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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?