Ontario proposes changes to Excess Soil Regulation, Ontario Regulation 406/19 

Ontario’s Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks, posted a consultation to amend the Excess Soil Regulation and Soil Rules document on the Environmental Registry of Ontario on November 3, 2022.

According to Janet Bobechko, Partner, Certified Specialist in Environmental Law, WeirFoulds LLP, and chair of the upcoming CANECT course, “Ontario’s New Excess Soils Regulations and Contaminated Sites” on November 16th, the amendment proposes the following:

• Remove the reuse planning requirements, including registration, sampling and tracking, for excess soil moved from lower risk projects such as land that has been used for agricultural or residential purposes.
  • Specifically, to amend the Excess Soil Regulation such that the reuse planning requirements would not apply to a project area if it is used or was most recently used for an agricultural or other use, a residential use, a parkland use, or an institutional (e.g., schools) use, as defined in the Records of Site Condition Regulation (O. Reg. 153/04).
  • Section 14 of the Excess Soil Regulation would be revoked because it would no longer be necessary.
  • The exemption would NOT apply to a project area if the project leader determines that the project area was used as an enhanced investigation project area or that it is impacted by historical contamination.
  • The MECP may clarify in the regulation the triggers for the reuse planning requirements and to clarify the scope of remediation projects subject to these requirements.

• Enable larger temporary piles of soil for storage. It would amend the Soil Rules document to allow soil storage piles to be a maximum of 10,000 cubic metres. Other soil storage rules would continue to apply, including the requirement to prevent any adverse effects from the storage of soil.

Comment submissions on the proposed amendment are due on December 3, 2022. Click here to read Janet Bobechko’s LinkedIn post on the update.

Related Professional Development Course

Attend Ontario’s New Excess Soils Regulations and Contaminated Sites course at the Fall CANECT Environmental Compliance and Due Diligence Essentials Conference to learn more about excess soils and contaminated sites. This course is being held November 16, 2022 in Vaughan, Ontario. Visit www.canect.net for more information.