By: Sydney Sybydlo
This is a list of select proposed EHS regulatory changes in Canada, the United States, and the European Union. Nimonik monitors EHS legislation, regulations and standards in over 30 countries and 400 jurisdictions. If you would like to track EHS legislation in specific regions, jurisdictions or countries, we are happy to help. Please send us a request for more information here and we will get in touch shortly.
Canada
- Federal – Regulations Amending the PCB Regulations and the Regulations Designating Regulatory Provisions for Purposes of Enforcement (Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999)
- Federal – Notice of intent to amend the Migratory Birds Regulations, 2022
- British Columbia – January 2024 public hearing on proposed changes to the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation
United States
- Section 45V Credit for Production of Clean Hydrogen; Section 48(a)(15) Election To Treat Clean Hydrogen Production Facilities as Energy Property
- Clarifying the Scope of “Applicable Requirements” Under State Operating Permit Programs and the Federal Operating Permit Program
- Shipping Safety Fairways Along the Atlantic Coast
- Standards of Performance for New Stationary Sources and Emission Guidelines for Existing Sources: Large Municipal Waste Combustors Voluntary Remand Response and 5-Year Review
- Clean Water Act Effluent Limitations Guidelines and Standards for the Meat and Poultry Products Point Source Category
- Disclosure of Safety Critical Information
- Waste Emissions Charge for Petroleum and Natural Gas Systems
- Agricultural Bioterrorism Protection Act of 2002; Biennial Review and Republication of the Select Agent and Toxin List
European Union
- No newsworthy proposals this month.
Canada – Federal
Regulations Amending the PCB Regulations and the Regulations Designating Regulatory Provisions for Purposes of Enforcement (Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999)
Published Date: 23 December 2023
Industry Sector: General Industry
The Government of Canada has announced its intention to update rules governing the use and storage of equipment that contains polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). According to the government, the changes would notably:
- “allow for the continued use and storage of PCB-containing equipment that is radioactive”;
- require nuclear facilities “to remove and destroy their PCB-containing equipment when it could be safely done”;
- “allow for electrical facilities that are due to be decommissioned by December 31, 2029, to continue to use certain types of PCB-containing equipment until that time, subject to ministerial approval”;
- “allow for the continued use and storage of military equipment containing PCBs, for cases in which non-PCB alternatives cannot be substituted”;
- “allow museums to keep in their collections PCB-containing objects that are of historical significance”; and
- “clarify that mixing PCB oil with non-PCB oil for the purposes of reducing the PCB concentration is not allowed, and that laboratory tests are not required if the PCB concentration is already known by other means”.
The changes would be made by amending the PCB Regulations and the Regulations Designating Regulatory Provisions for Purposes of Enforcement (Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999).
Interested parties may submit comments until 21 February 2024.
Additional information is available here.
Notice of intent to amend the Migratory Birds Regulations, 2022
Published Date: 13 January 2024
Industry Sector: General Industry
The Government of Canada has announced its intention to update rules concerning the management of migratory bird populations in the country. According to the government, the updates would notably “change hunting season dates, set daily bag limits and possession limits, [and] make other related modifications for certain species of migratory game birds for the 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 hunting seasons.”
The changes would be made by amending the Migratory Birds Regulations, 2022.
Interested parties may submit comments until 12 February 2024.
Additional information is available here and here.
Canada – British Columbia
January 2024 public hearing on proposed changes to the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation
Published Date: 22 December 2023
Industry Sector: General Industry
WorkSafeBC is seeking feedback on its proposed changes to rules governing emergency planning, project notifications for tower crane activities, and washroom facilities on construction sites.
The changes to emergency planning rules would notably “reduce the risk to workers and other persons posed by an emergency involving a hazardous substance”, “require the emergency plan to address emergencies that may arise from within or outside the workplace”, “clarify the types of hazardous substances [and factors] that must be considered as part of the risk assessment”, require evacuation procedures to address protective measures in emergency plans “such as shelter-in-place or areas of refuge [and] provide how to prevent unauthorized acess during an emergency”.
Changes to rules concerning cranes would notably “require employers to submit a [Notice of Project (NOP)] in advance of tower crane erection, climbing repositioning, and dismantling.”
The changes to rules governing the provision of washroom facilities would “ensure adequate facilities are provided to workers in the construction industry”.
The change would be made by amending the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation.
Additional information is available here.
United States
Section 45V Credit for Production of Clean Hydrogen; Section 48(a)(15) Election To Treat Clean Hydrogen Production Facilities as Energy Property
Published Date: 26 December 2023
Industry Sector: General Industry, Building Management & Maintenance
The United States Internal Revenue Service has announced its intention to establish rules concerning tax breaks for hydrogen-producing companies. According to the government, rules would be introduced for: “determining lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions rates resulting from hydrogen production processes; petitioning for provisional emissions rates; verifying production and sale or use of clean hydrogen; modifying or retrofitting existing qualified clean hydrogen production facilities; using electricity from certain renewable or zero-emissions sources to produce qualified clean hydrogen; and electing to treat part of a specified clean hydrogen production facility instead as property eligible for the energy credit.”
These rules would affect “all taxpayers who produce qualified clean hydrogen and claim the clean hydrogen production credit, elect to treat part of a specified clean hydrogen production facility as property eligible for the energy credit, or produce electricity from certain renewable or zero-emissions sources used by taxpayers or related persons to produce qualified clean hydrogen.”
Interested parties may submit comments until 26 February 2024. A public hearing will also be held on 25 March 2024.
Additional information is available here and here.
Clarifying the Scope of “Applicable Requirements” Under State Operating Permit Programs and the Federal Operating Permit Program
Published Date: 9 January 2024
Industry Sector: General Industry
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced its intention to clarify rules concerning the Title V operating permit program, specifically “when and whether ‘applicable requirements’ established in [various] Clean Air Act (CAA or the Act) programs should be reviewed, modified, and/or implemented through the title V operating permits program.”
The changes would notably “[clarify] the limited situations in which requirements under the New Source Review (NSR) preconstruction permitting program would be reviewed using the EPA’s unique title V oversight authorities [and clarify] that requirements related to an owner or operator’s general duty to prevent accidental releases of hazardous substances are not ‘applicable requirements’ for title V purposes and are not implemented through title V.”
Interested parties may submit comments until 11 March 2024.
Additional information is available here.
Shipping Safety Fairways Along the Atlantic Coast
Published Date: 19 January 2024
Industry Sector: Water Transportation
The United States Coast Guard has announced its intention to “establish shipping safety fairways (“fairways”) along the Atlantic Coast of the United States, identified in the Atlantic Coast Port Access Route Study.”
According to the Coast Guard, these fairways would “preserve the safe and reliable transit of vessels along well-established traffic patterns and routes [and] keep traditional navigation routes free from fixed structures that could impact navigation safety and impede other shared offshore activities.” Establishing fairways would also “help ensure that offshore developments remain viable by allowing developers to construct and maintain installations without risk of impeding vessel traffic.”
“Traffic separation schemes and precautionary areas along the Atlantic coast” would also be established to further improve navigation safety.
Interested parties may submit comments until 18 April 2024.
Additional information is available here.
Standards of Performance for New Stationary Sources and Emission Guidelines for Existing Sources: Large Municipal Waste Combustors Voluntary Remand Response and 5-Year Review
Published Date: 23 January 2024
Industry Sector: Utilities & Communications
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced its intention to update “new source performance standards (NSPS) and emission guidelines (EG) for large municipal waste combustion (MWC) units.” Large MWC units are considered “incinerators that combust greater than 250 tons per day (tpd) of municipal solid waste.”
According to the EPA, the changes would “reflect the results from a reevaluation of the maximum achievable control technology (MACT) floor levels, a 5-year review, and the removal of startup, shutdown and malfunction exclusions and exceptions. [They would] streamline regulatory language, revise recordkeeping and electronic notification and reporting requirements, re-establish new and existing source applicability dates, [and] clarify requirements for certain air curtain incinerators,” among other administrative changes.
Emissions limits in the EG, “except for carbon monoxide (CO) limits for two subcategories of combustors, and all nine emission limits in the [New Source Performance Standard]” would also be updated.
Interested parties may submit comments until 25 March 2024.
Additional information is available here.
Clean Water Act Effluent Limitations Guidelines and Standards for the Meat and Poultry Products Point Source Category
Published Date: 23 January 2024
Industry Sector: Animal Production & Aquaculture, Food Industry
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced its intention to update “technology-based effluent limitations guidelines and standards (ELGs) for the meat and poultry products (MPP) point source category.”
The EPA is considering options to “improve water quality and protect human health and the environment by reducing the discharge of nutrients and other pollutants to the nation’s surface waters.” Such options may include “more stringent effluent limitations on total nitrogen, new effluent limitations on total phosphorus, updated effluent limitations for other pollutants, new pretreatment standards for indirect dischargers, and revised production thresholds for some of the subcategories in [existing rules].”
The EPA is also seeking feedback on “potential effluent limitations on chlorides for high chloride waste streams, establishing effluent limitations for E. coli for direct dischargers, and including conditional limits for indirect dischargers that discharge to [Publicly Owned Treatment Works] that remove nutrients to the extent that would be required under the proposed pretreatment standards in certain regulatory options.”
Interested parties may submit comments until 25 March 2024.
Additional information is available here.
Disclosure of Safety Critical Information
Published Date: 25 January 2024
Industry Sector: Air Transportation
The United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is proposing new safety information reporting requirements for transport category airplanes.
According to the FAA, the changes would “require applicants for, and holders of, type certificates (TCs), including new and amended but not including supplemental type certificates (STCs), for a transport category airplane […], to submit and subsequently disclosue, certain safety critical information to the FAA. Applicants would be required to submit such information as part of a certification plan.” All applicants would be required to have a certification plan that includes proposed milestones and that will be kept up-to-date through the certification process.
More information about the categories of “safety critical information”, as provided by the FAA is available here.
Interested parties may submit comments until 25 March 2024.
Waste Emissions Charge for Petroleum and Natural Gas Systems
Published Date: 26 January 2024
Industry Sector: General Industry
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced its intention to “impose and collect an annual charge on methane emissions that exceed specified waste emissions thresholds from an owner or operator of an applicable facility that reports more than 25,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent of greenhouse gases emitted per year pursuant to the petroleum and natural gas systems source category requirements of the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Rule.” Proposed rules would “implement calculation procedures, flexibilities, and exemptions related to the waste emissions charge [and] establish confidentiality determinations for data elements included in waste emissions charge filings.”
Interested parties may submit comments until 11 March 2024.
Additional information is available here.
Agricultural Bioterrorism Protection Act of 2002; Biennial Review and Republication of the Select Agent and Toxin List
Published Date: 30 January 2024
Industry Sector: Chemicals Industry
The United States Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (Service) has announced its intention to update the list of “agents and toxins that have the potential to pose a severe threat to animal or plant health, or to animal or plant products.”
In addition to the updated list, the Service would “add definitions for several terms; codify policies regarding the roles of responsible officials and alternate responsible officials, conclusion of patient care, and annual internal inspections; and revise or clarify provisions related to validated inactivation procedures and viable select agent removal methods, recordkeeping, non-possession of select agents and toxins, electronic Federal Selevt Agent Programs, registration, Tier 1 enhancementsm and exclusion og natually infected animals.”
The rules would also “add requirements for reporting discoveries of select agents and toxins, provisions regarding effluent decontamination system, biosafety provisions for facility verification requirements for registered biosafety level 3 and animal biosafety level 3 laboratories, a new requirement related to restricted experiements, and [corrent] editorial errors.”
Interested parties may submit comments until 1 April 2024.
Additional information is available here.
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