ministry of the environment and climate change district ... · district overview sandra thomas...

Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change

District Overview

Sandra Thomas

September 30, 2014

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Outline

• Ministry Overview

• Key District Office Functions

• Compliance - Durham York Energy Centre

What We Do

The Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change is responsible for protecting clean and safe air, land and water to ensure healthy

communities, ecological protection and sustainable development for present and future generations.

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MOECC Organizational Chart

Minister of theEnvironment and Climate Change

Communications Branch Legal Services Branch

Land & Resources Cluster Audit Cluster

Environmental Sciences &

Standards Division

Operations Division

Corporate Management

Division

Environmental Programs

Division

Drinking Water Management Division

Integrated Environmental

Policy Division

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Operations Division

Delivers ministry programs and services

• 5 Regional Offices

• Environmental Approvals Access and Service Integration Branch

• Environmental Approvals Branch

• Northern Development Initiatives

• Investigations and Enforcement Branch

• Operations Integration/Spills Action Centre

• Sector Compliance Branch

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Operations Division (cont’d)

• Administers approvals, compliance and enforcement related to environmental statutes and regulations

• Waste management

• Air quality

• Ground and surface water

• Pesticides

• Contaminated sites

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Central Region Organizational Chart

Central Region Director

Assistant Director

Technical Support

Section

Barrie District

Regional AssistantRegional Communications

Advisor

Issues Manager

Toronto District

York-Durham District

Ajax/NewmarketHalton-Peel District

Burlington

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Geographical Boundaries

• York Durham District Office is one of four district

offices in Central Region

• York Durham District has two offices

– Ajax (main) 905 427 5626

1 800 376 4547

– Newmarket (sub-office)

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District Office Functions

1. Inspections, Abatement and Enforcement

2. Review of Approvals/Permits

3. Environmental Response

4. Assessments

5. Outreach

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Inspections, Abatement and Enforcement

• Inspections:

– Planned

– Responsive

• Abatement Plans

• Notice of Violation/Provincial Offences Act

• Control Documents

• Program Approvals

• Referrals to Investigations and Enforcement Branch

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Review of Approvals/Permits

• Environmental Compliance Approval• Air

• Waste

• Sewage

• Permits to Take Water

• Pesticide Permits

• Biosolids Sites

• Brownfields

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Environmental Response

• Site visits

• Complaint resolution

• Spill reports

• Notifications from regulated community

• Report submission

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Assessments

• Conduct proactive inspections

• Conduct impact surveys and monitoring

• Review reports and self-monitoring data

• Conduct program or sector reviews

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Outreach

• Advice and assistance to the regulated community and general public

• Presentations

• Education and training sessions for external clients

• Open House events

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Other Responsibilities

• Respond to information requests

• Review submissions

• Record and resolve non-compliance

District Office Role -Durham York Energy Centre

Inspections/Assessments

• Conduct frequent unannounced site inspections to review the operations and onsite records to ensure the facility is operating in compliance

• Comprehensive inspections will be conducted annually (at a minimum) during operation to ensure compliance and protection of the environment

• Request impact surveys and assessments• Air monitoring

• Phytotoxicological assessments

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District Office Role –Durham York Energy Centre

Review of Plans/Reports• Ensure compliance with the conditions of the Environmental Compliance Approval

(ECA) and the Notice of Approval to Proceed with the Undertaking

• As per the conditions of the ECA, a proponent is required to submit reports to the

ministry that demonstrate ongoing compliance at the facility

– Annual Report (summarizes operations from the previous calendar year)

– Third Party Audit (includes recommendations to improve the

facility operations)

– Air emissions and ambient air monitoring data

– Soil Testing Report (includes procedures and results of soil testing)

• District staff will review these reports to ensure the proponent has met the

conditions of the ECA and the facility is operating as required

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District Office Role –Durham York Energy Centre

Environmental Response

• Respond to and resolve complaints in the community

• Spills response

• Notifications from regulated community

• Report submission

• Attend Energy-from-Waste Advisory Committee meetings

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Determining the Compliance Approach

STAGE 4

Monitor follow-upCompliance attained? Resolved

in timelines given?

StartSTAGE 1

Is this incident a violation or a potential for adverse health/

environmental impacts?

STAGE 3Determine Compliance Category and select & apply

the appropriate abatement & enforcement tollDocumentDecision

No further action required

STAGE 2

Yes

No

Yes No

Use Judgement Matrix

Case SpecificConsiderations

• A step-by-step process assists in

selecting the most appropriate abatement

and enforcement tools used when

responding to an incident or non-

compliance.

• In many instances, the response may

involve a combination of tools.

• This process (see Decision Tree) guides

ministry staff through an evaluation of the

incident by using an Informed Judgement

Matrix to classify the severity of the

incident. We then apply case-specific

considerations to determine the

appropriate compliance approach and/or

enforcement tools.

Decision Tree

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Case-Specific Considerations

• A case-by-case approach to select the most appropriate compliance approach and/or enforcement tool requires an assessment of how the responsible person(s) is likely to deal with the incident and other incident specific factors.

• The goal is always to protect the environment and human health. It is recognized that there may be more than one way to achieve this goal.

• Where appropriate, we take the time to educate the facility/responsible person and help them understand their responsibilities and how they can better protect the environment.

• We will take stronger action with responsible persons who have a history of disregarding ministry legislation or who commit violations deliberately or with negligence, as necessary.

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Informed Judgement Matrix (IJM)

• The IJM is a decision-

making tool

• It requires ministry staff

to find the decision

point within the IJM and

determine the most

appropriate compliance

category, keeping in

mind the case-specific

considerations.

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Thank you

Questions?