Changes have been made to the Environmental Management Act (EMA) and Contaminated Sites Regulation (CSR) involving the current process for identifying contaminated sites.
EFFECTIVE DATE: Feb. 1, 2021
The Government of British Columbia has approved stage 13 amendments to the Environmental Management Act (EMA) and Contaminated Sites Regulation (CSR) regarding changes to the current process for identifying contaminated sites. The Site Profile document is amended with the Site Disclosure Statement and the timing of the required submission of the forms has changed.
Amendments related to the Certificate of Restoration (CoR) process are summarized below.
- Pursuant to amended sections 40(2 & 3) of the EMA and substituted section 3.2(1) of the CSR, a permit holder must provide a site disclosure statement to the Ministry of Environment registrar (SiteID@gov.bc.ca) and a copy of the site disclosure statement to the BC Energy Regulator (Regulator) (SiteDisclosureStatement@bcogc.ca) within six months after the owner or operator:
- decommissions a site on the land, or
- ceases operations on the land
Section 2.1 of the CSR explains the meaning of “decommissions” for the purposes of EMA.
Section 2.2 of the CSR explains the meaning of “ceases operations” for the purposes of EMA.
2. Section 40(3) of the EMA and section 43 of the Oil and Gas Activities Act (OGAA) are repealed and, as a result, there is no longer a requirement to provide a site profile to the Regulator at the time the permit holder applies for a CoR with respect to an oil and gas activity in accordance with Section 41 of OGAA.
Approved amendments to the Environmental Management Act (Bill 17) and corresponding amendments to the Contaminated Sites Regulation (OIC 0368/2020) are linked below.
Oil and gas operating areas are exempt from the requirement to undertake site investigation within the timelines set out in the CSR. Timelines for site investigation will be addressed under the OGAA framework.
Site profile forms already received by the Regulator, with submitted CoR applications, will be forwarded to the Site Registrar.
If you have any questions regarding this Industry Bulletin, please contact:
Akbar Khan
Environmental Management Officer
BC Energy Regulator
250-794-5236