REGULATIONS AND POLICY

Canadian PCB Regulations and Policy

Overview | Federal | Ontario | Quebec | Federal-Provincial

EPA and OWRA | Regulation 347 - General-Waste Management | Regulation 362 - Waste Management-PCBs | Regulation 352 - Mobile PCB Destruction Facilities [page 1] [page 2] [page 3]

Ontario: Regulation 352 - Mobile PCB Destruction Facilities (continued)

Hearings - EPA

Section 30 of the EPA obliges the Minister to require the Environmental Review Tribunal to hold a hearing when the Minister receives an application for a Certificate of Approval to establish or expand a waste disposal site when the waste in question is "a hazardous waste as designated in the regulations". Section 32 gives the Minister discretion to require the Tribunal to hold a hearing for other waste disposal site Certificate of Approval applications not captured by section 30. PCB waste is included in the definition of "hazardous waste" and is expressly "designated" by s. 2 of Reg. 362, indicating that a hearing should be held respecting an application to establish a PCB waste disposal site. However, because s. 5 of Reg. 362, as described earlier, appears to oust the application of s. 27 of the EPA (which otherwise requires a C of A to establish a waste disposal site), it would appear unnecessary for a proponent to apply for a C of A for such a site, and there would therefore be no reason for a hearing.

In the case of mobile PCB destruction facilities, Section 3 of O. Reg. 352 provides that Class 2 mobile PCB destruction facility waste management systems, and Class 2 and 3 mobile PCB destruction facility waste disposal sites are exempt from ss. 30 and 32 of the EPA. This suggests that an application for a C of A for a Class 1 mobile PCB destruction facility may require a public hearing (see Reg. 352 definitions of classes of facilities, above).

Hearings - EAA

Environmental assessment of proposed projects involving PCBs, as with many proposals in Ontario, is largely subject to the discretion of the Minister of Environment and the provincial Cabinet. The Environmental Assessment Act is structured so that it generally applies to proposals by municipal governments or by ministries of the provincial government, and generally applies in the private sector only to "major commercial or business enterprises or activities or proposals". Exceptions to either general rule may be made by regulation exempting or designating an individual project, effectively making the environmental assessment regime discretionary.

Recent restructuring of environmental administrative tribunals (i.e. the consolidation of the Environmental Appeal Board and the Environmental Assessment Board into the new Environmental Review Tribunal) in Ontario means that a hearing triggered by either the EPA or the Environmental Assessment Act would be convened by the latter Tribunal.