New Contaminated Sites Regulations Finally Arrive

On September 21, 2016, the Minister of Environment Mary Polak amended the Contaminated Sites Regulation, B.C. Reg. 375/96 (the "Regulations"). The amendments take effect November 1^st, 2017, following a 12-month transition period, and have been a long time coming, as the Regulations have been sparingly updated since its implementation in 1997.

The amendments will incorporate new soil, water, and vapour standards that were developed while taking into account a number of considerations. These include up-to-date toxicology data, the new B.C. environment groundwater model, and new deviation protocols for environmental quality standards from environmental agencies around the world. Because existing sediment quality criteria already reflect standards used throughout North America, sediment standards remain substantially unchanged.