An Information Service for ’s Environment Industry The Week Ending December 13th, 2013

ENVIRONMENT BUSINESS 2014 - REGISTRATION NOW OPEN – 35% SOLD OUT Inside this Issue: February 10-12, 2014

• WaterTech 2014 Call for Marriott @ River Cree Resort and Casino Abstracts Deadline ESAA is pleased to announce that registration for the Environment Business Professional • AER Regulatory Development courses (EB 2014), is now open. There is a limit of 25 registrations per Document course. Courses filled up quickly for EB 2013. • Cabinet Shuffle • Unscrambling the EB 2014 will feature14 courses, including 4 new courses. Alphabet Soup of Oilsands Groups February 10, 2014 - One Day Courses • Upcoming Events • Soil Chemistry for Remediating Salt-Affected Soils – 11 Spots Left • An Introduction to Environmental and Regulatory Law 2014 – 14 Spots Left • Job Board • Introduction to the Federal Fisheries Navigable Waters Protection Acts – 19 • and much more …. Spots Left

• Waste Classification and Disposal in Alberta – 15 Spots Left

• Business and Project Risk Management of Contaminated Sites – 22 Spots Left The ESAA Weekly • Environmental Management for Construction Projects – NEW – 10 Spots Left News is published weekly by: February 10 & 11, 2014 - Two Day Course

Environmental Services • Introduction to Soil Science – NEW – 19 Spots Left Association of Alberta 102, 2528 Ellwood February 11, 2014 - One Day Courses Drive SW • Soil Chemistry for Remediating Salt-Affected Soils - 2nd Course – 22 Spots Left Edmonton, AB T6X 0A9 • (P) 780.429.6363 Waste Classification and Disposal in Alberta - 2nd Course – 10 Spots Left (F) 780.429.4249 [email protected] February 11 & 12, 2014 – Two Day Courses www.esaa.org • An Introduction to Using Groundwater Models in Contaminated Site Assessment

and Remediation Design – 23 Spots Left Comments & submissions • Introduction to Hydrogeology – NEW – 9 Spots Left are welcome! • Air Quality Management – 12 Spots Left

Please submit your • Environmental Project Management Planning Essentials – 16 Spots Left announcement • Occupational Hygiene – NEW – 23 Spots Left via e-mail to: [email protected] Complete courses descriptions and on-line registration available at:

...environmental www.environmentbusiness.ca. integrity through innovative Two Sponsorship Opportunities Still Available at EB’2014: Two sponsorship business solutions opportunities are still available. Full details are also available online at:

http://www.environmentbusiness.ca/sponsors.htm.

WaterTech 2014: Call for Abstracts, Keynote Speakers and Early Registration April 9 - 11, 2014 Farimont Banff Springs

Call for Abstracts: The 7th Annual WaterTech Symposium will be held April 9-11, 2014 at the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel. The Call for Abstract for WaterTech 2014 is available at: www.esaa-events.com/watertech/.

At this time, ESAA is requesting technical abstracts focused in, but not limited to, the following areas: • Groundwater-Surface Water Interaction/Management • Watershed Management/Planning/Modelling • Data Collection/Monitoring/Testing • Protection and Sustainable Management of Water Resources • Water Quality • Emerging Contaminants • Facility Operations, Industrial Issues, and Technologies • Industrial Wastewater Treatment • Produced Water Management • Deep Well Injection • Integrated Research • Regulatory Issues • Saline vs. Non-Saline Issues • Coal-bed Methane Development • Hydraulic Fracturing Issues • Oilsands Water Usage • Oilsands Groundwater Contamination and Management

New for 2014: In addition, ESAA is requesting presentations in the following areas that will form part of special streams at WaterTech 2014: • Flood Management, Forecasting, Recovery, Monitoring • Oilsands Water Usage • Pipeline Safety and Spill Response

Deadline to submit an abstract is December 27th, 2013. Complete details available at: http://www.esaa- events.com/watertech/.

Registration is now open for the 7th Annual WaterTech symposium being held April 9-11, 2014 at the Fairmont Banff Springs. Early Bird registration rates are available until January 10th, 2014. Full details available online at: www.esaa-events.com/watertech/.

Sponsor Information is now available via the conference website: http://www.esaa- events.com/watertech/sponsors.htm

Keynote Speakers: WaterTech 2014 will feature the following keynote presentations:

Opening Keynote "Emerging Contaminants" Dr. Shane Snyder,Professor & Co-Director - Arizona Laboratory for Emerging Contaminants (ALEC)

Thursday Keynote "The Role of the Waterkeepers" Glenn Isaac,Executive Director - North Saskatchewan Riverkeeper

Friday Keynote "Countdown to Safety" Col. Mike Mullane, Former Space Shuttle Astronaut

Full event details available online at: www.esaa-events.com/watertech/.

AER REGULATORY DOCUMENT REVIEW The Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) continues to improve its rules, requirements, and processes to ensure the safe, efficient, orderly, and environmentally responsible development of hydrocarbon resources.

A review of two interim directives (IDs) and one informational letter (IL) has resulted in the following changes.

ID 91-06: Casing, Cementing, Sampling and Logging Requirements Senex, Kidney, Trout, and Associated Areas has been reviewed and the relevant requirements incorporated into Directive 008: Surface Casing Depth Requirements. As part of the review, some of the requirements in Directive 008 were clarified. Clarifications include search radii, offset wells, and an update to the surface mineable oil sands map.

ID 94-03: Underbalanced Drilling has been reviewed and changed into an addendum to Directive 036: Drilling Blowout Prevention Requirements and Procedures. There are no new requirements; however, the addendum was updated to reflect current industry recommended practices.

IL 2001-02: Field and Pool Orders and Gas Strike Areas is considered no longer necessary as current field and pool orders and gas strike areas are available on the AER website at www.aer.ca/data-and-publications/orders/aer- order-system.

ID 91-06, ID 94-03, and IL 2001-02 are rescinded as a result of this review.

Questions regarding this bulletin should be directed to the Regulatory Development Branch by telephone (403-297- 8364) or e-mail ([email protected]).

Directive 008 and the addendum to Directive 036 are available from AER Information Product Services Section, Suite 1000, 250 – 5 Street SW; telephone: 403-297-8311 or 1-855-297-8311 (toll free); fax: 403-297-7040; e-mail: [email protected]. The directive is also available on the AER website www.aer.ca.

PREMIER REDFORD FOCUSES MINISTERIAL TEAM ON INNOVATION AND ECONOMIC GROWTH Premier today announced a strengthened ministerial team that will drive the next phase of the Building Alberta Plan, while continuing to rebuild in the wake of the worst natural disaster in Alberta’s history.

“Our government is determined to deliver on our commitments and build an even stronger, safer and more prosperous Alberta. The strengthened ministerial team will lead the next phase of the Building Alberta Plan, with a focus on expanding our economy, driving innovation and working every day to create an even better quality of life for Albertans.” - Premier Alison Redford

Premier Alison Redford said her Government will focus on an active agenda in 2014, as part of the Building Alberta Plan, including:

• Ensuring Alberta has the skilled workforce and training opportunities we need to keep growing our economy; • Building an innovative and diversified economy to ensure Alberta is well-positioned for the future; • Balancing Alberta’s budget through an expanded Results-Based Budgeting process that challenges every dollar government spends; • Strengthening front-line health care and driving down wait times by building additional family care clinics; • Moving forward with the next wave of new and expanded schools in our fastest-growing communities to keep class sizes low; • A determined and focused rebuilding effort in communities affected by the June floods, including large community mitigation projects to protect Albertans; • Continued action to make our streets and communities safer, with a focus on new approaches to fight bullying and crime; • Keeping electricity rates affordable for Alberta families and building on Alberta’s success in developing renewable energy. • Working, every day, to open new markets for Alberta’s resources and products.

“Albertans elected our government to lead in changing times, and with this team we will meet the challenges associated with our enormous population growth head-on. I’m excited about the work ahead in building Alberta – for the 4 million Albertans today, and the million more we’ll welcome over the next 10 years.” - Premier Alison Redford

Under the Building Alberta Plan, our government is investing in families and communities, living within our means, and opening new markets for Alberta's resources to ensure we're able to fund the services Albertans told us matter most to them. We will continue to deliver the responsible change Albertans voted for.

Alberta Cabinet and Associate Ministers Alison Redford Premier, and President of Executive Council Deputy Premier, and Minister of Innovation & Advanced Education President of Treasury Board & Minister of Finance Minister of Jobs, Skills, Training and Labour Minister of International and Intergovernmental Relations Diana McQueen Minister of Energy Minister of Health Minister of Municipal Affairs Jeff Johnson Minister of Education

Ministerial Liaison to the Canadian Forces Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, and Deputy House Leader Minister of Justice & Solicitor General, and Deputy House Leader Minister of Service Alberta Robin Campbell Minister of Environment & Sustainable Resource Development, and Government House Leader Minister of Culture Frank Oberle Minister of Aboriginal Relations, and Deputy House Leader Minister of Human Services Minister of Transportation Ric McIver Minister of Infrastructure Minister of Tourism, Parks, & Recreation

Dave Rodney Associate Minister – Wellness Teresa Woo-Paw Associate Minister – International and Intergovernmental Relations (Asia) Associate Minister – Recovery & Reconstruction for South West Alberta Associate Minister – Recovery & Reconstruction for South East Alberta Associate Minister – Recovery & Reconstruction for High River Don Scott Associate Minister – Accountability Transparency and Transformation Associate Minister – Family and Community Safety Steve Young Associate Minister – Public Safety Associate Minister – Seniors Donna Kennedy-Glans Associate Minister – Electricity and Renewable Energy Associate Minister - Persons with Disabilities George Vanderburg Government Whip Progressive Conservative Caucus Chair

THREE-WEEK-OLD FIRE STILL BURNING AT ALBERTA LANDFILL (Source: Globe and Mail) Firefighters continue to battle a blaze that has been burning for more than three weeks at a landfill near Medicine Hat in southern Alberta.

A Cypress County spokesman says the owner of the Westar landfill has been difficult to reach.

Jason Storch, the county’s assistant director of emergency management, says there’s been no contact with owner Terry Schmunk.

The fire that spewed toxic smoke into the air was reported Nov. 18.

As air quality deteriorated, the county was forced to order that nine homes in the area be evacuated.

Storch is reluctant to estimate how much longer it may take to put out the fire.

“There is less smoke and at night you can only see a glow on some occasions,” he said. “During the day there is just an impression of smoke.”

The cause of the fire is under investigation. An Alberta Environment inspector has been on site since Day 1 to document the situation and check on what’s in the landfill. The department has also assigned an investigator.

Hellfire Suppression Services from Rocky Mountain House, Alta., was hired to put out the fire. Crews are dealing with 1.2 million cubic metres of dumped material and their efforts were hampered last week by the extreme cold, Storch said.

“At –44 C the line of air supply to those fighting the fire will freeze,” said Storch. “During this period they did surface work related to fighting the fire instead.”

The Westar landfill is eight kilometres east of Medicine Hat.

The cost of fighting the fire is expected to exceed $1-million.

UNSCRAMBLING THE ALPHABET SOUP OF OILSANDS GROUPS (Source: Edmonton Journal) For decades, the provincial government maintained that oilsands production was not polluting air or water in the northeast. The conventional wisdom held that pollutants were naturally present because of bitumen deposits near the rivers.

That position was abandoned between 2010 and 2012 after independent scientific reports found contaminants from the expanded open-pit mines and upgraders are accumulating in the Athabasca River and lakes far from the mines.

The groundbreaking August 2010 report by water experts David Schindler and Erin Kelly, both from the , found industry is responsible for increased concentrations of heavy metals in snowpack and lakes 50 kilometres downstream from oilsands plants. Mercury, lead, cadmium and arsenic are travelling up far beyond the mines and upgraders.

Schindler’s results were backed up in a second study released November 2012 by scientists from Environment Canada and Queen’s University, which found toxic pollutants up to 100 km from the oilsands plants. By studying lake sediments, scientists determined pollutants “increased precipitously beginning at the early 1970s” and have climbed up to 23 times higher than pre- 1960 levels.

The report said the increased polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons coincided with oilsands development and the compounds have a distinct “petrogenic” fingerprint different from PAHs generated by natural phenomena such as fire.

Meanwhile, in December 2010, two other scientific reports criticized Alberta’s water monitoring as inadequate to detect pollution over the past 30 years. Both reports — one done by the Royal Society of Canada, at the request of the province, and the other by an independent panel set up by then-federal environment minister — concluded monitoring had not kept pace with development.

In 2011-12, as a result of these and other studies, both levels of government stepped in with a major initiative called the Joint Canada/Alberta Implementation Plan for Oil Sands Monitoring — dubbed JOSM — to measure pollution levels in the air, water and forests in the northeast.

JOSM created another level of bureaucracy atop a network of local agencies that evolved over the last two decades and tried to address growing pollution issues.

Also in 2012, the province made major changes to speed up approval of new oilsands projects. The new Alberta Energy Regulator, which took over in June 2013, was also given much wider powers over enforcement of environmental laws in the oilpatch.

What follows is a guide to the confusing alphabet soup of agencies and stakeholder groups operating in the northeast, and when each was formed. It’s not exhaustive in terms of official agencies and doesn’t include the wide range of environmental organizations and non-governmental organizations — the Pembina Institute, Greenpeace, Ecojustice, the Sierra Club — also operating in the province.

JOSM - Joint Canada/Alberta Implementation Plan for Oil Sands Monitoring - Established February 2012 JOSM is measuring levels of pollution in water, air, biodiversity and land in the northeast over three years. Under JOSM, three separate working groups are monitoring air, water (including ice and snow) and forests. The $50- million annual tab will be paid by the industry lobby group, the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP).

JOSM will take measurements over a much bigger area than previously done and readings will be done more frequently. The goal is to give a “clear picture of the cumulative effects” of all oilsands projects on the region.

The JOSM data are being released publicly on a federal government website. At the end of three years, in 2015, the federal-provincial agreement expires.

Environmentalists were generally pleased by government efforts to bolster pollution monitoring, but they’re waiting to see what will happen when all the evidence is in.

“It can’t be monitoring for monitoring sake,” said Kyle Harrietha, manager of Métis Local 1935 in Fort McMurray. “If the data shows we are reaching key (pollution) thresholds, what action will be taken? Does this data feed into provincial environmental oversight or federal?”

In a blog post, the Pembina Institute said: “While we commend the Governments of Alberta and Canada on finally co-operating to lay the groundwork for a credible monitoring program, we think it is fair to hold some applause until we see evidence that our governments are committed to using the information that is gathered to improve how oilsands are managed.”

AEMERA - Alberta Environmental Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting Agency - Established October 2103 The Alberta environment ministry recently announced a new agency, at arm’s length from government, to monitor pollution in the oilsands. The Alberta Environmental Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting Agency will start up in early 2014, if the Bill 32 is passed this fall. AEMERA will take over the monitoring job done by JOSM when its three- year agreement expires in 2015, and will expand it beyond the oilsands to eventually cover the entire province. Data will be publicly reported, although the government has not indicated how often it will be released. The agency will also have a science advisory panel of up to eight members and be funded by industry and government. The AEMERA measurements will inform the Lower Athabasca Regional Plan or LARP, which sets pollution limits. It’s unclear if the monitoring will be done by the same team of scientists assembled for JOSM.

AER - Alberta Energy Regulator - Established June 2013 Earlier this year, the Alberta government set up a new body, the Alberta Energy Regulator, to replace the old Energy Resources Conservation Board. The latter approved applications for new energy projects, held public hearings on contested proposals and investigated spills and other accidents in the oilpatch.

In addition to those jobs, the AER was given wider duties, including issuing water permits and enforcing environmental laws in the oilpatch — work that had been done by the Alberta Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Resource Development. To speed up applications for new projects, the industry wanted a single portal, so the government handed over to the AER responsibility for enforcing three key pieces of oil-industry legislation — the Water Act, Public Lands Act and Environment Protection and Enhancement Act. That means the industry- funded AER will also decide whether charges will be laid against companies for spills or dead waterfowl on tailings ponds.

According to its website, “The AER is 100 per cent funded by industry and is authorized to collect funds through an administrative fee levied on oil and gas wells, oil sands mines, and coal mines.”

The province also created a new Policy Management Office in the Energy Department to deal with oilsands issues. Currently, environmental issues are often discussed at public hearings, but that is expected to change. Those discussions will take place in the Policy Management Office. While the Environment Department will have input into those talks, it’s so far unclear how the public can bring forward concerns.

The AER’s chief executive is Gerry Protti, a former oil company executive who also founded CAPP.

LARP - Lower Athabasca Regional Plan - Established September 2102 The Lower Athabasca Regional Plan, a new land-use document, is becoming the Environment Department’s key vehicle to regulate air, land and water pollution in the oilsands. The LARP is one of seven land-use plans that covers major watersheds in the province and its pollution limits are legally binding — though they have yet to be tested.

For instance, LARP sets limits for air pollution in the northeast. If a new oilsands project will cause air pollution to increase to the benchmarks set out in the LARP, the Environment Department must take action to keep pollution below those levels. It can ask companies to find a way to reduce pollution or slow development until air pollution would be below the trigger levels.

The government says the LARP went into effect in September 2012, but many key aspects are not finalized, including the biodiversity framework to protect wildlife, the landscape management plan and the groundwater framework. So far, none of the conservation areas set out in the LARP has been legally designated.

A test of LARP’s effectiveness should come quickly. Shell’s proposed Jackpine mine expansion will result in cumulative air pollution that exceeds the limits for nitrogen dioxide in the region. The regulator approved the project subject to LARP.

CEMA Cumulative Environmental Management Association - Established 2001 In 2001, the government of then-premier Ralph Klein set up a non-profit local stakeholders group to figure out how to deal with growing environmental issues, do technical reports and give government policy advice. More than 50 groups joined the Cumulative Environmental Management Association, including oilsands companies, First Nations, Métis, environmentalists, federal and provincial governments, and non-governmental organizations. The idea was to have people on all sides sit down and hammer out consensus on policy proposals, such as tailings ponds and impact on wildlife.

CEMA’s executive director, Glen Semenchuk, says the agency has become a key policy adviser to the province and many of its reports and technical documents have been adopted as government policy.

Its funding mostly comes from oilsands companies, which have threatened to stop paying the bills twice in the past 12 months. Last year, the industry reinstated its funding after discussions with then-environment minister Diana McQueen. But they called again this fall to shut down the agency, arguing CEMA’s work could be done by an industry organization. The ministry has not yet responded.

WBEA - Wood Buffalo Environmental Association - Established 1997 The Wood Buffalo Environmental Association, now comprising 37 member organizations, was established in 1997 to monitor air quality in the northeast. In 1999, WBEA began a program to monitor effects of air pollution on the forests, and in 2005, it began looking at human exposure to air pollution focusing on odours that became a significant issue in 2009. According to its website, WBEA represents aboriginal, environmental, government and industry groups and operates the most extensive ambient air network in Alberta with 15 air monitoring stations and 20 passive monitoring stations.

The organization’s budget has grown to $12 million and its executive director is scientist Kevin Percy.

SHELL'S JACKPINE MINE GETS NOD FROM OTTAWA, DESPITE ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS (Source: Canadian Press) Shell Canada's Jackpine oilsands mine expansion plan has received the go-ahead from Ottawa, despite the environment minister's view that it's "likely to cause significant adverse environmental effects."

In a statement late Friday, environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq concluded that the effects from the 100,000- barrel-per-day expansion are "justified in the circumstances."

The nearby Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation has said the project will violate several federal laws covering fisheries and species at risk, as well as treaty rights.

They said they had received so little information on how Shell plans to live up to conditions imposed on it by a federal-provincial panel that they asked Ottawa for a 90-day delay on the decision — originally expected Nov. 6 — to work some of those issues through.

They were granted a 35-day delay, but Friday's decision didn't even wait until that period was up.

Allan Adam, chief of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, was outraged that the federal decision came as the government was still supposed to be in talks with the band about how the project's effects were to be mitigated.

"They just kept us in the loop and strung us along and played games with us," he said. "To them it's all a game."

Although all 88 conditions the review panel placed on the project are now legally binding, Adam said neither the government nor the company has explained how those conditions will be met.

Adam said the government's move to go ahead despite the serious environmental consequences of the project leave the band little choice.

"This government has to realize we'll be holding them accountable," he said. "We'll be looking at legal action and we'll pursue this through legal action."

Greenpeace Canada issued a statement accusing the Harper government of putting the short term interests of oil companies ahead of environmental protection and First Nations treaty rights.

"Canada would be much better off diversifying its economy, investing in renewables, green jobs and projects that get us out of this madness not deeper into it," the statement said.

"How many more extreme weather events ill it take till our Prime Minister realizes this is one problem he can't mine his way out of?"

The Jackpine expansion would allow Shell to increase its bitumen output by 50 per cent to 300,000 barrels a day.

"We're reviewing the recommendations and proposed conditions attached to the approval," said Shell spokesman David Williams.

Williams added Shell must consult with the minority partners in the project — Chevron and Marathon — before making a formal decision to proceed.

A review panel concluded last July that the project was in the public interest but warned that it would result in severe and irreversible damage so great that new protected areas should be created to compensate.

The review concluded that the project would mean the permanent loss of thousands of hectares of wetlands, which would harm migratory birds, caribou and other wildlife and wipe out traditional plants used for generations. It also said Shell's plans for mitigation are unproven and warned that some impacts would probably approach levels that the environment couldn't support.

Shell has said Alberta's new management plan for the oilsands area will provide more concrete data to assess and mitigate environmental impacts. The company has purchased about 730 hectares of former cattle pasture in northwestern Alberta to help compensate for the 8,500 hectares of wetland that would be forever lost.

2012 FLOOD STUDY FORESAW JUNE'S DEVASTATION Consultant report commissioned by city, Alberta predicted widespread damage One year before flooding devastated Calgary, officials were given a study that warned the next big flood to hit the city would bring higher water levels and more widespread damage than was previously thought, CBC News has learned.

The Bow and Elbow rivers flooded in June, leaving large sections of Calgary under water, devastating many homes and businesses. (Canadian Press)

The analysis of the Bow and Elbow rivers began in 2009 and finished in April 2012.

It was commissioned by the provincial government and the city, but not publicly released.

In the days after the June flooding, Diana McQueen, then Alberta's environment minister, said nobody could have foreseen it.

"What Alberta experienced in this past week is unprecedented, more rain, more quickly over a larger area than has ever been seen in this province," she said at the time.

"No report or recommendation looking at the lessons of the past could have prepared us for this event."

But the previous spring, city and provincial officials were presented with a study by consultants at Golder Associates Ltd. that mapped out what a 1-in-100-year flood would look like.

That study flagged the Bonnybrook Wastewater Treatment plant and several communities as being at risk — correctly, it turned out.

A study commissioned one year before the disaster predicted that the next major flood to hit Calgary would cause unprecedented damage. ((Larry MacDougal/The Canadian Press))

John Pomeroy, Canada's Research Chair in Water Resources and Climate Change at the University of Saskatchewan, said the report was a comprehensive update on previous studies, recalculating flood probabilities based on population growth along the floodplain.

"The increase in the area inundated was quite striking. The Centre Street area downtown, of course, and the area around 14th Street, the Bowness area, also as soon as you start to involve sewage treatment plants in the 1-in- 100-year floodplain, that's a big concern,” Pomeroy said.

Used for emergency planning, says mayor City officials say they used the study for emergency planning, so that when a flood hit they would know which areas to prioritize for evacuations and bridge closures.

"We were still working through how to use this report for future policy, but what we did do was incorporate it immediately into emergency response," said Mayor Naheed Nenshi.

"We were comparing that with other experts' reports, so they weren't quite ready yet. But I think the city did the right thing in relying on the best information we had for emergency response, which was those maps."

The study wasn’t widely distributed because it was too technical for the general public, officials said.

However, the city pulled some of the data from the study, simplified it, and included it on a flood-risk web page, senior planning engineer Frank Frigo said.

Calgary officials say they used a comprehensive study by Golder Associates to prioritize areas for evacuation and that they were in the process of discussing its conclusions with the province. (Andy Clark/Reuters)

A spokesperson at the environment ministry said the province was still discussing the study with the city when the June disaster struck.

Calgary-Shaw Wildrose MLA Jeff Wilson said his heart sank a little when he read the report. "It felt rather bizarre reading it, almost like it was a road map for what we saw happen in the city this spring. It was almost eerie,” he said.

Chris Rosamund, who manages Wurst, a restaurant on Fourth Street southwest that was inundated by the floodwaters, said the outcome could have been different.

"It's unfortunate, hindsight being 20/20, that measures weren't starting to be taken when that study came in. But you know, no one could've predicted …. what was going to happen."

B.C. CLOSING THE GAP ON OVERDUE ENVIRONMENTAL PENALTIES VICTORIA - The Province is naming names and taking away privileges as part of a new strategy aimed at increasing the collection rate of overdue environmental court penalties, announced Environment Minister Mary Polak.

In a report released today, Closing the Gap, the Province publicly names the 18 businesses and 155 individuals with overdue environmental court penalties owing to the Province or to the Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation.

Today, letters are being sent to those identified with fishing and hunting licences revoking these privileges. Once paid in full, these individuals will again be eligible to obtain licences or permits. The ministry will be updating the list at the end of January 2014.

During the reporting period from 2004 to 2012, more than 80 per cent of the 1,540 court convictions were paid. While the majority of the number of fines was paid, this only represents 40 per cent of the $1.9 million owed. Currently, $1.14 million remains outstanding to the Province and more than $400,000 to the Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation.

This new strategy is the first of its kind in North America. The goal is to increase the collection rate of overdue environmental court penalties from 40 per cent to an aggressive target of 95 per cent by June 2014.

A follow-up report will be issued in June 2014 to highlight the progress made in collecting the overdue environmental court penalties. This will supplement the Quarterly Environmental Enforcement Summaries, which name individuals and businesses subject to enforcement actions, and the Environmental Violations Database, a searchable catalogue of all enforcement actions published since 2006.

Closing the Gap: A Special Report on Overdue Environmental Court Penalties (2004-2012), can be viewed at: www.env.gov.bc.ca/main/compliance-reporting/docs/closing-the-gap.pdf

Quick Facts: • The Ministry of Environment leads the public reporting of many enforcement actions taken under its legislation, as well as legislation administered by the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations. • Of the total $1.14 million owed to the Province, 23 per cent is owed by individuals while 77 per cent is owed by businesses. • Court penalties are comprised of a fine, and in many cases, a creative sentencing order. The courts typically direct funds from creative sentencing orders to specific organizations, most often the Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation. • Funds from creative sentencing orders typically go to projects aimed at mitigating or repairing the environmental damage caused by the non-compliant activity. • This project covers a nine year period from 2004-2012 as the statute of limitations for environmental court fines is 10 years.

Learn More:

For more information on environmental compliance and enforcement reporting, please visit: www.env.gov.bc.ca/main/compliance-reporting/

Quarterly compliance and enforcement reports can be found at: www.env.gov.bc.ca/main/compliance- reporting/reports.html

ONTARIO’S GRAND RIVER LOADED WITH ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS, STUDY FINDS (Source: Globe and Mail) Ontario’s Grand River is so chock full of artificial sweeteners that scientists say the chemicals can be used to track the movement of treated waste in the region’s municipal water supplies.

Artificial sweeteners are used as sugar substitutes in diet drinks and foods.

They impart no calories because they are not readily broken down in the human digestive system, so they tend to exit the body intact.

But that persistence also means the sweeteners linger long after they are flushed away.

They survive processing in waste-water treatment plants, find their way into the environment and reappear in drinking water.

As part of a long-term study, scientists with Environment Canada and the University of Waterloo repeatedly sampled 23 sites along the Grand River system as well as household taps.

Four artificial sweeteners – acesulfame, saccharin, cyclamate and sucralose – were detected, in some cases at higher concentrations than reported anywhere else in the world.

At one site, the researcher calculated that the equivalent of 90,000 to 190,000 cans of diet soda were being consumed each day to account for the quantity of acesulfame they measured.

“If you think about all those cans of pop floating down the river, it’s quite an image,” said Sherry Schiff, a biogeochemist at the University of Waterloo and a co-author of the study, published Wednesday in the open access journal PLOS ONE.

Nearly one million people live in the region, which includes the communities of Kitchener-Waterloo, Guelph, Cambridge and Brantford.

About half of those people rely on the Grand for their drinking water.

While the presence of the sweeteners in drinking water may come as an unwelcome surprise to some, the authors say their main aim is to track the chemicals as an indicator of where treated waste water is ending up.

This can help environmental researchers estimate exposures to other chemicals, such as pharmaceuticals, that breakdown more quickly and are harder to spot.

Although artificial sweeteners have been deemed safe for human consumption, their impact on the environment is not well known.

BUILD IN CANADA INNOVATION PROGRAM Build in Canada Innovation Program (BCIP) is a procurement program that was created as a pilot in 2010 and has now been made permanent to bolster innovation in Canada’s business sector, and to help companies bridge the pre-commercialization gap for their innovative products and services. A new Call for Proposals is available on Buyandsell.gc.ca/tenders and suppliers have until January 7, 2014, to submit proposals related to the opportunity to test innovative products and services.

The program provides the opportunity for innovators to:

• sell their pre-commercialized goods and services to the Government of Canada through an open, transparent, competitive and fair procurement process; • connect with potential clients in federal government departments and showcase their innovations to them; • get feedback on the use of their innovations in an operational setting before taking them to market; and • enter the marketplace with a successful application of their innovations. • The BCIP targets innovations in five key areas: • environment; • safety and security; • health; • enabling technologies; and • the new military component—protecting the soldier.

The value of contracts under the program’s standard components will continue to be up to $500,000. Under the new military component, innovations could be eligible for contracts of up to $1 million.

For more information about the program, please visit the BCIP web page. Feel free to contact your local Office of Small and Medium Enterprises if you have any questions.

EPA ADDS NINE HAZARDOUS WASTE SITES TO SUPERFUND'S NATIONAL PRIORITIES LIST Agency also proposes to add an additional eight sites

(Source: Water Online) Recently the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is adding nine hazardous waste sites that pose risks to people’s health and the environment to the National Priorities List (NPL) of Superfund sites. EPA is also proposing to add another eight sites to the list. Superfund is the federal program that investigates and cleans up the most complex, uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous waste sites in the country to protect people’s health and the environment.

“Superfund cleanups protect the health of nearby communities and ecosystems from harmful contaminants,” said Mathy Stanislaus, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response. “They can also provide positive economic outcomes for communities including job creation, increased property values, enhanced local tax bases and improved quality of life.”

The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), the law establishing the Superfund program, requires EPA to update the NPL at least annually and clean up hazardous waste sites to protect human health with the goal of returning them to communities for productive use. A site’s listing neither imposes a financial obligation on EPA nor assigns liability to any party. Updates to the NPL do, however, provide policymakers with a list of high priority sites, serving to identify the size and nature of the nation’s cleanup challenges.

The Superfund program has provided important benefits for people and the environment since Congress established the program in 1980.Those benefits are both direct and indirect, and include reduction of threats to human health and ecological systems in the vicinity of Superfund sites, improvement of the economic conditions and quality of life in communities affected by hazardous waste sites, prevention of future releases of hazardous substances, and advances in science and technology.

By eliminating or reducing real and perceived health risks and environmental contamination associated with hazardous waste sites, Superfund actions frequently convert contaminated land into productive local resources and increase local property values. A study conducted by researchers at Duke and Pittsburgh Universities concluded that, while a site’s proposal to the NPL reduces property values slightly, making a site final on the NPL begins to increase property values surrounding Superfund sites. Furthermore, the study found that, once a site has all cleanup remedies in place, surrounding properties have a significant increase in property values as compared to pre-NPL proposal values.

Since 1983, EPA has listed 1,694 sites on the NPL. At 1,147 or 68 percent of NPL sites, all cleanup remedies are in place. Approximately 645 or 38 percent of NPL sites have all necessary long-term protections in place, which means EPA considers the sites protective for redevelopment or reuse.

With all NPL sites, EPA first works to identify companies or people responsible for the contamination at a site, and requires them to conduct or pay for the cleanup. For the newly listed sites without viable potentially responsible parties, EPA will investigate the full extent of the contamination before starting significant cleanup at the site. Therefore, it may be several years before significant EPA clean up funding is required for these sites.

The following nine sites have been added to the NPL:

• Beck’s Lake (former automotive and hazardous waste dump) in South Bend, Ind.; • Garden City Ground Water Plume (ground water plume) in Garden City, Ind.; • Keystone Corridor Ground Water Contamination (ground water plume) in Indianapolis, Ind; • Cristex Drum (former fabric mill) in Oxford, N.C.; • Hemphill Road TCE (former chemical drum recycling) in Gastonia, N.C.; • Collins & Aikman Plant (Former) (former automotive rubber manufacturer) in Farmington, N.H.;

• Jackpile-Paguate Uranium Mine (former uranium mine) in Laguna Pueblo, N.M.; • Wilcox Oil Company (former oil refinery) in Bristow, Okla.; and • Makah Reservation Warmhouse Beach Dump (municipal and hazardous waste dump) in Neah Bay, Wash.

The following eight sites have been proposed for addition to the NPL:

• Macmillan Ring Free Oil (former oil refinery) in Norphlet, Ark.; • Keddy Mill (former sawmill, grist and wool carding mill) in Windham, Maine; • PCE Southeast Contamination (ground water plume) in York, Neb.; • PCE/TCE Northeast Contamination (ground water plume) in York, Neb.; • Troy Chem Corp Inc (chemical manufacturer) in Newark, N.J.; • Unimatic Manufacturing Corporation (former chemical manufacturer) in Fairfield, N.J.; • Wolff-Alport Chemical Company (former metal extraction facility) in Ridgewood, N.Y.; and • Walker Machine Products, Inc. (former machine screw products manufacturer) in Collierville, Tenn.

In the proposed rule, EPA is also soliciting additional comments on the Smurfit-Stone Mill site based on additional references to the Hazard Ranking System documentation record being made available to the public for review.

EPA is also changing the name of the B.F. Goodrich site in Rialto, Calif., which EPA added to the NPL on September 23, 2009 (74 FR 48412). The site’s new name, Rockets, Fireworks, and Flares (RFF), informs the public of activities that are believed to have contributed to contamination at the site.

Federal Register notices and supporting documents for the final and proposed sites: http://www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/npl/current.htm

Information about how a site is listed on the NPL: http://www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/npl/npl_hrs.htm

Superfund sites in local communities: http://www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/index.htm

More information about the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), the law establishing the Superfund program, can be found at: http://epa.gov/superfund/policy/cercla.htm

SOURCE: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

NEWLY DISCOVERED GREENHOUSE GAS '7,000 TIMES MORE POWERFUL THAN CO2' Perfluorotributylamine is an unregulated, long-living industrial chemical that breaks all records for potential climate impacts

A new greenhouse gas that is 7,000 times more powerful than carbon dioxide at warming the Earth has been discovered by researchers in Toronto.

The newly discovered gas, perfluorotributylamine (PFTBA), has been in use by the electrical industry since the mid- 20th century.

The chemical, that does not occur naturally, breaks all records for potential impacts on the climate, said the researchers at the University of Toronto's department of chemistry.

"We claim that PFTBA has the highest radiative efficiency of any molecule detected in the atmosphere to date," said Angela Hong, one of the co-authors.

The study, published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, found PFTBA was 7,100 times more powerful at warming the Earth over a 100-year time span than CO2.

Concentrations of PFTBA in the atmosphere are low – 0.18 parts per trillion in the Toronto area – compared to 400 parts per million for carbon dioxide. So PFTBA does not in any way displace the burning of fossil fuels such as oil and coal as the main drivers of climate change.

Dr Drew Shindell, a climatologist at Nasa's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, said:

"This is a warning to us that this gas could have a very very large impact on climate change – if there were a lot of it. Since there is not a lot of it now, we don't have to worry about it at present, but we have to make sure it doesn't grow and become a very large contributor to global warming.".

He said a number of recent studies had drawn attention to other potential new greenhouse gases which, like PFTBA, pack a lot of warming potential in each molecule but are not very prevalent in the atmosphere.

Such studies were a warning against increasing uses of such compounds without first understanding their impact on climate change, he added.

"From a climate change perspective, individually, PFTBA's atmospheric concentration does not significantly alert the phenomenon of climate change," Hong said. "Still the biggest culprit is CO2 from fossil fuel emissions."

But PFTBA is long-lived. The Toronot researchers estimated PFTBA remains in the atmosphere for about 500 years, and unlike carbon dioxide, that is taken up by forests and oceans, there are no known natural "sinks" on Earth to absorb it.

"It is so much less than carbon dioxide, but the important thing is on a per molecule basis, it is very very effective in interacting with heat from the Earth," she said. "Individually each molecule is able to affect the climate potentially and because its lifetime is so long it also has a long-lasting effect."

Hong said the discovery of PFTBA and its warming potential raises questions about the climate impacts of other chemicals used in industrial processes.

PFTBA has been in use since the mid-20th century for various applications in electrical equipment, such as transistors and capacitors. The researchers said it was unclear how widespread its use was today.

It belongs to an entire class of chemicals used for industrial applications whose effects on the atmosphere remain unknown.

"PFTBA is just one example of an industrial chemical that is produced but there are no policies that control its production, use or emission," Hong said. "It is not being regulated by any type of climate policy."

ESAA Member News

We're changing our name to

Pinchin West Ltd.

We are pleased to announce that PHH ARC Environmental Ltd will be changing our company name to Pinchin West Ltd. effective December 16th, 2013.

Our new name reflects the growth and expansion of our business activities since we opened our doors in 1984. In those days we were a consulting firm focusing on emerging regulations in asbestos control. We have evolved our geographic spread and services

over those 30 years to 180 staff in nine regional offices across Western Canada.

Our Consulting Expertise Now Includes:

• hazardous material management • environmental site assessment and remediation • occupational health and safety • mould and infection control • building science • facility decommissioning

Pinchin West will become more closely affiliated with Pinchin Environmental (our sister company in Ontario) over the coming years. The Pinchin Group of companies (covering all Provinces and Territories) is one of Canada’s largest and most respected environmental companies. The local ownership and contacts in each company ensures not only an in-depth knowledge of local regulations, enforcement and market conditions, but also a high level of responsiveness and accountability.

Pinchin West will continue to operate in its current structure and your local contacts will not change. There has been no change in staff and no change in location with any of our offices in British Columbia, Alberta or Saskatchewan.

Our new internet address will be www.pinchinwest.com.

We are pleased to announce we have outgrown our current office and are moving to:

Suite 501, 326-11th Avenue SW Calgary, AB T2R 0C5 T: 403.264.0671

On Wednesday December 11, we will be calling Suite 501, 326-11th Avenue SW home. We are looking forward to seeing you at our new office soon!

Upcoming Events

2014 Alberta Technical Seminars

AGAT Labs’ 2014 Alberta Technical Seminars: Policy, Advances and Innovations in the Environmental Sector

AGAT Laboratories' 2014 Alberta Technical Seminars on Policy, Advances and Innovations in the Environmental Sector will be held in Calgary on January 24th, 2014 at The Fairmont Palliser Hotel, and in Edmonton on February 7th, 2014 at the Fairmont Hotel MacDonald.

Attending these events will offer the opportunity for industry professionals to come together and gain insight on topics related to innovations and regulations in the Environmental Sector. Additionally, it will provide them with the opportunity to present their unique challenges and questions to our industry leaders from a variety of backgrounds such as governmental, laboratory, energy and environmental consulting professions.

Click here to download the Seminar Itinerary.

Registration The seminars will be held from 7:30 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. in each city and will include a number of presentations, breakfast, lunch and networking breaks. The registration fee to attend is $135.00 (includes GST) and includes a full day pass to all talks, hot breakfast, coffee breaks and lunch.

Please register online at: http://www.agatlabs.com/alberta-technical-seminars2014.cfm

BEST 2014 - Call for Abstracts Bettering Environmental Stewardship and Technology submissions being accepted until December 15, 2013

The British Columbia Environment Industry Association invites submissions of papers and technical presentations for its upcoming conference on Bettering Environmental Stewardship and Technology (BEST 2014) to be held in beautiful Whistler, BC May 28 to 30, 2014.

Papers and Presentations are encouraged in, but not limited to, the following areas:

• New innovative technologies in clean energy sector • Doing business with First Nations in the environmental services or clean energy sector • Upcoming major project updates and successes in Western Canada • Sustainable business practice case studies • Emergency Spill Response technologies • Emergency Spill Response Lessons Learned • Innovative Technologies for remediation of contaminated soil • Case studies and lessons learned of successful Brownfield Re-Development Projects • Innovative Technologies in contaminated water treatment • Innovative Technologies in air quality management • Environmental policy initiatives - industry results • Updates to environmental policy from a legal perspective • EA Process and Mining

The preliminary selection of papers and presentations will be based on submitted abstracts and reviewed by a panel of peers. Abstracts should be no more than 500 words, should include a presenter biography, and must be received by December 15, 2013. Please send submissions via e-mail to [email protected]. Notification of acceptance will be given by January 31, 2014. Full presentations must be submitted by March 31, 2014. Download the Call for Abstracts

“A PATH TO IMPROVED UNDERSTANDING OF COMPLEX SOIL SYSTEMS” Berkeley, California, September 3--‐5, 2014. Real soils can (and should be?) be studied as complex systems, by considering critical interactions and feedbacks between physical, geochemical, hydraulic and biological processes. This flagship conference will make a unique contribution to integrated soil sciences by addressing fundamentals and bridging gaps in the current scientific knowledge. A goal is to provide a motivating framework to a path towards improved understanding of complex soil-plant-atmosphere systems. The conference is intended to provide a forum for in-depth group discussions, for soliciting feedback on emerging concepts and engaging colleagues with similar interests of the emerging questions:

• What are the recent advances in fundamental, experimental, and modeling studies of how soil physical, chemical and biological processes interact to control terrestrial C and N cycles and water resource sustainability? • How can we take advantage of recent advances in biogeochemistry, genomics, mutli-scale imaging and computational and mathematical methods for diagnosing nonlinear dynamical processes and complexity, to study emergence of new behaviors or functions as scale changes from the nanoscale to microscopic, mesoscopic, and macroscopic field levels? • Can we quantify plant-soil feedbacks, complexity, uncertainty, and nonlinear dynamical and chaotic processes in complex soil-plant-atmosphere systems to improve predictions in managed and unmanaged ecosystems with application to agriculture, remediation, and carbon sequestration?

Contributions are solicited from microbiologists, ecologists, biogeochemists, soil physicists, agricultural scientists, hydrologists, geophysicists, climatologists, and others working on key aspects of complex soil systems.

To obtain further information about this conference and submission of the abstracts please join the mailing list at http://goo.gl/ztFs2B

Industry Positions Openings

For more information visit ESAA’s Job Board under the news section of www.esaa.org

North Shore Environmental Consultants (North Shore) is a progressive environmental company that specializes in providing environmental management services to the upstream oil and gas industry. Since its inception in 2002, North Shore has offered cost efficient and effective solutions to the complex environmental challenges faced by today's industries. We offer our employees exceptional career development opportunities and an excellent team-oriented working environment.

We are seeking a motivated individual with an environmental background for the fulltime position of Greenhouse Gas Quantifier/Emission Specialist.

Key Responsibilities: • Candidate will be responsible for providing consultation and support to industry in the area of emissions reporting (Greenhouse Gas projects) • Involvement in projects dealing with technical calculations • Project management and liaison between regulatory bodies and industry

Qualifications: • Familiar with projects involving emissions management, emission inventories preparation, and emissions auditing and regulatory compliance • Environmental Science Degree (or relevant diploma/degree from a credible institution) • Excellent communication, writing, organizational, computer and problem solving skills • Good understanding of upstream oil and gas regulatory requirements • Attention to detail and a strong work ethic • Valid driver's license • Willingness to work within a team environment • Highly organized and have the ability to prioritize multiple tasks

Candidates must possess a post-secondary education and be eligible for professional registration in Alberta. Preference will be given to candidates with two or more years of experience in the upstream oil and gas industry.

North Shore offers a comprehensive benefit package which can be viewed on our website at www.northshoreenv.com. Compensation will be based on candidate experience. Please forward your resume via email to [email protected]. We thank all applicants for their interest; however, only those considered for an interview will be contacted.

This position will remain open until a suitable candidate is found.

SENIOR PROJECT MANAGER, ENVIRONMENTAL SITE ASSESSMENT & REMEDIATION (ESAR)

• Are you looking for a career that offers flexibility? • Do you enjoy a collaborative work environment? • Want to advance your career in a senior position within a dynamic service line?

Then this is the role for you!

Our Environmental Site Assessment and Remediation (ESAR) Division in Edmonton is seeking a motivated professional to provide environmental consulting services to the industrial, manufacturing, construction, commercial, government and oil & gas industry sectors. In this role, you will be responsible for leading and supervising a team of dedicated staff proficient in ESAR services, and assisting in the growth and development of this service line throughout Northern Alberta and beyond.

Qualifications: • M.Sc., B.Sc. and/or Diploma in Environmental Science • Membership with a professional association recognized by provincial regulators (i.e., P.Eng., P.Geo., P.Ag., etc.) • 8 years of consulting and project management experience • Experience conducting Phase I and II Environmental Site Assessments • Oil and Gas experience a definite asset (Groundwater Monitoring, Detailed Site Assessments, Cut and Caps, ESAs, Risk and Liability Assessments and Remedial Action Plans) • Strong technical writing and review capabilities • Ability to effectively lead/supervise/schedule others • Strong client interfacing and customer service skills • Dynamic and outgoing, with the ability to mentor • Able to travel and do fieldwork (approximately 25% of the time) • Vehicle and a valid driver’s license

Responsibilities: • Oversee and manage project work, investigations, site assessments, remedial work, regulatory instruments, training and quality assurance • Budget creation and adherence, time management, cost tracking, scope of work definition, proposal preparation and presentation, and report and invoice preparation • Assign, collect and coordinate project resources (i.e. equipment, tools, materials, documentation, people etc.) • Organize and conduct project meetings as well as team meetings • Liaise with clients and other potentially involved stakeholders, including regulators and landowners • Train, supervise and schedule project managers and other staff • Mentor and inspire junior staff • Manage, supervise and coordinate subcontractors and subconsultants • Conduct technical reviews for client and regulatory submissions • Maintain and enhance quality control within the group • Foster the growth of our capabilities and our project and client base

For more information about PHH ARC Environmental Ltd. and the opportunity for Senior Project Manager, Environmental Site Assessment & Remediation (ESAR), please visit www.phharcenv.com. PHH ARC is part of The Pinchin Group of companies across Canada, who offer collective and diversified environmental consulting services from coast-to-coast. For more information about The Pinchin Group, please visit www.thepinchingroup.com.

To apply directly for this opportunity, please e-mail your cover letter and resume (in one file), stating the job title and ESAA in the subject line, to [email protected].

PHH ARC is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We appreciate the interest of all applicants, but only those selected for an interview will be contacted.

Specialist, Environment and Sustainable Development

EPCOR, Electricity Operations has an opportunity for an experienced Environmental and Sustainable Development Specialist to join the Health, Safety and Environment Team on a temporary basis.

The Specialist, Environment and Sustainable Development (SD) is accountable for assisting Electricity Operations in successfully managing environmental risk. This includes the development, implementation, maintenance and governance of environmental systems and programs and achieving the required outcomes with time spans (longest target completion time) of up to 3 - 12 months.

Specialist Environment and Sustainable Development is accountable to Director, HSE, and operates within the context and prescribed limits established by the Director, HSE. The accountabilities of this role include, but are not limited to: • Providing input to the Director’s plans, ensuring an appropriate understanding of the Electricity Operations strategy and ensuring on-going effective relationships between other positions in EPCOR.

• Identifying necessary budget requirements for the provision of environmental services. Managing the annual environmental budget including planning and variance reporting. Providing budgetary input to operational groups for long term planning and projects with environmental components. • Ensuring delivery of optimal results against appropriate performance metrics. • Ensuring optimal deliverables through effective cross-functional accountability and authority practices (when relevant) within the Specialist’s context and prescribed limits. • Developing, implementing and reviewing processes, ensuring compliance to policies, standards, regulatory requirements and ensuring mitigation of risks. • Reviewing and communicating changes to regulations, industry best practices and EPCOR's performance for the continual improvement of EPCOR's policy, programs and systems. Recommending, revising and implementing any changes to EPCOR’s environmental policies, procedures and processes as required. • Monitoring for assurance and compliance to the management system including the policy, elements, processes, and regulatory requirements to ensure mitigation of risks. • Liaising and coordinating with external agencies (e.g. Alberta Environment, CEA), with the goal of establishing strong business relationships while achieving requirements and initiatives. • Providing technical support to EMS Management Representative in the development, implementation and maintenance of EPCOR’s environmental management system, which is ISO 14001 registered. • Planning and implementing programs to assess, manage and mitigate environmental risks through interpretation of regulations, use of sound technical sampling and contamination knowledge and assignment of appropriate resources as required. • Providing input and technical expertise to training and development programs. • Demonstrating a high performance, high discipline, safe, accountable, focused, innovative and achievement- oriented, easy to do business with manner of working. • Providing guidance and direction to the operations of the Westend Soil and Water Facility ensuring compliance with regulations and industry best practices.

The successful candidate will possess the following qualifications:

• Post-secondary education and relevant accreditation in Environmental Management or related discipline (i.e. B.Sc., B.A.Sc.) from a recognized educational institute. • Minimum 5 years relevant and applicable environmental experience. • Demonstrated knowledge of ISO 14001 EMS. • Knowledge of municipal, provincial and federal regulations/legislation is required. • Strong knowledge of industry practices and the ability provide effective solutions when issues arise. • Demonstrable ability to use auditing and management systems. • In-depth knowledge of contamination assessment and remediation. • Excellent written and verbal communication skills and employee relations skills. • Experience conducting incident investigations, audits, and creating/delivering training materials. • Knowledge and experience with project management, risk analysis, and development of mitigation strategies. • Clearance on a security background check and professional reference checks are required. • Must be legally entitled to work in Canada. A copy of a valid work permit may be required.

All EPCOR employees must demonstrate the following behaviours:

• Taking Initiative • Taking Ownership • Focusing on Continuous Improvement • Adapting to Change • Acting with Integrity • Collaborating with Others

Building relationships is one of your strengths and you possess the proven ability to establish and maintain positive working relationships with a large number of internal stakeholders at multiple levels across the business, in addition to external contacts as required. The successful candidate will possess excellent written and verbal communication skills. To succeed in this position, one must possess strong analytical, planning, organizational and problem-solving skills. These abilities must be supplemented with the demonstrated ability to assess, prioritize and manage multiple simultaneous deliverables under tight deadlines. The successful applicant will be self-motivated and customer-oriented individuals who are effective in translating ideas and concepts into tangible results.

As our best candidate, you possess exceptional attention to detail and problem solving skills. You are able to work effectively in and contribute to a team environment, and can influence cross-functional teams when needed. Your exceptional verbal and written communications skills aid you in expressing concepts and technical information effectively to diverse audiences, as well as effectively delivering key compliance and risk mitigation messages and concepts to a variety of audiences. You apply best practices and demonstrate positive tangible effects on the HS&E culture, performance metrics, and recognition.

In addition, the successful applicant will demonstrate that they can keep an open mind, balance customer requirements with business and software boundaries and negotiate win-win situations. They are a go-to person with a positive attitude who understands how the use of language, tone of voice and body language are important to effectively communicate to customers. The ideal candidate will be fully engaged and committed to EPCOR’s goals and objectives and can make spur of the moment decisions while acting in the best interest of the company.

This is a temporary full-time position for up to 18 months to provide maternity leave coverage.

For more information on this exciting career opportunity, please refer to IRC28247 on the EPCOR career website www.epcor.ca/careers

Application Deadline: Midnight December 11, 2013

When applying online through our EPCOR Careers website please list this advertising website as the “Posting Source and Source Name”. Thank you

Air Emissions Lead

MAKE YOUR MARK WHILE YOU GROW YOUR CAREER At Canadian Natural we believe our employees are the key to unlocking asset potential. As one of the largest independent crude oil and natural gas producers in the world, our balanced asset mix creates opportunity for people who want to be part of a challenging and competitive industry. Join our team as we create value through innovation.

COMPETITIVE SALARY - STOCK OPTIONS - STOCK SAVINGS PLAN - ANNUAL BONUSES – BENEFITS! Visit www.cnrl-careers.com/candidateinfo to learn more about our Total Rewards Package and much more!

YOUR OPPORTUNITY: Apply your technical expertise to Canadian Natural’s North American diverse air emission projects. You will be responsible for Canadian Natural’s air emission reporting and air issues management for our exploration and production operations, and for supporting emission reporting at the Horizon oil sands mine and upgrader. Responsibilities also including tracking emerging air issues and working with other internal groups to develop strategies for managing these. This position coordinates corporate reporting on all operations including oil sands, conventional and international.

• Leading the air emissions team to manage emission reporting, to meet regulatory requirements, and to meet needs of internal and external stakeholders • Participating in industry and government committees relating to greenhouse gases (GHG), air emissions, and ambient air monitoring • Managing the air-related components of regulatory applications and authorizations, for both new applications and renewals

LEADERSHIP: Boost your career at a supervisory level by applying your technical expertise, problem solving, and leadership skills to: • Produce summaries of business implications from technical issues • Provide technical advice to team members, actively participate in their career development, and appropriately manage team workload

HOW WILL YOU MAKE YOUR MARK? • Providing technical support for stakeholder consultations on air-related matters • Ensuring data systems and procedures support a high quality of air emission data

• Coordinating with other departments and field operations in developing and implementing procedures to measure, monitor and report emissions • Ensuring that environmental regulatory compliance regarding air emissions issues are met, including tracking recent policy changes or research • Providing support to Environmental Management Systems and finding areas for improvement

QUALIFICATIONS: • Typically 10+ years of air emissions experience in resource operations with an engineering or science technical diploma or degree • Familiarity with and understanding of: o Air emissions issues and inventories o Reporting to the National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI) and the Specified Gas Emitters Regulation (SGER) o Emission reporting systems

HEALTH AND SAFETY: At Canadian Natural, safety is a core value. We conduct all of our operations in a way that identifies, minimizes and mitigates harm to the health and safety of employees, contractors, the public and the environment.

Only those candidates selected for an interview will be contacted.

To apply online and see related Environmental/Regulatory roles at CNRL, visit: www.cnrl- careers.com/jobs/Environmental-Regulatory

Canadian Natural Resources Limited - CNRL - is a publicly traded company on the TSX and NYSE as CNQ.

Manager – Environmental Due Diligence

Key Responsibilities

• Manage the day-to-day operations for GENIVAR’s Due Diligence group based out of the Calgary office • Coordinate and review Phase I ESAs, compliance audits, and liability assessments for oil and gas facilities, industrial and commercial properties across western Canada • Coordinate and review environmental due diligence assessments for property acquisitions and divestitures • Provide technical and logistical support to field personnel for field-based projects • Liaison with clients, regulatory agencies, other GENIVAR business units and stakeholders regarding projects and environmental issues • Manage the performance and professional development of technical staff • Attract and retain key talent by actively recruiting, coaching, and mentoring staff • Create succession and development plans for key staff • Lead the development of new business opportunities in this region • Implement corporate and client safety programs

Qualifications

• University degree in environmental science, engineering or related discipline • 10 years of relevant upstream oil and gas environmental consulting experience • Member in good standing with an applicable professional association • Certified Environmental Auditor (CEA) designation is considered a strong asset • Proven success in client relationship management • Strong leadership and motivational skills with the ability to develop positive working relationships in a team environment • Highly developed mentoring capabilities for technical staff • Understanding of provincial and federal regulations, acts, and guidelines • Ability to deal with changing situations, tight deadlines and conflicting demands and priorities • Excellent written, technical reporting and communication skills

• Proficient with Microsoft Office Suite and database entry • Valid and fully licensed driver in Alberta • The desire to succeed in a dynamic and progressive global organization

To apply for this position please refer to the GENIVAR Website at http://careers.genivar.com/, job posting 27-0533.

GENIVAR is committed to the principles of employment equity. Only the candidates selected will be contacted.

Manager – Environment

Key Responsibilities

• Manage the day-to-day operations for GENIVAR’s environment group in the Calgary region • Lead GENIVAR Alberta’s oil and gas sector for environmental services including the identification and acquisition of work, and coordination and oversight of client activity • Provide thought leadership in environmental services required by the sector • Work closely with the Discipline Leads and Management Team • Provide technical and logistical support to field personnel for field-based projects • Review environmental site assessment, remediation & reclamation work plans, project cost estimates and technical reports • Liaison with clients, regulatory agencies, other GENIVAR business units and stakeholders regarding work plans, projects and environmental issues • Manage the overall performance and professional development of staff • Attract and retain key talent by creating an effective work environment and actively recruiting, coaching, and mentoring staff • Create succession and development plans for key staff • Implement corporate and client safety programs • Understand, live and nurture our values.

Qualifications

• Strong leadership and motivational skills with the ability to develop positive working relationships in a team environment • University degree in environmental science, engineering or related discipline • 15 years of relevant upstream oil and gas environmental consulting experience • Member in good standing with an applicable professional association • Proven success in client relationship management at all levels of the client organization • Proven success in people development and growth • Thorough understanding of Alberta remediation and reclamation guidelines • Excellent written, technical reporting and communication skills • Proficient with Microsoft Office Suite and the use of online system • Valid and fully licensed driver in Alberta • The desire to succeed in a dynamic and progressive global organization

To apply for this position please refer to the GENIVAR website at http://careers.genivar.com/, job posting 27-0550.

GENIVAR is committed to the principles of employment equity. Only the candidates selected will be contacted.