McLennan Ross Environmental Release Reporting Series Part 3: What To Expect After You Report A Release

This article is the third in a three-part series intended to provide the reader with a basic understanding of:

• Environmental reporting obligations and the consequences for failing to meet those obligations;
• Best practices for pre-release planning; and
• Information about what to expect after an unauthorized release has been reported.

In Part 1, we provided a general overview of environmental release reporting obligations. In Part 2, we summarized best practices for pre-release planning. In this final installment, we address what to expect after the unauthorized release has been reported. As with Parts 1 and 2, we focus our comments on the Alberta regulatory regime.

As we have previously observed, it is important to understand that this series addresses releases from the environmental law perspective only. This article is not an appropriate replacement for robust, site-specific protocols for release prevention and response, which should include many