Did you know you can buy polluted land and pursue the polluter for your clean-up costs? It’s true. That is the way BC law works. If you clean up polluted land, you have the right to pursue not only the polluter or polluters, but potentially others as well, for the costs you reasonably incur to ...
Every site has a past – and not all are good. One of the tricks to good due diligence is to get an early handle on the historic uses of the site. There are many past uses that can present hidden liability. For example, was there a dry cleaner on-site or even in the neighbourhood? ...
Just because your company has environmental insurance, doesn’t necessarily mean that ‘you’ do. Are you a director or officer of a company that buys or develops land? Well, you are not the company, and the law is different for you. If the company attracts liability, you can be on the hook separately, personally, and for ...
While the process is far from simple, there is money to be made in the purchase of polluted land. Contaminated sites are often offered at a discount, after all. That spells opportunity. But unseen, unexpected costs can eat into your profits. Groundwater, for example, may be the site’s real problem, and it may have moved ...
I will share an experience where the tower was built, people and businesses were ready to move in, but the client, a developer, faced a last minute hold up: No Occupancy Permit. I know, this would never happen, right? How could a tower in a big city get all the way to move-in day without ...
We know land development is complicated – especially when dealing with environmental issues. The process is long, complex and can be unpredictable. Environmental issues on your site can put a roadblock in your development pathway while you navigate frequently-changing regulations and potentially lengthy review processes. We get it. We’ve been there and found the way ...
We recently posted about Bill C-12, the Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act. On December 11, 2020, the federal government announced a plan that help build a foundation to achieving this goal. The $15-billion plan entitled “A Healthy Environment and a Healthy Economy” aims to meet Canada’s climate change commitments and includes consistent increases to its ...
The Department of National Defence was recently fined $175,000 under the federal Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 for failing to comply with the Storage Tank Systems for Petroleum Products and Allied Petroleum Products Regulations. This regulation came into force in 2008 to help reduce the risk of soil and groundwater contamination due to spills and ...
