Canada Gazette, Part I, Volume 151, Number 49: Regulations Amending the Regulations Prescribing Circumstances for Granting Waivers Pursuant to Section 147 of the Act

December 9, 2017

Statutory authority

Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999

Sponsoring department

Department of the Environment

REGULATORY IMPACT ANALYSIS STATEMENT

(This statement is not part of the Regulations.)

Issues

The Standing Joint Committee for the Scrutiny of Regulations (SJCSR) has identified minor issues with references to provincial and territorial legislation in the Regulations Prescribing Circumstances for Granting Waivers Pursuant to Section 147 of the Act (the Fuel Waivers Regulations or the Regulations), including an obsolete reference and the unnecessary use of terms like “as may be amended” in relation to these references.

Background

The Fuel Waivers Regulations, which came into force on June 17, 2010, prescribe the circumstances under which fuels regulations of section 140 or 145 of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (CEPA) can be temporarily waived. The Fuel Waivers Regulations allow the Minister of the Environment (the Minister) to grant temporary waivers to the requirements outlined above if there is an actual or anticipated fuel shortage, and either

Although states of emergency have been declared by provinces in the past — such as the 2016 evacuation of the residents from Fort McMurray, Alberta, due to a rampant forest fire — the Minister has not received any requests for the application of the Regulations to date and no waivers have been issued.

There are currently five regulations on fuels made under those sections of CEPA that allow for the granting of temporary waivers.

The Fuels Information Regulations, No. 1 require annual reporting on sulphur levels in fuels and one-time reporting on non-lead fuel additive content. This provides the Department of the Environment (the Department) with information regarding liquid fuel composition, particularly concerning sulphur dioxide emissions from combustion.

The Gasoline Regulations limit the concentration of lead in gasoline that is produced, imported, sold or offered for sale in Canada and limit the concentration of phosphorus in unleaded gasoline.

The Renewable Fuels Regulations require fuel producers and importers to have an average renewable content of at least 5% based on the volume of gasoline that they produce or import and at least 2% of the volume of diesel fuel and heating distillate oil that they produce and import.

The Sulphur in Diesel Fuel Regulations set maximum limits for sulphur in diesel fuel for use in on-road, off-road, rail (locomotive), vessel, and stationary engines.

The Sulphur in Gasoline Regulations limit the concentration of sulphur in gasoline that is produced, imported, and sold. These Regulations have reduced the sulphur content of gasoline by more than 90% from 1999 levels.

Objectives

The objective of the proposed Regulations Amending the Regulations Prescribing Circumstances for Granting Waivers Pursuant to Section 147 of the Act (the proposed Amendments) is to address issues, identified by the SJCSR, with references to provincial and territorial legislation in the Fuel Waivers Regulations.

Description

The proposed Amendments would replace subparagraphs 1(a)(iii) to 1(a)(xv), which describe, for each province or territory, the conditions under which the responsible authority of the province or territory declares a state of emergency under specific provincial legislation. These subparagraphs would be replaced with one subparagraph:

This change would remove all specific references to provincial or territorial legislation, which could change from time to time, potentially rendering the reference obsolete. All occurrences of the words “as amended from time to time” would thereby be removed, along with the obsolete reference.

The proposed Amendments would also slightly alter the English title of the Regulations and shorten the wording of the umbrella portion of section 1 to improve the clarity of the Regulations.

The requirements of the Regulations would not be changed.

“One-for-One” Rule

The “One-for-One” Rule would not apply to the proposed Amendments, as there would be no impact on business.

Small business lens

The small business lens would not apply to the proposed Amendments, as there would be no impact on business.

Consultation

Given that the proposed Amendments would simply make housekeeping changes and would have no impact on stakeholders, no pre-consultations were held for the proposed Amendments. Any comments received during the 60-day public comment period following publication in the Canada Gazette, Part I, including from the CEPA National Advisory Committee, (see footnote 1) will be taken into consideration before the proposed Amendments are finalized.

Rationale

The proposed Amendments would streamline the references to provincial and territorial legislation in the Regulations, in response to comments received from the SJCSR and internal analysis.

The proposed Amendments would replace 13 subsections, which describe the same conditions for the application of waivers to fuels regulations for each individual province and territory, with one subsection that covers all the provinces and territories. The Department would continue to maintain a list of the relevant sections of provincial and territorial legislation, to enable timely application of the Regulations in the event of an emergency declaration in a province or territory.

Given that the proposed Amendments would simply make housekeeping changes to the Regulations, no impacts or costs are expected.

Contacts

Cam Carruthers
Executive Director
Oil, Gas and Alternative Energy Division
Department of the Environment
351 Saint-Joseph Boulevard
Gatineau, Quebec
K1A 0H3
Telephone: 819-938-5594
Fax: 819-420-7410
Email: ec.carburants-fuels.ec@canada.ca

Matthew Watkinson
Director
Regulatory Analysis and Valuation Division
Department of the Environment
200 Sacré-Cœur Boulevard
Gatineau, Quebec
K1A 0H3
Email: ec.darv-ravd.ec@canada.ca

PROPOSED REGULATORY TEXT

Notice is given, pursuant to subsection 332(1) (see footnote a) of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (see footnote b), that the Governor in Council, pursuant to section 145 of that Act, proposes to make the annexed Regulations Amending the Regulations Prescribing Circumstances for Granting Waivers Pursuant to Section 147 of the Act.

Any person may, within 60 days after the date of publication of this notice, file with the Minister of the Environment comments with respect to the proposed Regulations or a notice of objection requesting that a board of review be established under section 333 of that Act and stating the reasons for the objection. All comments and notices must cite the Canada Gazette, Part I, and the date of publication of this notice, and be addressed to the Executive Director, Oil, Gas and Alternative Energy Division, Environmental Protection Branch, Department of the Environment, 351 St Joseph Blvd, Gatineau, Quebec K1A 0H3 (email: ec.carburants-fuels.ec@canada.ca).

Any person who provides information to the Minister of the Environment may submit with the information a request for confidentiality under section 313 of that Act.

Ottawa, November 30, 2017

Jurica Čapkun
Assistant Clerk of the Privy Council

Regulations Amending the Regulations Prescribing Circumstances for Granting Waivers Pursuant to Section 147 of the Act

Amendments

1 The title of the English version of the Regulations Prescribing Circumstances for Granting Waivers Pursuant to Section 147 of the Act (see footnote 2) is replaced by the following:

Regulations Prescribing Circumstances for Granting Waivers Under Section 147 of the Act

2 (1) The portion of section 1 of the Regulations before paragraph (a) is replaced by the following:

1 The circumstances referred to in section 147 of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 are the following:

(2) Paragraph 1(a) of the Regulations is amended by adding “or” at the end of subparagraph (ii) and by replacing subparagraphs (iii) to (xv) with the following:

Coming into Force

3 These Regulations come into force on the day on which they are registered.

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