Request for Comments on Upcoming Changes to CEPA Environmental Emergency Regulations and Condensates Reporting

Request for Comments and Upcoming Changes to the CEPA Environmental Emergency Regulations and Condensates Reporting

Chemscape would like to draw your attention to draft legislation regarding Part 8 of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (CEPA) which deals with environmental matters related to emergencies. The objective of the proposed Environmental Emergency Regulations, 2016 is to further enhance environmental emergency management in Canada.

Part of the legislation sees the addition of 49 hazardous substances to Schedule 1 of the Regulations. This addition would require reporting on these substances, environmental emergency planning for higher-risk facilities, and reporting of spills or releases involving these substances that are environmental emergencies.

Proposed changes include:

Addition of 49 new substances to Schedule 1 and amendment of the thresholds for 3 existing substances.
A clarification of the requirements for exercising an E2 Plan.
A consolidation of substances into a single list.
The inclusion of uncontained substances.
A definition of a container system.
Clarifications for the requirements regarding public notifications before, during and after an environmental emergency.
Modifications to reporting requirements including periodic reporting to ensure an up-to-date database is available for departmental officials and first responders.

Full details on this proposed legislation as well as exclusions can be found on the Canada Gazzette.

How to submit comments

Written comments on the proposed Regulations are welcome by December 7, 2016.

All comments must cite in the subject header, “Comments - Canada Gazette, Part I – Environmental Emergency Regulations, 2016” and be sent to:

Lo Cheng,

Director, Environmental Emergencies Division Environment and Climate Change Canada 351 St. Joseph Blvd., 16th Floor,

Gatineau, Quebec K1A 0H3

email: ec.ue-e2.ec@canada.ca

All comments must be submitted by December 7, 2016.

A summary of the comments and responses from the preliminary 2013 – 2014 consultations process is available on the Environmental Emergency Website.

Save time and use msdsBinders to find CEPA substances

Chemscape can help with your CEPA reporting by searching your product inventory for substances you need to report. You can download a list of products broken down by CAS number and by binder. msdsBinders can search on substances that have been deleted or archived from the corporate inventory. We have added two new CEPA reports so you can see if you have any of these substances in your inventory.

Administrators can access this Regulatory List in your msdsBinders system and compare all chemicals in your inventory by going to Reports>Search MSDS by Regulatory List and scroll down to select this list: CEPA E2 2016 Environmental Emergencies Schedule 1 or CEPA E2 2016 New Substances Schedule 1. Click on the PDF for help.

Changes for Petroleum Condensates and Minimum Reporting Quantities

We would like to address a possible concern to many of our clients in the petroleum industry. There are many common petroleum streams included in the new substances for the 2016 Environmental Emergencies List. There is one particular issue associated with different petroleum condensates identifiers and there are significant differences in the Minimum Quantities that require an Environmental Emergency Response Plan.

The three predominant petroleum streams are based on the amount of processing of the product and the range of ingredients. These should be listed on the SDS and it is a good time to determine if the CAS Number (Chemical Abstract Services Registry Number) assigned to your petroleum stream is correct.

The three streams are listed below with their CAS No, CEPA Name of Substance, Technical Definition, and Minimum Quantity.

CAS No.: 64741-48-6

Name of Substance: Natural gas (petroleum), raw liq. mix

Technical Definition: A complex combination of hydrocarbons separated as a liquid from natural gas in a gas recycling plant by processes such as refrigeration or absorption. It consists mainly of saturated aliphatic hydrocarbons having carbon numbers in the range of C2 through C8.

Minimum Quantity Requiring an Emergency Response Plan: 4.5 tonnes

CAS No. : 68919-39-1

Name of Substance: Natural gas condensates

Technical Definition: A complex combination of hydrocarbons separated and/or condensed from natural gas during transportation and collected at the wellhead and/or from the production, gathering, transmission, and distribution pipelines in deeps, scrubbers, etc. It consists predominantly of hydrocarbons having carbon numbers predominantly in the range of C2 through C8.

Minimum Quantity Requiring an Emergency Response Plan: 45 tonnes

CAS No. : 64741-47-5

Name of Substance: Natural gas condensates (petroleum)

Technical Definition: A complex combination of hydrocarbons separated as a liquid from natural gas in a surface separator by retrograde condensation. It consists mainly of hydrocarbons having carbon numbers predominantly in the range of C2 to C20. It is a liquid at atmospheric temperature and pressure.

Minimum Quantity Requiring an Emergency Response Plan: 340 tonnes

Defining the stream correctly has significant ramifications in the quantity you can have at your sites and whether you require an Environmental Emergency Response Plan.

Chemscape Safety Technologies

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