Projects that could impact the environment are reviewed
Environmental Protection reviews proposed or existing projects that could cause an adverse impact on the environment, including air, land and water. The
Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act and its regulations set out those activities that require approvals and the process for obtaining approvals.
Approvals are reviewed at six regional offices
The Environmental Service within the Department has established six regional offices that are responsible for reviewing and issuing regulatory approvals, renewals, and amendments. Head office, which until recently had administered the approval process centrally, now supports the program delivery in the regions. The regulatory approval process includes receiving applications and charging the appropriate fee, notifying the public, reviewing the completed applications and the public’s statements of concern, processing appeals, and issuing the final approvals.
Depending on the type of facility, the terms and conditions require regular performance reporting from the approval holder. Also, if surface disturbance is an issue, adequate financial security must be retained to ensure that the land is reclaimed to its original condition when the facility is closed.
Financial Security Risk Assessment Model
Recommendation No. 30
It is recommended that the Financial Security Risk Assessment Model be implemented and that the Department of Environment ensure that it has the resources to assess the documentation that governs the calculation of the security.
The process for calculating security should be prudent and consistent
Financial security, usually in the form of a letter of credit at a bank, is intended to cover the costs related to eventual site reclamation. The financial security process recognizes that the Departmental Director has final authority in determining the basis and amount of security. My concerns with regard to the process are that adequate security be taken to protect the environment and that the process be consistent
throughout the Province.
Existing securities may not be consistent
My review suggests that some types of projects are required to provide financial security, while others are not. For those that are required to provide security, differing methods were used to evaluate the need for and actual amount of financial security. In some cases, the security is based on the
estimated cost of reclamation; in other cases it is based on an estimate of the value of permanent structural improvements.
A Financial Security Risk Assessment Model has been developed
To address the issues of consistency and appropriate levels of financial security, Environmental Protection, in
conjunction with other government entities and stakeholder groups, developed the Financial Security Risk Assessment Model. The Model consists of an activity screening process, environmental and economic risk assessment surveys, and a matrix to calculate the amount of financial security required for the proposed activity. The model determines the amount of financial security that will be required based on a
percentage of the estimated cost of reclamation. I
understand that many of the financial considerations in the Model, such as the financial health of the applicant and the likelihood of financial success in its proposed venture, are new to the security decision making process.
Project applicants submit information; regional staff will analyze it
The project applicant is to complete the surveys, plot the values on the matrix, and submit them to the Department along with supporting documentation. The six regional offices will determine the need for financial security based on this assessment of environmental risks measured against the financial and business risk of the applicant. I am
especially concerned that appropriate financial expertise be developed in each region to handle these responsibilities.
However, I believe that, as a result of completing the matrix, each applicant will understand its reclamation
responsibilities better and that consistency of process will be enhanced.
The Model has not been implemented
The Model was forwarded to the Department Executive in June 1998. The Financial Security Risk Assessment Model has not yet been implemented.
Enhancing the approvals systems
It is recommended that the Department of Environment enhance the systems that support the Approvals process.
Attention should be directed to issues of management information and data completeness.
The EMS supports the approvals process
The Environment Management System (EMS) is the key automated, shared system supporting the approvals business.
In the Department’s decentralized decision making environment, regional staff must rely on and be proficient with EMS, and the information on the system must be
complete, accurate, and timely. My work suggests that EMS
has not completely addressed such issues as tracking the timeliness of the approvals process, electronic search capabilities, and completeness of data.
There is no system to track how long it takes to process an approval
The Department’s systems do not track the amount of time that it takes to process an approval, renewal, or amendment.
Although references are made to the timely delivery of programs in various Departmental documents, my staff found no definition to clarify the term “processed in a timely fashion”. A system to track processing time would provide valuable information to both management and clients. For example, the intent of the Department’s fee is to recover a portion of the cost incurred in processing an application.
Cost is largely dependent on time spent in processing, but without sound data to support it, the fee schedule may not be consistent between types of application.
Some approvals cannot be reviewed on EMS’s Document Viewer
One aspect of EMS functionality is the Approval Document Viewer, which will bring up an electronic version of each approval, renewal, or amendment issued under the Act. This functionality offers ease of access to regional staff who would otherwise have to locate a hard copy of each approval.
However, as many as 1,700 of the 5,900 Approval related documents are not accessible through the Approval
Document Viewer.
EMS does not support approval searches by area in the Province
Another intended EMS functionality is the ability to search for approvals and related information by area, as defined by legal land description or geographic coordinates. However, this functionality has not yet been developed. A number of issues arise as a result. For example, there are now 305 Approvals on EMS that have no legal land description recorded. Should the area search functionality be
implemented, these sites would not be captured by searches.
As well, a Contaminated Sites component is under
construction on EMS. Part of this component is intended to be an inventory of sites currently maintained on a manual listing that is not readily available to regional staff.
However, this part of the component will not be built until the land search capability issue has been resolved.
A number of landfills have not been recorded on EMS
EMS contains information about landfills on public lands in a component called Solid Waste Management. In 1996, the Department of Health transferred to Environmental Protection the responsibility for monitoring a number of landfills. However there does not appear to be a definitive list of these transferred landfills that can be entered into EMS. I understand that the regions will need to become involved to complete an inventory of these sites.
The data entry of monitoring reports received from industry is backlogged
The Department receives routine monitoring reports from facility operators for water- and air-related approvals under the Act. These hard copy reports are circulated to the appropriate region for compliance review, then are entered onto EMS (for water-related reports) or a separate Paradox database (for air-related reports). However, the data entry of water monitoring reports for industrial waste water has an 18 month backlog while air reports have a six mo nth backlog. These reports provide an early warning system for potential problems and are critical to ensure that the
Department is aware of any issues of concern.