The Ministry of the Environment is working hard to improve the
newish air pollution regulation O.Reg. 419/05. The original concept, that a
five-year phase in period would result in businesses inventing
pollution control technology, usually has not worked. As major
businesses get close to the February 1, 2013 deadline, they are
digging in their heels. The ministry has already made some
amendments to recognize maximum available control technology as a
practical constraint on emission reduction, just as the US
does.
A second flashpoint comes at the surprisingly difficult
threshold of determining whether an existing facility is complying
with the new limits. The Combined Modeling Monitoring approach,
which the regulation contemplates as a high-quality, objective
process producing reliable and consistent results, has turned out
to be subjective and susceptible to abuse. With sufficient
manipulation of the assumptions, many facilities can be declared
noncompliant. Example:
