BC MoE: CSR and HWR Decoupling Amendments Approved

Amendments will be the subject of a presentation at the upcoming 2016 Site Remediation in BC Conference

JULY 21, 2016 – On July 19, 2016, the BC government amended the Hazardous Waste Regulation (HWR) and the Contaminated Sites Regulation (CSR) under the Environmental Management Act (EMA) to “decouple” certain provisions of the CSR and the HWR for on-site managed environmental media. An update summarizing these amendments can be found here.

The EMA and the CSR collectively provide a comprehensive regulatory framework for the remediation of contaminated sites of all types.  This framework includes regulatory checks and balances through the review and approval of remediation plans, and on-going monitoring of remediation activities to ensure the environmentally sound management of on-site contamination.

It is important to note that these amendments apply only to the management of contaminated environmental media on the site of origin.  Where contaminated media meeting the characterisation standards of hazardous waste are transported or disposed of off the contaminated site, the HWR continues to apply.  In addition, materials that do not meet the definition of “on site media”, such as containerized hazardous waste or hazardous waste discharges, mine tailings and waste rock and waste materials from other industry processes that qualify as hazardous waste, will continue to be regulated as they currently are under the HWR regardless of where they are located (on a contaminated site or not).

These amendments will be the subject of a presentation at the upcoming 2016 Site Remediation in BC Conference, September 21-22, 2016, in Vancouver.

Questions on these amendments can be directed to: [email protected] or [email protected]