Community Right-To-Know: Ontario´s Proposed Toxics Reduction Act, 2009

This week, the Ontario government introduced Bill 167, the Toxics Reduction Act, 2009, which is intended to give Ontarians better disclosure about the use and release of toxic substances in their communities.

Bill 167 would expand on the federal National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI) to require a broad range of industrial facilities to track and quantify their use of 300 toxic substances, develop a plan to reduce such use and disclose a summary of the plan to the public. While the implementation of these plans would be voluntary, facilities would be required to report on their progress under these plans.

Bill 167 would also authorize the collection of information regarding an additional 19 'substances of concern' that are not currently tracked through NPRI. Prohibitions or notice obligations regarding the manufacture, sale or distribution of toxic substances could also be imposed under Bill 167.