With Canada’s Environmental Emergency Regulations 2019 becoming effective on Aug. 24, Fertilizer Canada on Aug. 1 released a technical bulletin to provide guidance on the major changes that the regulations pose for the fertilizer industry.
The new regulations, which were first published in the Canada Gazette on March 6, 2019, are intended to strengthen environmental emergency management in Canada. Among the measure’s provisions are improvements and additions to the Schedule 1 list of 249 substances that pose an acute hazard to the environment or to human health.
The substances listed in Schedule 1 were originally organized into three hazard categories under three parts, but this has now been consolidated and the number of hazard categories expanded to six, which include aquatically toxic, combustible, explosion hazard, pool fire hazard, inhalation hazard, and oxidizers that may explode. Regulated thresholds for Schedule 1 substances have not changed, but 33 new substances have also been added to the list.
The fertilizer products on the Schedule 1 list include ammonia, ammonium nitrate, and calcium ammonium nitrate. In some cases the new regulations required no changes to Fertilizer Canada’s existing Codes of Practice for those chemicals, but slight changes were required in others.
For example, the new regulations now require Environmental Emergency Plans (E2) for sites that have ammonia and ammonium nitrate at levels that exceed the regulated threshold quantities, both in terms of total volume and if the capacity of the container used to hold the products exceeds Schedule 1 thresholds.
If these circumstances apply, Fertilizer Canada said the regulated party “is required to prepare, implement, and conduct training exercises on an E2 Plan,” and notify the Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) department that it has done so. The Ammonia Code of Practice has also been amended to include additional emergency response drills for those required to have an E2 Plan. In addition, the new regulations contain more detailed requirements concerning public communication for those sites required to have an E2 Plan.
“This technical bulletin aims to provide targeted guidance on the major changes that have been made to the Environmental Emergency Regulations to assist facilities with the changes coming into force, and to provide clarity on changes to Fertilizer Canada’s Codes of Practice,” Fertilizer Canada said. “However, this is not a comprehensive list, and facilities which are storing regulated substances should consult the regulations themselves to determine their compliance obligations.”
The Canadian government estimates that the new regulations implicate an additional 200 businesses, along with the existing 4,800 regulated parties across Canada. Of these facilities, the government estimates that approximately 3,000 will be required to prepare, implement, exercise, and update an E2 Plan.