Contaminated Sites Workshop Fort St. John

The BCEIA was in Fort St. John recently as guests of the BC Ministry of Environment’s Land Remediation Section and participant in said department’s Contaminated Sites BC Update.  This two-day seminar, situated squarely in the heart of the province’s booming O&G community, offered an in-depth overview of the many environmental rules & protocols that stakeholders must adhere to.

Said overview is well warranted, especially, when one considers the juxtaposition of pre-dominantly Alberta-based energy & environment operators, operating under BC jurisdictional purview, in a section of British Columbia that is for all intents and purposes... Albertan.

Seminar topics included items such as brownfields renewal; the Section’s compliance strategy; protocols for bioremediation of hydrocarbon contaminated soil and site risk classification; and guidance for groundwater and vapour investigations.

The BCEIA’s Executive Director, Jeff Eltom, underscored the key role that BCEIA member companies have to offer in this important sector and more importantly, where O&G contractors can quickly reference member service capabilities using the BCEIA EPS Directory at www.bceia.com. 

Highlights of the BCEIA’s Hazardous Waste Compliance Improvement Project (HWCIP) were also presented namely:

1. the launch of British Columbia’s dedicated hazardous materials management information platform www.hazwastebc.com;  
2. hazwastebc factsheets (a series of sector-specific guides freely available for public download and distribution) and;
3. the BCEIA Got Hazwaste? Initiative which utilizes the newly published BC hazwaste receiver/processor capability directory.

However, the biggest announcement was reserved for the end of Mr. Eltom’s presentation wherein he unveiled the BCEIA HWCIP Audit Program.

The HWCIP Audit Program is a guideline and audit protocol package specifically designed by BCEIA member SLR Consulting Ltd. and the Association’s Hazardous Waste standing committee.  Facilitated initially by SLR, the Program’s objective is to assist the hazardous materials management community determine their own level of compliance under the BC HWR, via an independent & confidential audit process –the costs of which– are borne by the BCEIA up to a maximum of 50%. 

The HWCIP Audit Program is open to all provincial hazardous waste stakeholders.  A participant list for both auditors and/or auditees is presently being compiled. 

For more information on this and all other HWCIP activities, please contact the BCEIA directly at 604.683.2751.