THE HISTORY OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF EXCESS SOILS regulation in Ontario over the last several years is a complex one – a chal- lenge brought to light at a recent TCA panel discussion dedicated to the topic and organized by the association’s Environmental Committee. The discussion, held October 23 and moderated by Sophia Sestito, brought everyone up to speed on Ontario Regulation 153/04, which sets the prov- ince’s standards for the assessment and remediation of contaminated land or groundwater. Panelists also discussed the impact of provincial Excess Soils Best Management Practices (BMPs) introduced in 2014. In terms of the backstory, current pending changes to the regulation can be traced to a 2013 Environmental Bill of Rights (EBR) request for a review of existing excess soil management rules in Ontario. As part of the review process, the new BMPs were issued the following year, highlighting new procedures for excess soil management. A2016frameworkdocumentoutlining commitmentsfromtheOntarioMinistry oftheEnvironmentandClimateChange (MOECC) and Ministry of the Environ- ment, Conservation and Parks (MECP) then launched the stakeholder consulta- tion process. Those consultations led to a new plain language regulation in 2017. “This was not regulatory language but more conceptual,” said D. Grant Walson, ENVIRONMENTAL COMMITTEE partner at XCG Consulting Limited and one of the panelists at the TCA event. “It showed what the rules are going to look like so that the layperson can under- stand them.” Finally, earlier this year the Ontario government issued its proposed regu- latory package, followed by another 60-day consultation period. But just as the new rules were about to enter Cabinet Review prior to passage, the process was dealt a setback with the elec- tion of a new Conservative government in June. As late as a week before the TCA panel discussion, Walson learned that the new Minister of the Environment and Climate Change still hadn’t been brought up to speed on the issue of excess soil management. While the new regulation was to have been announced this fall and brought into force on January 1, 2019, stakeholders have now been left unsure about what the new government plans to do. BESTMANAGEMENTPRACTICES What industry experts do know for certain,isthatthenewBMPsintroduced as part of the review process four years ago have already begun to change how the industry operates. Panelist Meggen Janes, director, soil and groundwater management & brownfield approval, Waterfront Toronto, noted that the due diligence regime they have established is currently an integral part of Water- front Toronto’s projects. “Right now, we’re accepting over 300,000 cubic metres of soil to our lake- fill site at the foot of Cherry Street… and the excess soil BMPs have been integral in our fill management plan,” Janes said. “The land will be conveyed to the City of Toronto and having them understand there are rigorous processes in vetting the quality of the fill coming in has been critical to the success of the project.” Waterfront Toronto applies the same concepts in its other projects as well, she added. Damian Rodriguez, vice president, soil operations at GFL Environment, said that in response to the new require- ments, GFL Environment developed new software systems for managing soils. “If you’re dealing with fill sites or source sites where certain management of the soil is expected, you have to have a way of controlling and providing the feedback mechanisms from where the soil is going,” he said. The new software enables GFL’s clients to access a web- based app to upload soil analytics for review and approval. It also allows GFL to track the soil from source site to fill site. Rodriguez added that there’s still a “disconnect” in the application of the BMPs between source sites and fill sites: one he hopes will be resolved when the regulation is finalized so that the frequency and type of sampling at the source site will be the same as what’s happening at the fill site. Until then, TCA environmental panel updates members on proposed soil management rules and the impact of BMPs already in place BY ANDREW BROOKS 22 | Builders' Digest Quarter 3 2018