S9, Call: (416) 442-5600 Fax: (416) 510-5133 www.hazmatmag.com bobrien@hazmatmag.com

Information contained in this publication has been compiled from sources believed to be reliable, thus HazMat Management cannot be responsible for the absolute correctness or sufficiency of articles or editorial contained herein. Al though the information contained in this magazine is believed to be correct, no responsibility is assumed therefore, nor for the opinions ex pressed by individual authors. Articles in this magazine are intended to convey information rather than give legal or other professional advice.

Reprint and list rental services are arranged through the Publisher at (416) 510-6780.

Subscription rates: Canada — $51.95 (add applicable taxes) per year, $82.95 (add applicable taxes) for 2 years, single copy $10.00. USA and all other foreign — $82.95 per year US single copy US10.00 Canadian Publications Mail Product Sales Agreement No. 40069240 Return Undeliverable Canadian Addresses to Circulation Department — HazMat Management magazine 12 Concorde Place, Suite 800 Toronto ON M3C4J2 From time to time we make our subscription list available to select companies and organizations whose product or service may interest you. If you do not wish your contact information to be made available, please contact us via one of the following methods: Phone: 1-800-668-2374

Fax: 416-510-5133

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Business Information Group

12 Concorde Place, Suite 800

Toronto ON M3C 4J2

Liability of innocent landowner upheld

A

recent decision of the Divisional Court in Ontario has affirmed a ruling from the Ontario Environmental Review Tribunal in a case that considered whether innocent parties who are not responsible for contamination can be subject to orders from the Ministry of the Environment requiring remedial activities.

The case involved a Provincial Officer’s Order made against the City of Kawartha Lakes, requiring it to remediate and prevent further discharge of oil, which had impacted city property. The furnace oil had originated from the basement of a local residence and entered the city’s municipal stormsewer system and was discharged into a local lake. There was general agreement that the city was not at fault for the discharge and, indeed, the homeowners had been previously ordered to remediate the contamination.

The city appealed the Order to the Environmental Review Tribunal relying on previous cases where owners could be relieved of liability if they did not cause the contamination. The tribunal held that the fairness factors that had previously been

We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Periodical Fund (CPF) for our publishing activities.

Information supplied by Rosalind Cooper, L.L.B. Read her regular column “Regulation Roundup” in sister publication Solid Waste & Recycling magazine. Visit www.solidwastemag.com

The Forest Stewardship Council® logo signifies that this magazine is printed on paper from responsibly managed forests. “To earn FSC® certification and the right to use the FSC label, an organization must first adapt its management and operations to conform to all applicable FSC requirements.”

©2012 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without prior consent.

Print edition: ISSN-1713-9511 Online edition: ISSN 1923-3469

For more information, visit www.fsc.org

Member

Canadian Business

considered in other decisions could not take precedence over furthering the purpose of environmental protection. The tribunal held that the city, therefore, could not be relieved from compliance on the basis of fairness.

The city sought judicial review of the tribunal’s decision and the Divisional Court confirmed the decision.

This decision has implications for the deposit of waste materials, and orders from the Ministry of the Environment that require that such waste materials be removed. Those orders are based on ownership of property and apply irrespective of fault or causation for the placement of the waste materials. The decision of the Divisional Court has now confirmed that the arguments that might have been previously advanced to relieve one of responsibility for removal of such waste will no longer be considered.

Press

6 www.hazmatmag.com FALL 2012

HAZMAT : UP FRONT

Letters Dear Editor

RE: Online cancer prevention diet article series Guy, I enjoyed your editorial on diet. I have walked a similar path, though in my case the motivation was “cure” not “prevention.” I have had an easier go than you did because I have a spouse who has always managed the cooking brilliantly (I do the clean-up) and she has embraced the change in diet as a challenge to learn a whole new approach to meals.

You’ve done a great job researching the subject, and the advice you are giving, based on my experience, is sound. I made this change at about age 60; I wish I’d done it at 25. Another benefit is that the diet we’ve chosen is a lot easier on the planet.

Thanks for the editorial.

Richard Grant

Vice-President and General Counsel The Miller, McAsphalt Group Miller Waste Systems Inc. Miller Paving Limited

Announcement

T

he owners of First Response Environmental are pleased to announce that they have brought Mitchell Gibbs out of retirement. Gibbs has joined the company as Director and will be responsible for Ontario and US operations. Gibb’s first task was to assist the parent company with recovery efforts in Pensacola Florida and Louisiana. Mitchell will be stationed in the main office in Hamilton and will share his time between the Ottawa location and the US base in Atlanta, Georgia. With the same crew from the past, along with additional new state-of-the-art equipment, Gibbs looks forward to serving the needs of clients.

First Response Environmental (formerly TEAM-1 Environmental Management) provides complete environmental services on an emergency basis 24/7/365. Fulltime trained, equipped and certified high-angle and confined space technicians along with NFPA HazMat technicians provide all of the necessary skills to safely mitigate any incident.

Canada’s new asbestos position

A

fter the new government of Quebec rejected the province’s previous support of the asbestos mining and export industry, the federal government will no longer oppose an international drive to list the chrysotile form of the silicate mineral as a hazardous material.

One of the the first moves of the Parti Quebecois elected earlier in September 2012 was the cancelation of a $58-million loan promised by the previous Liberal provincial government of Jean Charest. The loan would have reopened Canada’s last asbestos mine in Quebec’s Eastern Townships.

Quebec was the only Canadian province to still deal in asbestos. “…The federal government probably saw a chance to take a new approach and score some positive press,” environmental lawyer and author, David McRobert, told HazMat Management magazine Web Reporter David Nesseth. “…The federal government has taken a beating politically on its environmental and social policies since initiating sweeping reforms to environmental laws as part of its 2012 Budget Implementation Bill.”

Five other forms of asbestos are already covered under the Rotterdam Convention, but the federal Canadian government had previously blocked the chrysotile form of asbestos from being listed on several occasions, most recently at a summit last year in Switzerland. The convention requires a consensus of its members to list a substance.

For more information, see article page 22 and product news item page 43.

First Response can be contacted at 289-639-2020 or at mitch@first-er.com

AIM Environmental opens western office

A

IM Environmental Group is pleased to announce the recent opening of its Western Regional Office, located in Calgary, Alberta. AIM is an environmental contractor with over 23 years experience serving the hazardous materials abatement, demolition and remediation industries.

AIM’s fully qualified team of in-house experts are able to safely manage and perform complex projects in the oil/gas, municipal and industrial sectors.

For additional information, please visit www.aimgroup.ca or contact Lynn Murray, General Manager of Operations, Western Region at lynn@ aimgroup.ca The office location is 5414 11 Street N.E., Suite 200, Calgary, Alberta T2E 7E9 (or phone 403-264-4020).

FALL 2012 HazMat Management 7

8 www.hazmatmag.com FALL 2012

HAZMAT : COVER STORY

MAN WITH

A

PLAN

The Alberta Environment Support and Emergency Response Team

M PHOTO COURTESY OF THE EMERGENCY FILM GROUP. SEE ARTICLE PAGE 21.

artin Bundred, 24 years into the HazMat biz, says a plan cannot occur without someone leading. Most days, whether at an oil spill off Red Deer River, or a fire in Slave Lake, Bundred is that someone. At least in Alberta. And at least in terms of co-ordinating the complex logistics of effective incident response.

Bundred’s worked his way up to Consequence Manager of the Alberta Environment Support and Emergency Response Team (ASERT). When the province is notified of an environmental accident, like an oil spill, Bundred and his team respond quickly to ensure proper planning gets underway right out of the gate.

“When ASERT comes on scene we can tell in a few minutes the state of the response by what is posted and how we’re received,”

Bundred told HazMat Management magazine. “If there is no identifiable command staff, no sign-in process, no safety personal or signage, we know that there are going to be bigger challenges ahead.”

Fresh at a scene, (and there’s been hundreds — from floods to air releases, spills to wildlife events, and even some potential terrorist and vandalism incidents) Bundred’s equipped with communications tools, mapping and contact lists. He’s HazMat Tech certified, ICS 400 level, with specialties in GIS, air monitoring, waste and cleanup techniques.

Bundred could arrive at a scene alone, or in the case of the tragic 2011 Slave Lake Fire, end up surrounded by 21 provincial ministries and hundreds of people handling emergency and post-emergency functions from water treatment to waste handling, air monitoring and long-term sampling.

Most recently, Bundred found himself at the Plains Midstream Canada oil spill with

“In oil spills along waterbodies, this practice is known as Shoreline Cleanup Assessment Techniques (SCAT).”

by David Nesseth FALL 2012 HazMat Management 9

Martin Bundred, Consequence Manager of the Alberta Environment Support and Emergency Response Team (ASERT).

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HazMat Management

HAZMAT: COVER STORY

100 people from 25 companies working to contain some 117,000 litres of light sour crude that spilled into a tributary of the Red Deer River near Sundre, Alberta, from the company’s Rangeland pipeline. It’s a situation that remained a priority well into summer 2012. (See sidebar, page 14.)

Bundred has a mental checklist when he arrives at the scene. By this time, the primary environmental damage has already occurred, so scene containment becomes critical. In the case of oil and salt water spills, it’s delineation and containment first and foremost, followed quickly by product removal, he explains. But having a spill contained in a ditch by blocking culverts doesn’t necessarily ensure the contaminant isn’t moving or causing further damage.

“We had one situation where first responders left product in a snow covered ditch for an extended period and didn’t realize the proximity to an abandoned drinking water well,” Bundred says. “By the time a vac truck arrived, there wasn’t much product to collect.”

On scene, ASERT is looking at the plans (if any) in place to deal with wildlife (such as deterrents), or the process to handle injured or dead birds, fish or amphibians. Additional plans might include communications: How is the company engaging those affected by the release? Is there an Environmental Monitoring

Plan? How can you ensure you’ve delineated the spill boundaries accurately or are achieving containment?

If these questions can’t be answered, teams like ASERT step up.

In fact, Bundred says it wasn’t until 2005, when a derailed freight train released 1.3 million litres of fuel oil into Alberta’s Lake Wabamun, that the government realized how much the public ultimately relies on local and provincial governments to take charge during inaction from a responsible (or irresponsible) party.

In this case, it was four days after the incident when CN revealed the train car had been carrying naphthalene and other polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), both highly toxic. Legal actions and fines have their place, Bundred says, (CN was fined $1.4 million) but do nothing to help the environmental damage if an incident goes unresolved.

“For those companies that have been through a big release, they understand the need for this level of planning and documentation. For those that haven’t, it can be overwhelming,” says Bundred, who has been with ASERT for six years. “If ASERT and our partners can find resources and provide meaningful direction at the onset of a spill we can reduce the extent of negative environmental impacts drastically.”

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Workers cleanup the shoreline at the Rangeland Pipeline incident.

In the event that there’s no responsible party, ASERT can hire a clean-up contractor and oversee the process.

Bundred knows the HazMat biz is no one-man show, that a man with a plan is nowhere without a team. Any accident — be it a derailment, well blowout, pipeline release, large road spill or industrial fire — all trigger the presence of Alberta’s Environment and Sustainable Resource Development staff. The level of co-ordination is intense: fish and wildlife biologists, lim-

nologists, toxicologists, communications, and more.

“We can draw from a diverse group of specialists that can provide guidance during the initial stages and long-term remediation,” Bundred says.

Bundred credits the principles of Alberta’s Incident Command System (ICS) as the “foundation” of a safe and successful scene response. He considers it the standard in wildfire operations across the country. According to the ICS training workbook, “…

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HAZMAT: COVER STORY

it’s not always possible for any one agency alone to handle the management and resource needs… to work together effectively the partners must put forth a co-ordinated effort under the same management system.”

ASERT, however, isn’t just about responding to incidents. It tries to prevent spills in the first place. Although the team may not have direct control over pipeline construction, for example, ASERT can work with the Energy Resources Conservation Board (ERCB) and oil and gas companies to demonstrate the cost of cleanups in ecosystems from an environmental, monetary and reputation perspective.

“We know there are companies out there they may not know the implications of a spill and seldom deal with ASERT, Environment Canada or the long list of agencies that may get involved,” Bundred explains. “Creating this awareness may make them re-evaluate the placement of pipelines, operating practices, construction methods or surveillance.”

Then again, Bundred knows that no cleanup is a safe bet.

In oil spills along waterbodies, this practice is known as Shoreline Clean-up Assessment Techniques or SCAT. A SCAT team assesses the release level and mutually decides on the degree of cleanup needed and the capacity of the land to self-heal.

Bundred says that any attempt to remove every drop of oil by cut-

ting down all vegetation, soil and stained rocks, would only lead to further habitat destruction and erosion, essentially making the cleanup worse than the spill itself.

“Often nature has the ability to recover from contamination if concentrations are low and conditions are favorable,” Bundred says. “However we have seen many cleanups where sensitive environments like muskeg have been permanently damaged by recovery efforts.”

While Bundred is typically removed from the immediate threats of a spill, it’s his job to be concerned about the health and safety of others directly involved in the isolation, sampling or cleanup. He says he’s “been on many spills with poor personal protection practices.”

“I sometimes wonder how we performed our roles in the past without a dedicated group like ASERT to focus on emergency management,” Bundred says. “Now we are in place and I can see the challenges ahead, which are both exciting and daunting as the HMM province balances environment and development.”

See sidebar article next page David Nesseth is Environment Reporter for this magazine and EcoLog. com Contact David at dnesseth@ecolog.com

FALL 2012 HazMat Management 13

HAZMAT: COVER STORY

The

Rangeland Pipeline Incident

Remediation of a spill near Sundre, Alberta

by Guy Crittenden

O

n June 7, 2012, Plains Midstream Canada responded to a crude oil release on a section of its Rangeland pipeline (built in 1966) located near Sundre, Alberta.

The release, which was estimated at just under 1,000 barrels (or 160,000 litres of light sour crude), was into the Red Deer River and was contained downstream in the west end of the Gleniffer Reservoir. Emergency response personnel were mobilized to begin containment, cleanup and reclamation activities.

Cleanup and remediation activities on the reservoir were com-

14 www.hazmatmag.com FALL 2012

In tandem with clean-up operations, Midstream Plains conducts oil containment and skimming operations at the release site.

e

HAZMAT : COVER STORY

pleted by June 30, 2012 and further activities for the remaining river sites have since progressed or been completed.

To ensure the continued safe operations of its regular business, Plains Midstream relied on the support of contractors to help provide a prompt full-scale response. Companies large and small helped in the response such as trucking companies, wildlife monitors, and environmental consultants. Most companies were from within 100 kilometres and more than 180 workers were involved in the cleanup at the height of activity, which included the deployment of more than 6,000 feet of oil containment booms to prevent an oil slick from reaching Red Deer, Alberta’s third-largest city, which uses the river as its water source.

“The good news is the pipeline wasn’t flowing at the time and the river was,” said Stephen Bart, VP of Crude Oil Operations, who addressed reporters June 12, 2012 at a news conference by Dickson Dam near Innisfail, Alberta. “And as a consequence, the spill flowed rapidly into the Gleniffer reservoir.” Bart added that workers were able to confine the spill to a relatively small area along the shoreline.

In addition to absorbent pads placed at the pipe-

Source: Google maps.

FALL 2012 HazMat Management 15

Midstream Plains workers cleaning up the Sundre area spill.

line release, a skimmer boat was deployed on the reservoir to capture oil. Water sampling continued in the reservoir and downstream to evaluate hydrocarbon levels in 18 different areas.

On April 29, 2011, Plains Midstream Canada — a subsidiary of Plains All American Pipeline LP — experienced one of the largest oil leaks in Alberta history, just northeast of Peace River. Some 28,000 barrels (4.5 million litres) of oil leaked out, resulting in

cleanup efforts that took more than a year to complete, overseen

by Alberta’s Energy Resources Conservation Board (ERCB).

Roughly 400,000 kilometres of pipelines crisscross Alberta above and below ground; an ERCB review concluded that pipeline problems are declining. (2010 saw 687 failures, the majority leaks resulting in 3,416 cubic metres of spilled hydrocarbons, usually from HMM internal or external corrosion or construction damage.)

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HAZMAT : LEAK DETECTION

by Jack Rubinger

“The average-sized plant may have from 3,000 to 30,000 individual components that are monitored!”

Flag It and Tag It Generate your own labels for your leak detection & repair program Leaking valves, pumps, connectors, compressors and agitators — commonly found at thousands of refineries, chemical plants and hazardous waste facilities — can and do discharge volatile organic compounds and hazardous air pollutants into the atmosphere. Raw material leaks pose serious environmental and safety hazards and impact plant productivity and profitability.

In the United States, leak detection and repair (LDAR) services, under the auspices of the EPA and other federal, state and local requirements, are compulsory at chemical plants and refineries.

Based on EPA statistics, the average-sized plant may have from 3,000 to 30,000 individual components that are monitored!

This almost overwhelming situation is being managed in a variety of ways using a wide range of tools and resources including outsourced monitoring and compliance services, detection devices, software and training. The physical tagging of the valves, pumps, connectors, compressors and agitators can also be addressed through an assortment of approaches, including pre-printed aluminum tags.

DuraLabel (www.duralabel.com), for example, offers LDAR specialists and plant managers who are responsible for locating, flagging, tagging and identifying each applicable component several benefits including the ability to print labels either on the go or from a desktop printer. Compliant warnings are easy to print on virtually any diameter pipe using supplies that are resistant to harsh plant facility conditions including extreme heat and cold.

Best of all, there’s no waiting for tags and labels, so productivity remains high.

Petroleum and petrochemical manufacturing facilities can contain thousands of pieces of regulated process equipment which may leak volatile organic compounds (VOCs) to the atmosphere.

This equipment may be required to be tested for leaks several times each year, and additional information regarding leak repairs might be recorded. LDAR programs are inherently risky, labor intensive and costly. Even minor errors in identifying, tagging and monitoring potential leak points throughout a facility can result in non-compliance and heavy fines.

Repairs to leaks must be done quickly to avoid further damage while this updated data is collected using handheld and/or webbased data entry forms. No one wants to face costly facility shut downs for repairs and/or product or energy loss.

Experience has shown that facilities with an effective record of preventing leaks integrate an awareness of the benefits of leak detection and repair into their operating and HMM maintenance program.

Jack Rubinger is a public relations expert with Graphic Products, Inc. in Beaverton, Oregon.

Contact Jack at jarubinger@graphicproducts.com DO YOU HAVE NEWS ABOUT A PRODUCT OR TECHNOLOGY? Please send your Product News along with a high resolution image to our editor Guy Crittenden at gcrittenden@hazmatmag.com FALL 2012 HazMat Management 17

HAZMAT: PIPELINE SPILL RESPONSE

The Film Business Systems to contain oil spills

A

by John Hosty

“The laminate film is capable of adsorbing the spilled oil it is intended to contain.”

critical strategy in spill response is being able to contain and recover product once it is released, especially to open surface waters. Oil is often spilled into creeks, rivers lakes and the ocean. In general terms, the bigger the body of water, the more involved the response. One of the most important initial steps is to contain the oil; this stops it spreading and, thereby, reduces the environmental area of impact.

A difficult management issue associated with maintaining a containment technology is the cost involved in capitalizing the equipment, storing and then deploying in the event of an incident. A Canadian company, Murrenhil Corporation, has developed a unique product that satisfies many of the logistical problems associated with storing and deploying adequate quantities of containment boom.

The ROC (Rapid Oil Containment) Barrier™ uses a combination of proprietary high-extension sorbent barrier, along with a patented, extremely compact and easyto-use deployment system. It can be deployed at speeds of up to 54.7 kilometres (34 miles) per hour, over five times faster than conventional oil containment booms.

The ROC Barrier is the only available oil containment system small enough to allow tankers, ships and other watercraft, as well as marinas, harbors, ports, shipping lanes, beaches, and other water entry points to store it onsite so that it can be deployed quickly following an oil spill. The canister, which holds the film laminate used to contain an oil spill, measures just 20 inches in length, by eight inches in width, and eight inches in depth.

The film laminate used in the ROC Barrier is essentially a two-dimensional product when stored, and a third

Innovation Based onn Sustainability is Worthwhile

18 www.hazmatmag.com FALL 2012

HAZMAT : PIPELINE SPILL RESPONSE

The ROC Barrier system in its container and deployed.

Continues on page 20

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FALL 2012 HazMat Management 19

HAZMAT: PIPELINE SPILL RESPONSE

Continued from page 19 dimension (bulk), is added on deployment.

It uses adsorbent versus absorbent principles. The film laminate is an oleophilic (oil attracting) olefin-type substrate similar

to polyethylene film. It has a thickness of just 0.005 inches (0.127 mm). A standard 1,000-foot roll of product is only six inches in diameter and requires one-twentieth the

DIFFERENT CONVENTIONAL BOOM TYPES Oleophilic Boom (nearshore): Melt blown polypropylene (MBP) has a natural affinity for oil, while repelling water, this property is known as “oleophilic.” MBP may be formed into almost any shape and is found in pads, strips, spaghetti and other convenient forms. When enclosed in a scrim this material can be used to create small, intercepting and absorbent booms for nearshore work.

Flotation Boom (nearshore): This is the traditional method preferred by many organizations for near and inshore deployment. Normally made of Polypropylene, these units can be fitted with flotation members, skirts and upper containment weirs. They may be joined together with patented connectors to form long runs.

Flotation Boom (offshore): In offshore applications it is often necessary to deploy long lengths of large boom is a short time period. In these cases, roller frame mounted boom is deployed from specially adapted large marine vessels.

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20 www.hazmatmag.com FALL 2012

storage space required by similar absorbent materials currently used in the oil spill control industry.

In addition to its compact storage capability, the laminate film is capable of adsorbing the spilled oil it is intended to contain, while having the unique characteristic of not absorbing the water it is deployed on. Unlike similar absorbing materials which begin to hold water immediately after deployment, the laminate film is oil-adsorbing plastic material that floats on water but will not absorb it.

Some other devices and technologies available for containment and recovery of HMM oil are reviewed in the photos.

For more oil recovery technology, see article page 32.

Written by Captain John Hosty CHMM Master Mariner is Director, Training and Environmental Preparedness for The Warsash Group in Burlington, Ontario. Contact John at jhosty2@cogeco.ca

HAZMAT : TRAINING

Behind the Scenes With the Emergency Film Group

I

f you’ve ever seen a video about managing hazardous materials, mitigating disaster, or protecting the environment, then you’ve likely seen a production by the Emergency Film Group (efilmgroup.com) The Massachusetts-based company has led the industry since its early days in 1979, taking pride in its use of actual experts in the field — on-camera and off — for some 250 emergency response productions.

“It doesn’t make sense to hire actors to be firefighters or first responders. We need the real people,” Gordon Massingham, a producer with the Emergency Film Group, told HazMat Management magazine.

The Emergency Film Group (EFG) uses technical committees comprised of industry experts to come up with topics for training videos, and make sure they’re as accurate as possible.

EFG’s technical crews review the videos every five years to ensure the material is up to date. EFG will also review material if a complaint is generated.

“We put the ingredients together, put it in the stove, and cook it up,” Massingham says. “But equipment changes, product labeling changes.”

In the case of EFG’s HazMat videos, the group was approached

by Mike Hildebrand and Greg Noll, both of whom have extensive

backgrounds in the field. In addition to previously being a HazMat team leader, Hildebrand was formerly the Director of Safety and Fire Protection for the American Petroleum Institute; Noll is the Program Manager for the South Central Pennsylvania Regional Counter-Terrorism Task Force, as well as the Hazmat/WMD Manager for the PA Task Force.

Massingham, who also directs the training videos, says the films typically run from 18 to 25 minutes and cost between $75, 000 and $125,000 to produce. Most shoots involve crews of six people that travel all over the US, he says.

“Everyone has a lot of fun. We have a backlog of people who want to shoot with us,” says Massingham, referring to the scores of requests from fire departments and first responders who want to appear in the popular videos.

Massingham estimates EFG has some 16,000 clients, with significant representation in Canada, he says. The most interested customers are fire departments, local government, hospitals, as well as colleges and universities.

Notably, EFG says it does not accept offers to promote products or equipment in its videos. The group consults to determine the best or most widely-used equipment in the field, then approach that company to donate use of the products for the film shoot, which typically run from one to five days.

Massingham says EFG tries to “stay ahead” of the industry.

For example, he explained the initial failure of its video entitled “AIDS, Hepatitis and the Emergency Responder.”

“At first nobody was interested. Then it became a bestseller,” Massingham says.

Nowadays, EFG’s most successful productions are usually its newest ones. One of its bestsellers at the moment is NIMS for EOCs. In terms of videos dealing with chemical response: “Those are evergreens,” Massingham says, meaning they almost never need to be updated.

EFG can also be somewhat topical in its releases, recently creating videos on radiation monitoring in response to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, or a mass shootings response video on the heels of numerous shooting incidents in the US. Massingham says the group will often infuse real emergency footage into its videos.

“If they can’t tell the difference, we know we’ve done our job,” he says.

Director of all Emergency Film Group and Detrick Lawrence productions, Gordon is a former television producer as well as former manager of the NFPA Film Department. His work has appeared on ABC and PBS, as well as television stations throughout the country. He has produced more than 150 emergency response training films since 1979. Productions in which he has played a principal creative role have won 140 film festival awards. In 2004, Gordon was awarded the “Level A” Lifetime Achievement Award by the International Association of HMM Fire Chiefs.

Written by David Nesseth, Web Editor for this magazine and EcoLog.com PHOTO COURTESY OF SAINT-GOBAIN PERFORMANCE PLASTICS.

FALL 2012 HazMat Management 21

HAZMAT: ASBESTOS

Asbestos, Rotterdam & the Feds Understanding the new policy in Canada

I

by Kathleen Ruff

“Will Russia pick up Canada’s role of saboteur of the Convention? It may well try to do so.”

n an extraordinary and dramatic turn of events, the Canadian government has announced that it will no longer oppose the listing of chrysotile asbestos as a hazardous substance under the Rotterdam Convention.

Industry Minister, Christian Paradis, made the announcement on Friday, September 14 in his constituency at Thetford Mines. For years, Paradis has been the leading cheerleader for the Canadian asbestos industry.

Paradis blamed the newly elected Parti Québécois (PQ) government for causing Ottawa to reverse its proasbestos policy. PQ leader, Pauline Marois has promised to cancel a $58 million loan to revive the bankrupt and closed-down Quebec asbestos industry — a loan that previous Quebec premier, Jean Charest, allocated just shortly before calling an election he lost.

Marois clearly intends to end asbestos mining in Quebec, said Paradis.

“It would be illogical for Canada to oppose the inclusion of chrysotile (asbestos) in annex III of the Rotterdam Convention when Quebec, the only province that produces chrysotile, will prohibit its exploitation,” he said.

ROTTERDAM CONVENTION

In recent decades, the production and export of chemicals has risen dramatically. This has created serious concerns from both a public health and environmental perspective, particularly since many countries lack an adequate infrastructure to monitor the import and use of substances that are hazardous to human health and the environment.

Consequently, in the 1980s, the United Nations set up a voluntary system which encouraged countries to share information about hazardous chemicals and to obtain Prior Informed Consent from an importing country before shipping hazardous chemicals to that country.

This voluntary system proved inadequate, however, and at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, governments decided to create a legally-binding international agreement that would ensure that countries had the necessary information to enable them to assess the risks of hazardous materials and to take informed decisions on their import.

Thus the Rotterdam Convention was born. Its purpose is to promote responsible trade in hazardous substances and it is often referred to as the Prior Informed Consent Convention. It was adopted in Rotterdam in September 1998 and entered into force on February 24, 2004.

Efforts were made to voluntarily place certain hazardous substances on Annex III of the Convention (which triggers the Prior Informed Consent requirement), including chrysotile asbestos. The Canadian government refused to allow listing of chrysotile asbestos.

22 www.hazmatmag.com FALL 2012

The Chemical Review Committee (CRC) of the Rotterdam Convention, made up of scientists from around the world, therefore carried out a full scientific review and concluded that chrysotile asbestos is a hazardous substance that should be listed in Annex III. When the CRC’s recommendation was put before the Conference of the Parties in 2006, Canada immediately blocked the recommendation. Decisions at the Conference of the Parties are made by consensus and Canada shattered consensus. Kyrgyzstan, Iran, India, Ukraine and Peru then supported Canada’s action.

At the start of the last Conference of the Parties in 2011, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine and Vietnam opposed listing chrysotile asbestos. Canada stayed silent. Then these countries dropped their opposition and agreed to the listing of chrysotile asbestos. At this moment, Canada broke its silence, refused to allow the listing of chrysotile asbestos and refused to give any reason. (Canada said that it agreed that chrysotile asbestos met all the criteria for listing.)

Canada thus single-handedly blocked the listing of chrysotile asbestos and prevented the recommendation of the expert scientific committee from being implemented.

An Access to Information request revealed that Health Canada likewise recommended that Canada allow chrysotile asbestos to be listed.

One hopes that with Paradis’ announcement the Canadian government will cease blocking the Convention; the next meeting of the Conference of the Parties in 2013 will see consensus prevail to accept the recommendation of the expert committee to list chrysotile asbestos, which recommendation will be put forward for the fourth time.

Russia will, in 2013, be a party to the Rotterdam Convention. Russia is the world’s largest exporter of asbestos, exporting 748,000 tons of asbestos in 2011.

Will Russia pick up Canada’s role of saboteur of the Convention? It may well try to do so. If so, enormous pressure will be exerted by the more than a hundred other countries present and, as did former USSR member countries Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Ukraine at the 2011 conference, Russia may find itself obliged to go along with the huge global consensus to list chrysotile asbestos as a hazardous substance.

Let’s hope so, and be thankful that Canada is quitting HMM this dangerous industry.

Kathleen Ruff is author of Exporting Harm: How Canada Markets Asbestos to the Developing World, founded www.RightOnCanada.ca and is senior human rights advisor to the Rideau Institute in Smithers, BC. Contact Kathleen at kruff@bulkley.net

November 7 - 8, 2012 – International Centre, 6900 Airport Rd - Toronto

ND N TE AR AT d E an

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d ! s) ere n MP gist tio (C Re ca ts an P) ifi in di S rt Po ana (BCR Ce fC s 0 ce o al 1. nan oard ssion e B fe nt he ro ai y t y P M ed b afet

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Welcome I am personally inviting you to attend the second annual International Sites and Spills Expo. Join me and the exhibitors and speakers listed on these pages, to learn solutions you can implement in your business.

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New in 2012!

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Accuworx Inc AGAT Laboratories ALS Environmental BakerCorp Canada British Columbia Building Trades Burns and Wilcox Canada Caduceon Environment Laboratories Canada Colors & Chemicals Can-Ross Environmental Services Ltd Carus Corporation CHEMCO Inc. Coastal Environmental Systems Conestoga-Rovers & Associates Delsan - A.I.M. Detox Environmental Ltd Drain-All Ltd EHS Instrument Solutions Environmental Abatement Council of Ontario (EACO) Evolution Sorbent Products Canada Exova First Response Environmental FMC Adventus Frac Rite Environmental Ltd. GFL Environmental East Corporation GroundTech Solutions Indicium Compliance Solutions, Inc. Kappler Lakeland Protective Wear, Inc Canada Lind Equipment Maxxam Analytics - Mississauga Nelson Environmental Remediation Opta Information Intelligence Osisko Hammond Reef Gold Ltd Osprey Scientific Inc. Premier Canada Assurance Proactive Environmental Rentals Inc. Prokleen Washing Service Quantum Murray Rainforrent Sequoia Environmental SGS Canada Inc Showa Best Glove Mfg Ltd. Spill Experts Inc TEEX Tervita The BioSolve Company Western Oilfield Specialties Corp.

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Hear from Environmental Industry Leaders!

Keynote Speakers Cory Chalmers

Gordon McGuinty

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From the hit A&E TV show “Hoarders” and Entrepreneur Biohazards Exploring the destructive psychological effects of biohazards situations and hoarding and the physical cleanup of blood borne pathogens, human diseases, washing matter and waste water runoff.

Entrepreneur and Author of ‘Trashed’ Lead, Don’t Follow – The New Realities A key player in the Adams Mine Landfill project Gordon will set the story straight on how political garbage made the United States Canada’s largest dump.

Environmental Lawyer and Author Ontario’s New Permit-By-Rule System: How to Get Into Compliance Navigating the complex world of Ontario’s New Permit-By-Rule System and what these systems mean for you and your compliance systems.

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John Hosty

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Hosted by Quantum Murray, Canada’s premier industrial services company, This workshop will prepare you and your organization for a major release into the environment. Learn how to interact with other incident centres and work with all parties involved. Gain insight into ICE and spill response, and tools to review your E-2 and E-Rap plan.

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Conference Information The International Sites & Spills Expo will take place November 7 – 8, 2012 at the International Centre, 6900 Airport Rd., Toronto, Ontario (near Pearson International Airport).

Hotel Reservations Four Points by Sheraton Hotel 6257 Airport Road Mississauga, ON L4V 1E4 (905) 678-1400 Discounted rate of $135 per night, subject to availability.

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26 www.hazmatmag.com FALL 2012

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12-10-10 10:28 AM

CLEANTECH: OPINION

Cleantech Fortunes

Politics creating uncertainty for technology

B

eing invested in a sector highly dependent on government funding and other incentives is always a precarious position, and the cleantech sector is perhaps particularly vulnerable at the moment.

With US gridlock resulting in key tax incentives not being renewed, various cleantech players have announced an interest in focusing more north of the border. While the recession has been less pronounced in Canada, certain sub-sectors of the cleantech industry have a similarly uncertain future — and in this country, not based on two-party gridlock, but rather as a result of our multi-party system: the minority government.

“Two of Canada’s premier Cleantech jurisdictions, Quebec and Ontario, are now being run by minority governments. In Ontario, the Liberal government seems to have heard the voice of the electorate on the issue of over-spending, but is less certain what to do with their cleantech support programs. The signature Feed-in Tariff program has now been partially re-opened, but with additional restrictions and more competition for capacity, making many participants feel they’ve bought into a giant game of cards where the government holds all the trump.

In Quebec, the Parti Quebecois minority government, and the emergence of a new third party, create significant unknowns for the cleantech industry. Under the Liberals, Hydro Quebec had a long-standing practice of issuing significant RFPs for renewable power, which may or may not continue. Of particular interest are the recent waste-related incentive programs, which raised significant interest among leading innovators.

While much ink has been spent on whether the PQ has the support necessary to hold another referendum on sovereignty, for those seeking to develop technologies and projects in the province, many questions will be asked until at least the passage of the next budget.

Add to these circumstances the recent domination of energy headlines by the oil and gas sector. (See Cover Story on page 8 and Editorial on page 4.) and by the debate over the need for a national energy strategy (or whether, in fact, one already exists, according to federal National Resources Minister Joe Oliver) and renewable energy project support risks being pushed further from the front burner.

Though there are valid criticisms of the amount of money spent to create jobs in this sector, surely the easi-

est way to destroy an industry is to give the world the impression that sands are shifting and that, despite our relative economic health, Canada is not in fact willing or able to lead.

HMM

Aaron Atcheson is a Partner and Chair of Miller Thomson LLP’s CleanTech Group in London, Ontario.

Contact Aaron at aatcheson@millerthomson.com

For a different perspective on changes to the federal EAA, read Legal Perspective column, page 46.

Env Cat bleed ad-may2010-B.qxd

5/25/10

12:49 PM

by Aaron Atcheson

“Many participants feel they’ve bought into a giant game of cards where the government holds all the trump.”

Page 1

The Italian Ministry for the Environment, Land and Sea, Department for Sustainable Development, Climate Change, and Energy, promotes the protection of the environment through the realization of projects aimed at developing new technologies with high environmental efficiency and through activities around the world in cooperation with numerous international organizations.

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The Italian Trade Commission is the official trade development and promotional agency of the Italian Government. Its mission is to support the internationalization of Italian firms and their consolidation in foreign markets. Headquartered in Rome, the ITC maintains a network of over 115 branch offices in more than 86 countries, including the United States, Canada and Mexico.

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FALL 2012 HazMat Management 27

27 Cleantech edit hmm fall 2012 ctc opinion.indd 27

12-10-11 11:44 AM

CLEANTECH: WASTE-TO-FUEL

Waste to Ethanol New technology competes with corn-to-ethanol systems

T

by John Nicholson

“The cost of producing ethanol from waste is much higher than using corn.”

he production of ethanol and its utilization as a fuel in vehicles has been touted as a means of lessening the world’s dependence on fossil fuel while paying farmers for the excess corn they produce.

North American laws currently require ordinary gasoline to contain five per cent ethanol. Almost all the ethanol used in gasoline comes through the fermentation of corn. The utilization of corn to produce ethanol has received harsh criticism from environmentalists and economists with claims that it drives up the cost of food, damages the environment, and is economically unsustainable because of government subsidizes.

The conversion of waste to ethanol appears to have very few, if any critics, provided it’s not subsidized by the

28 www.hazmatmag.com FALL 2012

government. Residues from the food, agriculture, and forestry industries can all be feedstock in the production of ethanol. The organic portion of municipal solid waste can also be used to produce ethanol.

The advantages of using waste to produce ethanol are many, with perhaps the largest one being that it solves a waste management problem while helping solve an energy problem.

INNOVATION A great deal of research and development is being poured into waste-to-ethanol technologies. For example, researchers at the University of Windsor are examining a microbial battery as a means of converting municipal

CLEANTECH: OPINION

View of the Johnstown plant, Prescott Grain Terminal and St. Lawrence Seaway.

solid waste into ethanol. If commercialized, the system would combine anaerobic digestion with microbial battery technology.

Elsewhere, a Bioconversion Network of researchers from six Canadian universities is researching ways and means to more efficiently breakdown waste and produce ethanol. The key breakthrough for the Bioconversion Network will come when a means is found to produce ethanol fuel at a cost that competes with conventional gasoline.

Several Canadian-based companies are focused on the commercialization of waste-to-ethanol technologies, and are at various stages of development.

GreenField is Canada’s largest ethanol producer and has been doing this work for 20 years. Besides producing ethanol from corn, GreenField is also working on developing processes to make biofuel from waste. The company’s Cellulosic Ethanol Division, established in 2007, is working on developing commercial-scale ethanol facilities through either biochemical or thermochemical conversion.

Biochemical research and development undertaken by GreenField is currently focused on achieving a simplified mechanical pre-treatment system with new fermentation techniques and enzyme technologies. Research achievements have included the development of genetically modified yeast that can increase ethanol yield, and investigation of new enzyme technologies to reduce energy costs and optimize the continuous bio-refinery process.

GreenField partnered with Enerkem in the development of a thermochemical conversion method for the production of ethanol.

Enerkem, based in Quebec, has been working on its proprietary technology for the past 11 years. It recently began producing cellulosic ethanol from waste materials at its demonstration facility in Westbury, Quebec.

Enerkem’s thermochemical process, used to produce ethanol, consists of four steps: preparation, gasification, cleaning and conditioning of syngas, and catalytic synthesis. The key difference between Enerkem and its gasification technology competitors is the final step — the conversion of syngas to methanol and ethanol.

Most other gasification companies utilize the syngas as fuel.

Greenfield’s Chatham, Ontario plant.

Enerkem is building a commercial-scale waste-to-ethanol facility in Edmonton that will use 100,000 tonnes per year of postsorted municipal solid waste as feedstock. Operations are scheduled to start in early 2013. When fully operational the facility is expected to produce 38 million litres per year of methanol/ethanol.

Considerable government funding has helped keep the Enerkem afloat as it tested its proprietary technology. The Westbury plant received funding from the Quebec Ministry of Natural Resources and Wildlife and Sustainable Development Technology Canada.

The challenges will be considerable for new companies looking to build and operate a waste-to-ethanol facility. For starters, the cost of producing ethanol from waste is much higher than using corn. Therefore, it’s important to get adequately paid for taking the waste feedstock.

The other challenge for waste-to-ethanol companies is the consistency of the feedstock. Using corn to produce ethanol means a fairly consist chemical composition of feedstock. This may not always be the case if a company is relying on waste for its feedstock. HMM

John Nicholson, M.Sc., P.Eng., is a consultant based in Toronto, Ontario. Contact John at john.nicholson@ebccanada.com

(LtoR) Stephen Mandel, Mayor of Edmonton, holds refuse to be turned to ethanol, Vincent Chornet, President and CEO of Enerkem and Donald Pierce, President of GreenField Ethanol’s Advanced Biofuels Group, hold flasks representing the thermochemical process, and Doug Horner, Alberta Minister of Advanced Education and Technology, holds a gas can representing the final product during a photo op at Edmonton’s Waste Management Centre June 26, 2008. The site will become the world’s first industrial scale municipal waste-to-ethanol facility.

FALL 2012 HazMat Management 29

REMEDIATION: ENVIRONMENT BUSINESS

Advances in Oil Remediation Canadian technologies for oil spills

W

by John Nicholson

“5.71 million tonnes of oil were spilled by sea tankers between 1970 and 2010.”

ith memories of the Exon Valdez spill in Alaska and the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico being the most searing memories of disastrous oil spills, technology innovation companies and industry continue to work on means of containing and treating oil spills after they occur.

It has been estimated that approximately 5.71 million tonnes of oil were spilled in sea tanker incidents alone between 1970 and 2010. Although technologies and practices are improving to prevent oil spills, disasters will be inevitable. Finding the best method of treating spills is dependent on the characteristics of the spill and there is plenty of opportunity to find solutions that are better than current treatment methods.

No oil industry expert that would be able to confidently predict that the days of oil spills are over.

Ironically, many of the same experts would say that there has been little progress in oil spill treatment technology over the past twenty years. (See Editorial, page 4.)

The reasons for the lack of progress on new and improved methods of treating oil spill include a lack of funding and laws that making the testing of new ideas difficult.

The most common method of managing oil spills is the use of booms and oil skimmers to capture the oil and dispersants to

Purifics’ photocatalytic membrane system (PHOTO CAT).

32 www.hazmatmag.com FALL 2012

break it up. Controlled burns have also been used.

(See article, page 18.)

COMPARISON OF TREATMENT METHODS Researchers from Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia published a critical review and comparative analysis of oil spill treatment technologies in the American Journal of Environmental Sciences in 2011. They analyzed the effectiveness of various remediation technologies against 10 criteria including cost, efficiency and time. Physical, chemical, thermal, and biological technologies were analyzed.

The most common form of physical treatment includes booms, skimmers, and absorbent materials.

Chemical dispersants include surfactants, solvents and stabilizers. Thermal treatment methods involve burning off the oil and biological technologies utilize microorganisms to break-down the oil.

The researchers found that the choice of technology was dependant on a number of factors including the type of oil, the physical characteristics of the spill, weather and sea conditions, and economics. They concluded that oil recovery with mechanical methods and the application of dispersants, followed by bioremediation, is the most effective response for marine oil spills.

NEW TECHNOLOGIES There are technologies that have been developed by Canadian companies that could be easily adopted by the oil industry for the management of oil spills.

Purifics, a London Ontario based company, has developed several technologies that are currently being used by the oil and gas industry in Alberta. The technologies could easily be adapted to oil spill cleanup.

Purifics’ experience in treating oil/tar water mixtures can be traced back to the early 1990s when the company supplied its photocatalytic membrane system (PHOTO CAT) for cleaning up water contaminated with heavy oil cut with bis (2-chloroethyl) ether from a refining operations in Texas.

PHOTO-CAT is a patented technology that combines ultraviolet oxidation, catalytic action,

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REMEDIATION: ENVIRONMENT BUSINESS

Purifics’ oil in-line separation system (OILS).

and ultra-filtration into a system that results in one-package solution for the destruction of all types of organics including oil.

One of the first applications of the PHOTO-CAT system was at the Texas refinery site in 1994. The system successfully treated the oil/tar contaminated water to meet surface water discharges standards and was subsequently redeployed to another similar application at the conclusion of the project.

Another Purifics’ technology used in the Alberta oil sands is its oil in-line separation system (OILS). Capable of removing free or mechanically emulsified light oil, OILS is a device that consists of a particulate filter and oil coalesce. Influent enters the oil-water separator where an internal coalescing filter causes the oil to agglomerate into buoyant droplets. Light oils rise up and heavy oils sink to the bottom. A level probe measures the oil-water interface for automatic purging. The water exits the shell at the end.

The OILS technology has been applied industrially since 1998 and is ideally suited for the recovery of naphtha and similar light ends in the oil sands. Operators have found that OILS is a cutting edge solution that is cost competitive.

HMM

John Nicholson, M.Sc., P.Eng., is a consultant based in Toronto, Ontario. Contact John at john.nicholson@ebccanada.com

1.800.251.7773 • www.quantummurray.com 34 www.hazmatmag.com FALL 2012

HAZMAT : HEALTH AND SAFETY

The Global Harmonization System (GHS) The new “WHMIS”

G

HS, another acronym that will be added to the health and safety scene, stands for “Globally Harmonized Systems of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals” WHMIS GHS has been a long time coming to Canada with the implied belief that it will make a positive difference to Canada’s occupational health and safety regime.

GHS promises to promote regulatory efficiency, ease of compliance and make WHMIS less complex for organizations, workers and governments — especially those who need to comply with many different systems in different countries — by providing a consistent standardized system.

The benefits of the new system, as outlined, are: 1. Promoting regulatory efficiency 2. Facilitating trade 3. Easing compliance 4. Reducing costs

5. Providing improved, consistent hazard information 6. Encouraging the safe transport, handling and use of chemicals 7. Promoting better emergency response to chemical incidents, and 8. Reducing the need for animal testing.

With GHS coming into force, Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDSs) will be replaced by Safety Data Sheets (SDSs).

The new SDSs will need to be obtained when GHS becomes implemented. As a result, new and revised training procedures and programs will need to be developed.

Within the GHS, there are two major elements: 1. Classification of hazards: a. Physical b. Health c. Environmental 2. Communication of hazards and precautionary information using safety data sheets (SDSs)

by Lynne Bard

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HAZMAT: HEALTH AND SAFETY

Canada’s ONLY trade event serving the waste, recycling and public works markets

November 14 - 15, 2012 International Centre, Toronto, ON Canada “The quality of visitors and prospects were excellent.”

Samantha Goetz, Orbis Corporation

“CWRE offers our company a means to reconnect with our current customer base and establish new customers all in one convenient location.”

Jackie W. Barlow, II Vice President Paradigm Software

The following are target dates for implementation of GHS: Canada

Unlikely to be in place before 2013

US

Final ruling became effective May 26, 2012 Key Dates: Training by December 1, 2013 Comply with all modified provisions: June 1, 2015 Updated alternative workplace labeling and hazard communication programs and additional employee training for newly identified physical and health hazards: June 1, 2016

Europe

GHS adopted January 2009 with certain regulations extended to June 1, 2015 with a two year transition period

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Other changes that employers can expect with the new system include: • SDSs will have a 16 section format verses the current 9 section format of the MSDSs; • Supplier labels will contain new pictograms and signal words — “Warning” or “Danger”; • Classification of chemicals will be affected with potentially (not confirmed) more specific names for its hazard classes and will also maintain some of the current classifications; • Employers may receive MSDS and SDS for same products until transition is complete; • Employers should prepare for training requirements under GHS; • Suppliers should prepare now to meet SDS under GHS for exported products and start process for products shipped within Canada ready for GHS. To ensure that safety is not compromised, a key area will be training of workers who will need to understand both the current WHMIS and WHMIS after GHS. They will need to learn new elements, such as pictograms, the difference in label requirements, new hazard class names, hazard statements and new signal words, etc. (For more detailed descriptions of the proposed changes, visit CCOHS.ca) It’s not recommended that company-wide training be undertaken until GHS has been implemented in Canada. Yet, with the US well on its way, Canadian companies need to be prepared for the changes coming soon. With that said, companies should focus on understanding what GHS is all about, as well as becoming familiar with the new classification of products under GHS. HMM

Lynne Bard is President and Senior Consultant of Beyond Rewards Inc. based in Guelph, Ontario. Contact Lynne at info@ beyondrewards.ca

36 www.hazmatmag.com FALL 2012 CWRE12 SWR Ad 3.375 x 11.indd 1

12/5/2011 3:56:19 PM

REMEDIATION : SPOTLIGHT

The Cleanup Detail A look at KG Services in Brantford, Ontario

by Guy Crittenden Removing contaminated water from a rain water run-off lagoon; KG Services crews vacuumed everything out.

K

G Services (www.kgservice.ca) is a small but growing service company in the environmental remediation and spill response space. Founded in 2005 by owner/operator Kris Gaal, the Brantford, Ontario-based company started in excavation and soon began to expand into the environmental area.

“We’re hoping to grow into one of the leaders in the remediation industry,” says Gaal.

Since it started in 2005 with just two employees, KG Services has grown to 33 employees who provide services 24/7, every day of the year. The company’s fleet of excavators, large and small equipment, dump trucks and clean-up equipment is always on call. Gaal’s philosophy is to leave customers with a site in better repair then

before the cleanup. This requires a diverse team of spill response technicians, equipment operators, project managers and maintenance staff.

Services include spill response and remediation, tactical spills response, excavation, demolition, disposal, trucking and other integrated small services; this helps customers avoid having to hire and manage many subcontractors. Final cleanup details such as landscaping, concrete, sodding and repairs are done by staff. This includes a variety of tasks many clients mightn’t think of such as traffic control, water treatment, liquid pumping, generator use, perimeter fencing and lane closures.

Gaal says that fulfilling all this requires that staff be constantly be enrolled in training courses such as Book

“Gaal’s background was as a heavy equipment mechanic, working in the excavation and trucking industries.”

FALL 2012 HazMat Management 37

REMEDIATION: SPOTLIGHT

An excavator and payloader beginning a large remedial cleanup.

Installing a large onsite water treatment bed for a water treatment facility.

7 traffic control, environment ministry mandated training, safety and first aid, confined space entry, HazMat, etc. (and keeping up with ministry and TSSA guidelines).

Gaal’s background was as a heavy equipment mechanic, working in the excavation and trucking industries.

Many of his staff have an equipment operations background, and their skills are useful in mechanical repairs, trucking and concrete work.

With its Brantford location, KG Services can serve most of southern and central Ontario. The company’s emergency response equipment is always loaded and ready for quick dispatch.

“We’ve completed projects from Thunder Bar to Windsor, but we aspire to grow into being a national or even North American company,” Gaal says. However, he adds, 38 www.hazmatmag.com FALL 2012

he doesn’t want to ever lose some of that small company feeling, of people who know one another pulling together.

“We have barbecues and social get-togethers,” Gaal says, and mentions that many staff have been in the business for more than 15 years and the interaction helps some of the junior staff learn quickly.

KG Services customers include large environmental consulting firms, insurance adjusters, developers, site remediation projects and large land owners. The company also has extensive experience with environmental spill work, whether it’s a car or truck accident cleanup, truck rollover, or hydro transformer spill, or a complex job stemming from a leaking underground storage tank, historical ground or water contamination, or cleanup of a former fuel station.

REMEDIATION : SPOTLIGHT

“Many of our employees have been part of train derailment cleanups, lagoon treatments, large vehicle accidents, large tank spills, airport fuel spill cleanups as well as hazardous spill clean ups,” says Gaal.

“We have successfully completed building underpinning, above- and below-ground tank removals, large and deep excavations, and tactical excavations, along with full site restoration including concrete, sod, foundations, grading, commercial and industrial sites, asphalt and even replacing trees and gardens that suffered damage from spills.”

When asked what he likes best about his work, Gaal answers, “It’s really enjoyable to work with great people and know you’re helping to better the environment at the same time.”

HMM

Guy Crittenden is editor of this magazine.

Contact Guy at gcrittenden@hazmatmag.com “Spotlight” is an occasional article series profiling large and small companies in the environmental service, remediation and cleantech industries.

The team on a water-side spill project.

FALL 2012 HazMat Management 39

REMEDIATION

Lights! Cameras! Pump!

A DNAPL remediation job in Toronto’s Film District

B

by Martin Sloojier

ioSoil International of the Netherlands, partnered with Canadian environmental service firm AIM Environmental Group to run a pilot study to extract dense non-aqueous phase liquid, free phase (DNAPLs) from depths of around seven metres on a site in the Film District in Toronto, Ontario. Proprietary technology has been imported from the Netherlands to operate this in-situ remediation program.

Results to date have exceeded expectations, with a significant amount of free product being drawn from the soil and groundwater.

CONTAMINATION & TECHNOLOGY At this former industrial site, in the eastern part of Toronto, extensive soil and groundwater contamination was found to be present. The contamination includes commonly-found chlorinated solvents like PCE, TCE, DCE and VC. The concentration levels of TCE (up to 1.000.000 µg/l) indicates that a DNAPL is present. Presence of free phase has been confirmed.

The contamination was found to be present in the shallow groundwater to about 8 mbg. The highest concentration levels were found to be present in the

“In four months about 400 litres of free phase were extracted and removed.”

BioSoil in situ remediation system control unit; DNAPL recovery and infiltration well system for stimulation of biological degradation.

40 www.hazmatmag.com FALL 2012

REMEDIATION

sandy soil layer just above the clay (app. 6 mbg).

The soil structure and the severe contamination situation make this a challenging remediation.

Based upon the available analytical data of the site it was determined that anaerobic biological degradation of the contamination was already taking place by natural processes. All of the chlorinated compounds present can be Figure 1. Schematic representation of reductive dehalogenation of PCE degraded under anaerobic conditions. (The complete reductive dechlorination of PCE is depicted in Figure 1.) by compressed air from the main control unit so the For obtaining anaerobic dehalogenation of chlorin- pump is applicable for use in explosion-hazardous areas. ated hydrocarbons, an electron donor (substrate) had to The pump consists of two check valves and a chamber. be dosed in relation to the level of contamination. Some The stainless steel balls which are used as a check valve, competition for the electron donor may take place by are the only moving parts of the pump. Attached to the sulphate reducing micro-organisms, because sulphate is pump, are two small lines: one provides compressed air also found in the groundwater. and the second retrieves the pure product (DNAPL).

The electron donor dosage is adjusted to compensate There are two operation cycles. In the first step, the for the sulphate reduction. BioSoil International uses pressure inside the pump is made atmospheric. This BioSoil Percol, a specially engineered electron donor for allows the DNAPL to flow freely in to the collecting anaerobic biodegradation projects. This electron donor chamber of the pump. In the second operating phase, was developed by BioSoil R&D B.V. with very good pressure is applied and the product is gently pushed results having been obtained using this electron donor out of the collecting chamber. The bottom check valve, in various projects and countries (e.g., the Netherlands, located at the inlet, is closed during the second operating Germany, England, Finland, Japan, etc.). The electron phase. By repeating this cycles free phase (DNAPL) is donor is of food-grade quality. removed from the extraction wells.

There are various ways to add the electron donor to the subsurface in order to optimise the circumstances for RESULTS anaerobic biodegradation. In this case the electron donor In four months about 400 litres of free phase were is dosed through an in-situ remediation system based extracted and removed. The circumstances for biodegupon continuous extraction and infiltration of water, cre- radation have been increased strongly, and the biological ating a circulating flow of groundwater and the electron process is running complete. High concentration levels donor within the treatment area. (BioSoil prefers such of Ethylene (a harmless end product) have been detected, a circulation system based upon the good experience in indicating that the biodegradation process is operating numerous projects.) effectively. Also, no continuous increase of cis-DCE and The basic idea of the circulation system is that the VC has occurred; concentration levels have not increased soil is converted into an in-situ bioreactor. The extraction in comparison to pre-remediation conditions. and infiltration is merely used for optimum distribution “This technology is unique for the North American of electron donor in the subsurface. The groundwater market place,” says Kyle Press, of AIM Environmental circulation is based upon a completely closed system Group. “We have seen excellent results to date and to maintain anaerobic conditions. The groundwater is anticipate that this technique can be used on many sites extracted in a well and is directly infiltrated in other throughout Canada.” wells. Before infiltration, the electron donor is dosed to The pilot system will be kept operational while furthe circulating groundwater, so that the groundwater is ther discussions continue with the property owners and not decontaminated in an above-ground groundwater the provincial environment ministry to ramp up to a fulltreatment unit. scale project.

HMM The DNAPL removal is done with a BioSoil International-designed pump which is placed at the Martin Sloojier is International Manager with BioSoil bottom of the extraction wells. This pump is capable in Hendrik Ido Ambacht, The Netherlands. Contact of recovering DNAPL from large depths. It’s operated Martin at m.sloojier@biosoil.com FALL 2012 HazMat Management 41

REMEDIATION: TECHNOLOGY

Crushing Equipment

I

ROCK, a leading manufacturer of screening and crushing equipment, has introduced the RDS-20 Primary Crushing Plant. As the name suggests, the RDS (for “rapid deployment system”) provides exceptional portability and rapid set-up time.

The RDS-20 is a highly portable, easy to operate mobile unit. It combines a closed circuit design, high-performance four-bar impactor and heavy-duty components for reliability, increased efficiency and the precision to produce a uniform, cubical product. It also is versatile enough for use across multiple industries and can process a variety of materials, including quarry rock, demolition debris, recyclable materials and base rock for oil fields.

The machine features a 5- by 16-foot, double-deck screen.

It has the ability to crush, screen and separate up to three different sizes of materials, two sized and one crusher run, at a rate of up to 500 tons per hour (tph). The initial vibrating feed opening is 52 inches by 17 feet, while the crusher feed opening is 56 by 32 inches.

The equipment’s closed-circuit design allows both decks of oversized material to return to the feeder for another pass through the crusher after the initial round of screening. In addition, with on-board power supplying full plant operation, the entire process is self-contained. The crusher is powered by a 440-horsepower Caterpillar C-13 ACERT Tier 3 engine.

The RDS-20 can also be supplied with a Tier 4 engine.

Performance and production are further enhanced by IROCK’s four-bar impactor design. The RDS-20 provides the ideal balance inside the crushing chamber to optimize production and ease uneven wear on the impact bars. A heavy-duty, two-step tapered grizzly removes fines and allows only large materials into the crusher. Hydraulically adjustable aprons allow for ease of adjustment and better control over sizing, while three optional auxiliary conveyors sort and stack processed materials.

The RDS-20 is available with IROCK’s patented Hydraset Hopper™. The Hydraset Hopper is designed to attach and remove the hopper/feeder unit in one piece, with just one person, so it does not require the use of any outside lifting device.

The system operates from an internal power pack, which

IROCK designed the TS-516 so it can be used in a primary crusher circuit for materials such as construction and demolition waste, iron ore, aggregates, coal, recycling and heavy rock. At the same time, the machine is versatile enough to handle sticky clay and topsoil.

allows the unit to be easily detached and placed on a trailer in a matter of minutes.

The mobile crusher features IROCK’s exclusive “Rock Box” — an innovative alternative to discharge chutes found on similar units, which cuts down on costly labor and wear parts.

The Rock Box uses a shelf system with abrasion resistant wear bars that allow crushed material to build up and act as a wear liner, effectively reducing maintenance. It also incorporates specialized AR-400 steel plate liners for each material transfer point, which provides enhanced durability over rubber liners used by other crusher manufacturers.

To reduce cleaning and maintenance requirements, the RDS-20 features a standard dust suppression system. Catwalks enable easier screen change-outs and provide convenient access to crucial maintenance and cleaning points. And operators can remove the machine’s control panel and operate the crusher from up to 30-feet away to remove it from the dust and vibration of normal operating conditions.

Visit www.irockcrushers.com NOTE: As we went to press, IROCK announced it has acquired Indy Equipment. The acquisition was effective September 14, and it encompasses Indy Equipment’s fabrication and manufacturing division. Though the official acquisition is new, the relationship between IROCK and Indy Equipment has been in existence for more than 20 years. The acquisition now brings the manufacturing process, from initial design to final quality assurance, under one umbrella for a more streamlined process.

The RDS-20 Primary Crushing Plant is a highly portable, easy to operate mobile unit. It combines a closed circuit design, high-performance four-bar impactor and heavy-duty components for reliability, increased efficiency and the precision to produce a uniform, cubical product.

42 www.hazmatmag.com FALL 2012

HAZMAT : PRODUCTS

ASBESTOS BOOK

Risky Business: The Use, Management, Transport and Disposal of Asbestos in Ontario is a guide that should be of interest to readers in all jurisdictions. The book reviews Canadian federal and Ontario provincial laws, regulations, and policies that govern the proper management of asbestos waste in Ontario. It also outlines the public’s right to provide input on these activities through the avenues provided by various laws, including Ontario ’s Environmental Protection Act (EPA), the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA), the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA), the Workplace Hazardous Material Information System (WHMIS), the Environmental Bill of Rights (EBR), and other laws. This guide also discusses ongoing public concern about the potential human health risks associated with the removal or accidental dislodging of asbestos materials in buildings and other structures, as well as the handling and disposal of used products that may contain asbestos. This guide pulls together key information in a concise summary of law and policy.

Order the book in hard copy or Kindle format on Amazon by visiting www.amazon.com/RiskyBusiness-Management-Transport-ebook/dp/ B00817OXNY

HAZMAT KIT

As times and tactical situations change, so must the resources of hazardous materials response teams. Tampa, Florida-based Nextteq meets these ever increasing demands by providing Gastec HazMat kits to identify unknown liquid and airborne compounds at a moments notice during potentially dangerous situations. Nextteq’s portable HazMat kit provide rapid identification of unknown chemicals and can detect contaminants other kits may miss. The kits can detect liquid chemical warfare agents, including toxic nerve agents (V and G) and blister agents (H).

This lightweight and ergonomically designed kit is maintained in a rugged, watertight Pelican case, keeping valuable equipment safe and dry while remaining easy to transport for use in immediate on-site evaluation. All the components needed to detect potentially hazardous chemicals are included: a model GV-100 Gastec gas sampling piston pump; an extension hose; a gas detection manual; Gastec detector tubes; M8 detection paper; and, a simple-to-use logic chart. No calibration or electrical power is required, so the kits are always ready to use. The HazMat kit can also be customized for unique applications.

Visit www.nextteq.com

SEAL PRODUCT FOR RUPTURES

Zengo Inc. presents the RuptureSeal™ — a safety and environmental protection device designed to plug leaks on a variety of equipment types including truck tanks, rail tankers, chemical tanks at industrial plants, airports and in recreational boats and ships. The device is designed to be put in the hands of first responders, HazMat teams, truck drivers, boat operators, etc. Its unique patented design allows the user to seal ruptures within seconds.

The device is quite simple: it consists of a steel pin pressed through a cable tie; the cable tie is inserted through a specially formulated semi-spherical ball of silicone gel and a nylon cap. The locking mechanism is incorporated into the cap and there’s a handle at the end of the cable tie. The pin is flipped into the parallel position; when it’s inserted into a rupture the pin automatically flips back into the perpendicular position. The handle is pulled and the silicone ball is compressed into the rupture, quickly sealing off the leak. The device has been chemical tested by a professor of chemistry at Dalhousie University, and proven to work on hundreds of chemicals, and all hydrocarbons with seal times of well over 10 hours.

Visit www.ruptureseal.com

FALL 2012 HazMat Management 43

HAZMAT: EVENT REPORT

AHMP Simulates ER Scenario The Alliance of Hazardous Materials Professionals (AHMP) hosted its 2012 National Conference in Anchorage, Alaska, September 9-13. The annual conference was attended by approximately 1,000 of the nation’s leading experts of environmental, health, safety and security management. Highlights included an emergency response scenario staged at the Alaska Railroad Corporation simulating three separate, but integrated, chemical releases that would affect train passengers and the surrounding environment.

During the live, real-time scenario, AHMP attendees put their knowledge to the test and gained insight on best practices for handling a chemical emergency on the railroad. With millions of gallons of hazardous chemicals transported across North American railroads every day, the chance of a HazMat incident is greater than expected; hence, the importance of ensuring that HazMat professionals and first responders practice what to do when a chemical emergency occurs.

The Anchorage Fire Department, 103rd WMD Civil Support team, and the 95th Chemical Company assisted with implementing the scenarios that included a chemical release, a bio agent release, passenger extractions and a full-scale decontamination line.

Next year, AHMP will host its 26th national conference in Orlando, with an emergency response scenario still to be determined.

For more information, visit www.ahmpnet.org

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advertiser index

Fall 2012

ADVERTISER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PG #

ADVERTISER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PG #

ALS Environmental . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Intrinsik . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

AIM Environmental . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Italian Trade Commission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Burns & Wilcox Canada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Kilmer Brownfield Equity Fund . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Cdn Brownfields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

KG Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

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MMM Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Newalta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Ozonator Industries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 ProKleen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Proeco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

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XCG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

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FALL 2012 HazMat Management 45

HAZMAT: LEGAL PERSPECTIVE

Federal Environmental Assessment How much has changed?

I

by Dianne Saxe

“It’s like the days before CEAA when we all struggled to understand federal environmental requirements.”

n July, the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act 1992 was abolished, and replaced by a new Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, 2012 (CEAA 2012).

According to the Conservative government, the new CEAA will streamline federal environmental assessment, avoid duplication, and modernize the regulatory system, plus “make the regulatory system more predictable and timely.”

Will it?

Officially, CEAA 2012 has abolished most federal environmental assessments. Almost all screenings have been eliminated, and official federal EA is now restricted to projects that used to require a Comprehensive Study (now called “designated projects”). Most departments have been stripped of their CEAA responsibilities: responsibility for the remaining official EAs belongs to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, and the National Energy Board.

It’s too soon to tell whether CEAA 2012 will help the government force through unpopular projects, such as the Northern Gateway Pipeline. (See Editorial, page 4.)

However, its practical effect on many smaller projects has been to make the regulatory system less predictable.

For example: 67. An authority must not carry out a project on federal lands, or exercise any power or perform any duty or function conferred on it under any Act of Parliament other than this Act that would permit a project to be carried out, in whole or in part, on federal lands, unless (a) the authority determines that the carrying out of the project is not likely to cause significant adverse environmental effects; or (b) the authority determines that the carrying out of the project is likely to cause significant adverse environmental effects and the Governor in Council decides that those effects are justified...

This new rule applies to all physical works on federal lands, and some projects outside of Canada, other than the “designated projects” that still receive official EA. That is, these sections require federal departments to determine whether any proposed project is “likely to cause significant adverse environmental effects,” but does not tell them how to do it. Perhaps, it’s inevitable that federal authorities are simply continuing to demand environmental assessments, much as they always have.

Parks Canada, for example, has replaced the old CEAA process with its new “Environmental Impact Assessment” process. The new EIA looks a lot like the

46 www.hazmatmag.com FALL 2012

old screening EA, but with less clear rules about procedure, content, timing, public consultation and opportunities for appeal, and without the assistance of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency. According to Parks Canada: “For northern protected heritage places where CEAA 2012 does not apply, environmental assessment processes remain unchanged.

For lands and waters administered by Parks Canada where CEAA 2012 applies, the prescriptive process in the former Act has been eliminated and replaced with a legislated requirement to ensure projects on federal lands do not cause significant adverse environmental effects.…

Environmental impact analysis is a process for identifying and evaluating the adverse environmental effects of projects... Since Parks Canada’s mandate is to protect and present Canadian heritage, projects are assessed for potential impacts to: Natural resources — such as species at risk, air, ground and surface water, as well as plants and animals found in the vicinity of a project or otherwise potentially affected by it; Cultural resources — including evaluation of impacts to heritage value and character-defining elements of known cultural resources, and consideration of risks to areas with high potential to contain cultural resources, where no inventory has yet been completed, and Visitor experience opportunities — specifically how the proposed project is anticipated to adversely affect characteristics of the environment that are important to key visitor experience objectives.”

The savage cuts to Parks and environmental staff make the new process twice as hard to figure out, especially for projects in a hurry.

This gives us “deja vu all over again”; it’s like the “good old days” before CEAA when we all struggled to understand federal environmental requirements.

Confusion and uncertainty are good for lawyers, but didn’t make anyone else happy. CEAA was passed to keep the courts from filling in the gaps themselves. Remember the 1992 case Friends of the Oldman River Society v. Canada (Minister of Transport), when the courts unexpectedly gave teeth to political lip service?

It could happen again.

HMM

Dianne Saxe, Ph.D. in Law, is a leading Canadian environmental lawyer with her own practice in Toronto, Ontario.

Contact Dianne at dsaxe@envirolaw.com

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