Ottawa Speaker Presentations
Marc McAree, Willms & Shier Environmental Lawyers LLP
Making Out the Environmental Due Diligence Defence at Trial
Marc McAree Bio
Abstract
Presentation
Marc McAree
Marc provides advice and solutions to a wide range of clients to overcome their environmental law and
litigation issues. Marc has significant environmental law expertise in contaminated land/brownfields
clean ups, transactions and litigation, and environmental compliance and approvals. Marc also helps
clients reduce and manage environmental risks and liabilities.
Marc is recognized for his excellence representing clients in environmental civil litigation at all levels of
Ontario Courts, defence of clients against environmental regulatory prosecutions, and appearances before
Ontario’s Environmental Review Tribunal and other administrative law decision-makers on appeals and
other hearings. Marc has particular experience litigating soil and groundwater contaminant impacts,
nuisance and odour issues.
Marc is named in the 2017 Lexpert™®/American Lawyer Guide To The Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada.
He is peer selected annually for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in Canada© for environmental law. Marc
is also ranked “Most Frequently Recommended” by The Canadian Legal Lexpert® directory and ranked
“AV® Preeminent™” by peers in Martindale-Hubbell. He is also named annually in both the
international Who’s Who Legal—Environment and Who’s Who Legal—Canada. Marc is called to the bar
in Ontario and British Columbia and obtained a joint Bachelor of Laws/Masters in Environmental Studies
at York University.
Willms & Shier Environmental Lawyers LLP www.willmsshier.com is named “Law Firm of the Year” in
the practice of Environmental Law for the 2017 Edition of The Best Lawyers in Canada©.
Making Out the Environmental Due Diligence Defence at Trial
Environmental prosecutions in jurisdictions across Canada can result where the Crown alleges a violation of an environmental statute or regulation. Upon conviction, charges can lead to fines and/or jail terms. These are known as quasi-criminal offences. The federal government, provincial and territorial governments and municipalities lay charges under a host of environmental laws.
On March 15, 2016, the Court released its decision in R v ControlChem Canada Ltd. The company was charged with five environmental offences under two provincial statutes. The charges arose from the independent actions of the company’s employee. Contrary to the company’s environmental management system, the employee drained the liquid contents of totes to an outdoor storm sewer catch basin at the company’s facility. The Court found that the discharge of liquid caused the nearby creek to turn milky white and acidic, thereby impairing the creek. Did the Court find that the company met the environmental due diligence defence and should be exonerated, or did the Court convict?
Environmental due diligence cases highlight the need for corporations, their directors and officers, senior management and employees to implement an integral environmental systems approach to ensure that foreseeable and preventable environmental events and harm do not occur. Many corporations rely on their environmental advisors to provide incisive and practical advice to keep the company, its management and employees out of environmental trouble.
Kevin Shipley, XCG Consulting
Environmental Rehabilitation of a Construction Site Following a Devastating Fire
Kevin Shipley Bio
Abstract
Presentation
Kevin Shipley
Kevin Shipley is a professional engineer who has worked in environmental consulting since 1986. He is a partner with XCG Consulting Limited and is the Management Team Leader of XCG’s Remediation and Risk Assessment Group. He is based in XCG’s office in Kingston, Ontario. Throughout his career Kevin has conducted and managed hundreds of projects involving environmental site assessments, risk assessments, and development and implementation of remedial action plans at contaminated sites. He has been involved in brownfield development projects in Kingston and in many other communities across Ontario.
Environmental Rehabilitation of a Construction Site Following a Devastating Fire
In December 2013 a fire broke out at a construction site in Kingston, Ontario, and within a few hours completely destroyed a 4.5 storey wood frame building structure. The fire spread so rapidly that the overhead crane operator became trapped in his cab. When he realized that the flames were rising high enough to pose a threat to the cab, the operator climbed out to the end of the boom, receiving a number of burns in the process. He was rescued from the end of the boom by a military team of 8 Wing Trenton rescuers in a helicopter. The rescue was reported by news agencies all over the world, including CNN and the BBC.
Prior to the fire, XCG was involved with this site as the environmental consultant that had completed Phase One and Two Environmental Site Assessments, and had overseen the remediation of approximately 11,000 metric tonnes of contaminated soil on the property. The site had operated for many years as a Toyota dealership, gas station and automotive service centre. The property was being redeveloped as a 140 unit student apartment complex.
Following the fire, XCG managed the environmental rehabilitation of the site. Approximately 5,030 cubic metres of fire water mixed with ash, charred residue, and fire retardant foam had accumulated in the basement parking garage and sump pits at the site. XCG coordinated the set-up and operation of a mobile treatment system, supplied by Newterra Ltd., to pre-treat the water to meet City of Kingston Sewer Use By-Law limits prior to its discharge to the sanitary sewer. The mobile treatment system was designed to remove fire-related contaminants including phenolics, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and benzene. The treatment process included an oil/water separator, a TM100 organo-clay filtration vessel, and two carbon filtration vessels. The system was housed inside a 2.4 by 3.7 metre cargo trailer and capable of operating at a flowrate of up to 40 US GPM (150 L/min).
The remediation project was very challenging because it was conducted during the winter months—January to March of 2014. By the time the site was safe to access following the fire, a thick layer of ice had formed on the surface of the accumulated fire water. Industrial propane heaters were used in the parking garage area to melt the ice so that the water could be pumped out and treated.
Following the disposal of the accumulated water in the parking garage, water in several sump pits throughout the property was also pumped out, treated and disposed of using the same method as described above. In total the environmental rehabilitation of the site lasted for approximately 9 weeks.
