Excess Soil Management in Ontario MEA AGM, Thunder Bay, Ont. Nov. 22, 2018 Al Durand Project Manager, SOiiL adurand1590@rogers.com Supporting Ontario Infrastructure Investments & Lands

About RCCAO Our Mission Our Research To address major challenges related to infrastructure investment and renewal in Ontario To offer solutions to governments and others with one voice Our Research 47 commissioned reports since 2006 Visit rccao.com/research for access to reports discussed today and the full archive on multiple topics

Outline • Background • A little History on Inert Fill • Current Developments in Ontario • What is SOiiL? • Where We Are – New Regulations • Raising Awareness • Municipal Challenges and Opportunities • Actions to Take • What Stakeholders are Doing

Remember “Clean Fill Wanted” Signs? Until 1990s, this seemed like a good solution

Background Environmental awareness, community concerns ► Property rights and legal liability Media coverage escalated ► Mix of clean and contaminated soil ► Midnight dumping

Background Municipalities responded with: ► Site alteration by-law tools ► Local permitting Provincial powers limited to Environmental Protection Act ► Federal jurisdiction legal issues

A Little History on Inert Fill Early 1990s: No definition of clean fill ► No standards or protocols (Dutch A, B, C Criteria) Industry under the Ontario EPA had legal and societal obligations ► Regulatory (waste) compliance and due diligence defence Province and industry developed contaminated site guidelines (1994) Provincial / industry effort on new provincial brownfield regulations ► NRTEE approach: different provincial solutions ► Ontario Brownfield Act (’04) and O.Reg.153/04 – Soil Tables Excess (clean soil) referenced as “inert fill” became Table 1 by default

Current Developments in Ontario Excess construction soil disposal primarily to landfill or “other” sites ► “Dig & Dump” not environmentally sustainable in the long term RCCAO hosted workshops, roundtables to seek solutions In 2014, Ministry of the Environment, in conjunction with stakeholders released “Management of Excess Soil – A Guide for Best Management Practices” The Minister of the Environment also accepted an EBR application for review in 2014 which resulted in a more detailed policy review

https://www. ontario.ca/page/management-excess-soil-guide-best-management-practices

Current Developments in Ontario Residential and Civil Construction Alliance of Ontario (RCCAO) developed construction industry “Best Management Practices” – beneficial reuse Adoption of BMPs faltered because no implementation plan and minimal municipal outreach by the province RCCAO developed electronic soil-matching website called SOiiL (Supporting Ontario Infrastructure Investments and Lands) In 2016, Ministry released excess soil management framework with 21 action items

An Online Soil Database What is SOiiL? An Online Soil Database www.soiil.com provides a forum to facilitate the matching of excess construction soil from donor sites with those sites requiring soil Benefits include: lower transport and disposal costs preservation of landfill capacity less truck traffic

Where We Are – New Regulations Province has had 2 EBR postings with significant stakeholder input Most recently, on April 16, 2018: EBR Posting 013-2774: ► New regulation “harmonized” with waste and brownfield regulations ► Excess soil management plans (ESMP) requirements ► Beneficial reuse assessment tool (BRAT) – Risk-based approach Industry continues to promote the adoption of BMP approaches: ► Special studies on excess soil management (OSPE, GTSWCA) ► Promotion of pilot testing – truck tracking (e.g., SoilFlo)

Raising Awareness Local outreach – soil symposiums: next one on Nov. 28th in Ajax, Ont. Industry outreach and awareness (videos)

Benefits of Best Practices

Municipal Challenges and Opportunities Provincial Long-Term Infrastructure Plan ► $190 billion / 13 years (could be amended by Ford gov’t) Municipal and infrastructure projects generate annually over 40% of the estimated 26 million m3 of construction soils In Ontario Beneficial reuse of excess “clean” soils a multi-ministry challenge Complex regulatory package – proposed Jan. 1, 2020 implementation

Actions to Take Implement soil by-laws and permitting processes to support new regulatory changes Focus on beneficial soil reuse Create a soil bank for temporary storage Prepare new registry and managing systems Adopt new tender documents which encourage upfront planning and reuse

What Stakeholders are Doing Renew consultation meetings with province (MECP) Emphasize sustainable, beneficial reuse of excess soils ► Learn from practices in other jurisdictions (e.g., CL:AIRE in U.K.) ► Qualified Person training, certification, ESMP registration Focus on outreach and BMP training (in the interim) Continue special studies, truck tracking pilot testing (SoilFLO)

A Contractor’s Words of Wisdom

Thank You! Questions? Contact Al Durand: adurand1590@rogers.com