ENVIRONMENTAL PENALTIES, O. Reg. 223/07

• Jurisdiction: Ontario

Ontario Water Resources Act

ONTARIO REGULATION 223/07

Environmental Penalties

Consolidation Period: From July 1, 2021 to the e-Laws currency date.

Last amendment: 467/21.

This is the English version of a bilingual regulation.

Purpose

1. The purpose of this Regulation is to provide for the assessment of environmental penalties in a manner that encourages regulated persons to,

(a) take steps to prevent contraventions;

(b) take steps to mitigate the effects of contraventions and to prevent their recurrence;

(c) implement environmental management systems; and

(d) enter into agreements under subsection 106.1 (9) of the Act to take steps for the protection of the natural environment beyond the measures required by an Act of Ontario or Canada, by a regulation or instrument under an Act of Ontario or Canada, or by a public body. O. Reg. 223/07, s. 1.

Interpretation

2. In this Regulation,

“contravention” means a contravention or failure in respect of which a person may be required to pay an environmental penalty under section 106.1 of the Act; (“contravention”)

“Director” means a Director appointed in respect of section 106.1 of the Act; (“directeur”)

“plant” means an industrial facility and the real property, waste disposal sites and wastewater treatment facilities associated with it; (“usine”)

“public body” means a municipality, local board, conservation authority, ministry, department, board, commission, or agency or official of a provincial or federal government; (“organisme public”)

“toxic substance” means a substance listed in Table 1 of the Ministry of the Environment publication entitled “Environmental Penalties – Code of Toxic Substances”, as amended from time to time. (“substance toxique”) O. Reg. 223/07, s. 2.

Regulated person

3. (1) For the purposes of clause (a) of the definition of “regulated person” in subsection 1 (1) of the Act, a prescribed class of persons is persons who own or operate a plant that,

(a) is listed in Table 1;

(b) was described in section 3 of Ontario Regulation 560/94 (Effluent Monitoring and Effluent Limits — Metal Mining Sector), made under the Environmental Protection Act, as it read immediately before it was revoked, as a plant to which that regulation applied;

(c) discharges sewage, other than storm water, to a surface watercourse or to a sewage works that is privately owned, and,

(i) processes chemicals into organic chemicals, plastics, or synthetic fibres (organic chemical manufacturing sector),

(ii) processes, manufactures, packages or blends inorganic chemicals (inorganic chemical sector),

(iii) mines, excavates, extracts or processes as a product graphite, gypsum, silica (quartzite), salt, talc, nepheline syenite or trap rock (industrial minerals sector),

(iv) mines, excavates, extracts or processes limestone, dolomite, or sandstone on real property, and manufactures products on the real property using the limestone, dolomite, or sandstone (industrial minerals sector),

(v) produces portland clinker, cement, lime or magnesium (industrial minerals sector),

(vi) produces electricity through fossil-fuelled thermal generation, nuclear-powered thermal generation, and plants associated with nuclear plants including heavy water plants and nuclear complex services (electric power generation sector),

(vii) produces newsprint, fine papers, coated papers, paperboard, kraft pulp, linerboard, corrugating medium, kraft paper, tissue, groundwood paper, boxboard, or container board (pulp and paper sector),

(viii) refines crude oil to produce petroleum products (petroleum sector),

(ix) manufactures metallic objects by cooling molten metal in a mould or die (metal casting sector), or

(x) uses iron ore or recycled material to produce steel (iron and steel manufacturing sector); or

(d) is a plant described in clause (c) that has temporarily suspended the operations or the discharge referred to in that clause. O. Reg. 223/07, s. 3 (1); O. Reg. 467/21, s. 1.

(2) A plant does not manufacture a product using limestone, dolomite or sandstone for the purpose of subclause (1) (c) (iv) if it engages only in aggregate crushing and screening of those minerals. O. Reg. 223/07, s. 3 (2).

(3) Despite subsection (1), a person who owns or operates a plant described in subsection (1) is not a regulated person during any periods where any of the following circumstances apply to the plant and the person notifies the Director of it in writing:

1. The plant’s sewage works for sewage other than storm water are exempt under clause 53 (6) (a) or (b) of the Act from the prohibition under subsection 53 (1) of the Act.

2. If the plant is listed in Table 1, the person permanently ceases all operations and activities described in clause (1) (c). O. Reg. 223/07, s. 3 (3); O. Reg. 252/11, s. 1.

(4) In this section,

“surface watercourse” means any lake, river, pond, stream, reservoir, swamp, marsh or surface drainage works. O. Reg. 223/07, s. 3 (4).

Contraventions

4. (1) An order under subsection 106.1 (1) of the Act to pay an environmental penalty shall not be issued for any contravention referred to in that subsection except as set out in this Regulation. O. Reg. 223/07, s. 4 (1).

(2) An order under subsection 106.1 (1) of the Act to pay an environmental penalty may only be issued,

(a) to a regulated person; and

(b) for a contravention that,

(i) occurs at a plant described in subsection 3 (1) or relates to the operations of the plant,

(ii) is described in Column 2 of Table 2, if the circumstances, if any, set out in Column 3 of that Table for the contravention, apply, and

(iii) occurs or continues on or after the date specified in Column 4 of Table 2 in respect of the contravention. O. Reg. 223/07, s. 4 (2).

Notice of intention to issue penalty

5. (1) Before issuing an order to a regulated person under subsection 106.1 (1) of the Act, the Director shall give the regulated person a written notice of intention to issue the order that includes the following information:

1. A statement of the Director’s intention to issue an order under subsection 106.1 (1) of the Act.

2. The item number in Table 2 of the contravention to which the proposed order will relate.

3. The classification of the contravention as a Type 1, 2 or 3 contravention in accordance with Table 2, the classification of the contravention as a less serious, serious or very serious contravention in accordance with sections 10 to 14, and the cell of Table 3 that corresponds to the classifications.

4. A statement of which factors listed under paragraph 3 of subsection 9 (1) the Director will consider in determining the amount of the gravity component from the range set out in the cell of Table 3 identified under paragraph 3 of this subsection.

5. In the case of a contravention specified in item 1 of Table 2,

i. a description of how the contravention may impair the quality of the water of any waters, and

ii. a statement as to whether the discharge contained a toxic substance.

6. A description of the days or parts of days on which the contravention occurred or continued in respect of which the Director intends to issue the order, where a day is a 24-hour period.

7. If appropriate, the location of the contravention.

8. If the Director is of the opinion that as a result of the contravention, a monetary benefit described in paragraph 1 or 2 of subsection 8 (1) was acquired by the regulated person, the estimated monetary benefit and a summary of how the Director determined the monetary benefit, including the time frame that was used in the estimate.

9. Information about the regulated person’s right under section 6 to request a reduction to the amount of the environmental penalty and the grounds on which such a reduction may be requested. O. Reg. 223/07, s. 5 (1).

(2) A notice of intention given under subsection (1) may apply to one or more contraventions. O. Reg. 223/07, s. 5 (2).

(3) The Director may amend a notice of intention after it has been issued by giving the regulated person a written amendment. O. Reg. 223/07, s. 5 (3).

Request for review of penalty

6. (1) A regulated person who receives a notice of intention under subsection 5 (1), or an amendment under subsection 5 (3), may make any one or more of the following requests in writing, within 15 days after the date indicated on the notice of intention or on the amendment, if any, or within such longer period as the Director agrees to in writing:

1. If the notice of intention or amendment includes an estimate of monetary benefit, a request that the Director consider the information included with the request and redetermine the monetary benefit.

2. If the notice of intention or amendment relates to a contravention specified in item 1 of Table 2 and includes a statement that the discharge contained a toxic substance, a request that the Director consider any information included with the request demonstrating that the toxic substance or its concentration did not result from the operation or activities of the plant.

3. A request that the Director consider any information included with the request before determining the gravity component of the penalty under section 9.

4. A request that the Director, after determining the gravity component of the penalty under section 9, grant a reduction to the component in accordance with section 15 on the grounds that the regulated person took steps to prevent the contravention or mitigate its effects.

5. A request that...