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 – Oil and Gas Sector Greenhouse Gas Emissions Cap Regulations
- Quebec – Pesticides Management Code; Permits and certificates for the sale and use of pesticides—Amendment
- Qubec – Agricultural Operations —Amendment
- Quebec – Declaration of water withdrawals; Regulatory scheme applying to activities on the basis of their environmental impact; Charges payable for the use of water — Amendment
United States
European Union
- No newsworthy proposals this month.
Canada – Federal
Oil and Gas Sector Greenhouse Gas Emissions Cap Regulations
Published Date: 9 November 2024
Industry Sector: Oil & Gas Industry
The Government of Canada has announced its intention to create a regulatory framework for greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions by the oil and gas industry. According to the government, the rules would “cap emissions from certain activities in the oil and gas sector and would prohibit operators from emitting GHGs from specified activities in the sector, unless the operator registers by submitting the required information to the Minister of the Environment (the Minister). Emissions allowances would be distributed to operators that are covered by the remittance obligations in the proposed Regulations, with the total number of allowances equal to the emissions cap. In addition to emissions allowances, operators with remittance obligations would be able to use a limited quantity of compliance flexibility units (eligible offset credits and decarbonization units). The emissions cap combined with the limited access to compliance flexibility would ensure GHG emissions do not exceed a legal upper bound.”
The changes would be made by enacting the Oil and Gas Sector Greenhouse Gas Emissions Cap Regulations and by amending the Output-Based Pricing System Regulations and the Regulations Designating Regulatory Provisions for Purposes of Enforcement (Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999).
Interested parties may submit comments until 8 January 2025.
Additional information is available here and here.
Quebec
Pesticides Management Code; Permits and certificates for the sale and use of pesticides—Amendment
Published Date: 13 November 2024
Industry Sector: General Industry, Building Management & Maintenance
The Government of Quebec has announced its intention to “relax certain requirements applicable to agricultural activities.” According to the government, the changes would notably “remove the requirement for an agronomic justification to use certain pesticides, making an agronomic prescription the sole requirement for that purpose. Adjustments are also proposed to the content of the agronomic prescription and to the register that must be kept.” Other changes would “create a Subclass E4 certificate, that is, a Farmer’s Certificate for Sowing Pesticide Coated Seeds.”
The changes would be made by amending the Pesticides Management Code and the Regulation respecting permits and certificates for the sale and use of pesticides.
Interested parties may submit comments until 28 December 2024.
Additional information is available here.
Agricultural Operations —Amendment
Published Date: 13 November 2024
Industry Sector: Agricultural Industry, Animal Production & Aquaculture
The Government of Quebec has announced its intention to “relax certain requirements applicable to agricultural activities”. According to the government, the changes would notably “allow required phosphorus reports to be drawn up and sent to the Minister every other year, on certain conditions”. The changes would also propose new factors to “determine the annual phosphorus production of buffaloes and calves”.
The changes would be made by amending the Agricultural Operations Regulation.
Interested parties may submit comments until 28 December 2024.
Additional information is available here.
Declaration of water withdrawals; Regulatory scheme applying to activities on the basis of their environmental impact; Charges payable for the use of water — Amendment
Published Date: 13 November 2024
Industry Sector: Agricultural Industry, Animal Production & Aquaculture
The Government of Quebec has announced its intention to “relax certain requirements applicable to agricultural activities”. According to the government, the changes would notably “allow withdrawers in the agriculture and aquaculture sectors, as of 1 January 2026, to use an estimation tool made available by the Minister on the website of the Minister’s department to determine the volumes of water they withdraw, and to eliminate the requirement for withdrawers to use measuring equipment or the services of a professional”. In addition, “the requirement to install measuring equipment would henceforth be evaluated as part of the application for authorization of a project”. Other changes would “introduce the requirement to declare, not later than 31 March 2027, the withdrawals made in the 2026 calendar year and intended for agricultural and aquacultural purposes, where certain rules apply to the withdrawals and the withdrawals are made outside the territory of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Sustainable Water Resources Agreement“.
The changes would be made by amending the Regulation respecting the declaration of water withdrawals, the Regulation respecting the regulatory scheme applying to activities on the basis of their environmental impact, and the Regulation respecting the charges payable for the use of water.
Interested parties may submit comments until 28 December 2024.
Additional information is available here.
United States
Enhancing Surface Cyber Risk Management
Published Date: 7 November 2024
Industry Sector: Oil & Gas Industry, Rail Transportation, Road Transportation
The United States Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has announced its intention to establish cyber risk management (CRM) requirements for “certain pipeline and rail owner/operators and a more limited requirement, on certain over-the-road bus (OTRB) owner/operators, to report cybersecurity incidents.” They would also require pipeline facilities and systems “to have a Physical Security Coordinator and report significant physical security concerns.”
According to the TSA, the CRM program would consist of three key elements: (1) annual enterprise-wide cybersecurity evaluations that “identify the current profile of cybersecurity (including physical and logical/virtual controls) compared to the target profile;” (2) [Cybersecurity Operational Implementation Plans] containing information on the CRM program, identification of Critical Cyber Systems and other systems, and detailed measures to detect issues and protect such systems; and (3) “[Cybersecurity Assessment Plans] that includes a schedule for assessments, an annual report of assessment results, and identification of unaddressed vulnerabilities.”
Interested parties may submit comments until 5 February 2025.
Additional information is available here.
HB8790 Fix Our Forests Act
Published Date: 12 November 2024
Industry Sector: General Industry
The United States government has announced its intention to update rules concerning forest health. According to the House Committee on Natural Resources, the changes are intended to “[increase] resiliency to catastrophic wildfires [and protect] communities by expediting environmental analyses, reducing frivolous lawsuits, and increasing the pace and scale of forest restoration projects.” Expediting environmental reviews would notably “reduce costs and planning times for critical forest management projects while maintaining rigorous environmental standards.”
The changes would be made by amending various chapters of USC Title 16 Conservation.
Additional information is available here and here.
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