SPRING 2002     Inside: • The Growing Liability for the Insurance and Restoration Industries posed by Hazardous Mould in Buildings • Wasteweb.ca Update • Updates to the Law Governing Contaminated Sites in British Columbia • Waste Management in Business in the Twenty First Century • Staff in the News • Staff Updates & News • Emergency Spill Kits • Training Course Schedule Update: wasteweb.ca A Canadian one stop Directory for Generators of Regulated Waste wasteweb.ca now has 45 receivers listed across Canada and we expect to have over 200 more by the end of the year. Plans for 2002 include adding a comprehensive recycling database. wasteweb.ca launched on September 24, 2001. Prospective receivers or generators can obtain more information by contacting Gwynne Prodan at 604-244-8065, Toll-Free at 1-866-78-waste (1-866-789-2783), or by email at info@wasteweb.ca. Updates to the Law Governing Contaminated Sites in British Columbia By Paul Embregts, Project Coordinator, PHH Environmental, Richmond Office As of February 4th, 2002, the Second Stage Amendments to the BC Ministry of Water Land and Air Protection (MWLAP) Contaminated Sites Regulation (CSR) came into effect. The changes to the CSR affects people who are demolishing buildings, dealing with a contamination on a property that may be moving either on or off that property, it also streamlines how the government is notified of independent remediation and introduces new standards for some chemical parameters. Other more minor changes were also enacted. This amendment can be viewed on-line under "Regulations" on the Contaminated Sites page of the MWLAP web-site www.gov.bc.ca/wlap. A quick review of the changes is discussed in the following paragraphs. Notice of Independent Remediation Background Independent remediation is the process in which environmental investigation and remediation is carried out on a Site without the involvement of MWLAP. The main benefit of independent remediation is that the process by which an environmental site investigation proceeds to completion of environmental remediation can occur relatively quickly — sometimes in as little time as a few months. The main drawback of conducting independent remediation is that the Ministry will not issue a Certificate of Compliance (CofC) for the Site, which is often required for financing purposes or as a condition of sale. Second Stage Amendments Prior to the Second Stage Amendments, the CSR stipulated that the Regional Manager be notified both verbally and in writing prior to commencing remediation. The amendments have streamlined this requirement by eliminating the requirement of verbal notification. The written notification must be now provided within three days of the commencement of remediation. Contaminants Migrating Off-Site Background If a contaminant enters the local groundwater table, it will often move laterally (migrate) with the direction of groundwater flow. Often in environmental Site investigations and remediation, a contaminant will be determined to be migrating off of a Site and onto an adjacent property. Second Stage Amendments If one or more contaminants are determined to be migrating off of a Site and onto an adjacent property, either during investigation or remediation of a Site, the adjacent affected property owner must be notified in writing within 15 days. This notification must be copied to the Regional Manager of MWLAP. As a side note, PHH recently contacted MWLAP to clarify whether or not a groundwater contaminate present on a Site, which is also endemic to the area based on a common widespread historical cause, would be considered to be a migrating contaminant. In our case the groundwater in a widespread area was influenced by the historic placement of fill during the reclamation of a foreshore with coal mining tailings. The contaminated water was present both up and down gradient of the Site. We wanted BCMWLAP to determine that our client would not be responsible to report to the adjacent property under the new amendments. Furthermore, PHH wished to prove that the groundwater was indeed endemic to the area and could be considered reflective of background concentrations. MWLAP responded that the answer to our first question was yes, unless it could be proved to their satisfaction that contaminant concentrations were reflective of natural background concentrations. To this end, the Ministry plans to issue a protocol that will detail the methodology in which to determine natural background concentrations. However, due to recent cutbacks and other priorities, MWLAP could not comment on when this protocol would likely be issued. Changes to Allowable Parameter Concentrations (Schedules 4 to 7) Background Schedules 4 to 7 of the CSR provide numerical standards for soil and groundwater that are used by environmental consultants in managing contaminated sites. Second Stage Amendments The second stage amendments have revised and/or added numerous standards including: Revisions to the Matrix soil samples in Schedule 5 for arsenic, benzene, cadmium, chromium, ethyl-benzene, toluene and zinc. Adding matrix numerical soil standards for ethylene glycol, DDT and mercury to Schedule 5 Revisions to the majority of the generic water standards in Schedule 6 Changes to Site Profile Provisions Background Site profiles are a form that provides information about the past and present uses of a property. The government uses them as a screening tool in identifying potentially contaminated Sites. A site profile will be triggered under the Waste Management Act when a person or company applies for certain things such as re-zoning, re-development and demolition. Second Stage Amendments The site profile now contains an additional question regarding the potential of migrating chemicals from adjacent properties. In addition, there is now an exemption from submitting a Site profile to the Ministry for persons who plan to conduct a demolition of a building structure that essentially does not disturb any soil on the Site. The ministry has also increased the fee for a Site profile from $50 to $100. Other Revisions The second stage amendments also include: The addition of a new Section in Part 6 of the CSR which deals with wide area sites The addition of the following responsibilities for Rostered Professionals which can be relied upon by the Ministry Determination under Section 15 of the CSR if a site is contaminated. A provision which has been used as a pivotal factor in recent BC Case Law. Providing judgment under Section 43 of the CSR for the application process for a Contaminated Soil Relocation Agreement Clarification of determining the Size of a Site under Section 9 of the CSR. For more information on these amendments to the CSR or any other questions regarding contaminated sites in BC contact: Lori Larsen, Senior Environmental Manager at 604-244-8101 (extension 224), llarsen@phhenv.com or Paul Embregts, Project Coordinator at 604-244-8101 (extension 249), pembregts@phhenv.com.