Proposed EHS Regulatory Changes – January 2019

The Environmental Protection Agency is considering whether to propose revisions regarding liquids management to the criteria for Municipal Solid Waste Landfills. Comments are being sought on

• Removing the prohibition on adding bulk liquids to Municipal Solid Waste Landfills;
• Enabling bioreactor landfill units to operate with increased moisture content; and
• Establishing revised criteria to address additional technical considerations associated with liquids management, including waste stability, subsurface reactions, and other important safety and operational issues.

Comments must be received on or before March 26, 2019. More information is available here.

The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to accept the negative declaration submitted by the State of Kansas for Sewage Sludge Incineration units that states that certain kinds of units regulated under the Clean Air Act do not exist within the jurisdiction of the State of Kansas.

More information is available here.

The Government of Canada is seeking comments on the design of a proposed Clean Fuel Standard. According to the Government of Canada, this standard is designed to “complement carbon pollution pricing by reducing greenhouse gas emissions throughout the lifecycle of fuels and by driving investments in cleaner fuels and in clean technology in Canada”, and it will apply to all liquid, gaseous and solid fossil fuels, but exception, and “to all those who produce, import and in some cases distribute fossil fuels in Canada”.

According to the Government of Canada, the Clean Fuel Standard will notably

• impose carbon intensity reduction requirements for primary suppliers of fossil fuels that “will become more stringent over time”;
• put in place a compliance credit market system where primary suppliers of fossil fuels, voluntary credit generators, producers or importers of renewables and other low-carbon fuels will be able to generate and trade compliance credits;
• provide for a way to calculate, review and update the carbon intensity value of fuel and the value reduction obligations;
• allow the possibility to develop energy efficiency ratios to measure the relative efficiency of some vehicles or engines that use a specific fuel in some circumstances;
• allow early action credits “for actions taken in all three fuel streams after the publication of final regulations for the liquid stream, which is expected to occur in 2020”;
• allow the “trading of [compliance] credits between fuel streams”;
• consider some land-use changes made to produce biofuels to assess carbon intensity values;
• impose various record keeping and reporting requirements; and
• include audit and verification requirements by “an independent, accredited third-party verification body” to ensure compliance.

More information is available here.

The Government of Canada gave notice of its intention to add 3 substances of the Ketones Group (methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) CAS RN 78-93-3; methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK) CAS RN 108-10-1; and 2,4-pentanedione (2,4-PD) CAS RN 123-54-6) to the toxic substances list in Schedule 1 of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999.

More information is available here.

The Government of Canada has launched a public consultation process in preparation for the 18^th meeting of the Conference of the Parties of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), which will take place from May 23, 2019, to June 3, 2019 in Sri Lanka. The Government is requesting “input on species proposals and administrative documents that have been submitted” for the conference.

More information, including information about deadlines and the consultation process, is available here.

About Nimonik

Nimonik exists to help organizations comply with regulatory requirements – leading to less environmental damage, better worker safety and higher quality products. We can help you with:

• a comprehensive list of EHS requirements that apply to your operations and alert you when those requirements change.
• an easy to use web app so you can act on the changes, collaborate with teams, and maintain complete logs of your compliance efforts, retrievable at the click of a button.
• a mobile auditing app that will save you hours in auditing, report writing, and corrective action follow-ups.
• air-monitoring devices so you can easily monitor indoor or outdoor pollutants online and receive alerts when they exceed your set limits.

We take pride in the accuracy and comprehensiveness of our regulatory content, speedy updates, easy to use software, exceptional customer support, and state of the art IT security that none of our competitors can match. 

Contact us to discuss how we can help make your regulatory compliance more efficient.