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In This Volume

  • 55.1 (1) In this section, “relocated industrial or commercial site soil” means soil that has been relocated from a site that has been used for a specified industrial or commercial use.
  • (2) If the total amount of relocated industrial or commercial site soil present at a site is greater than the prescribed amount, the owner of the site must do the following, as required by the regulations:
  • (a) prepare plans, and carry out actions, to prevent, contain, control and monitor the adverse effects, and potential adverse effects, on the environment or human health caused by the soil being present at the site;
  • (b) provide to the director the prescribed information.

2020-3-3, effective March 1, 2023 (B.C. Reg. 128/2022).

REGULATIONS

Contaminated Sites Regulation

Removal of Soil

Along with amendments to s. 55 and enactment of s. 55.1 of the EMA, Part 8 of the Regulation, Removal of Soil (ss. 40 to 46.1), was renamed and significantly amended effective March 1, 2023. Before that date, persons relocating contaminated soil were required to enter into a Contaminated Site Relocation Agreement (“CSRA”) with the owner or operator of a receiving site and the Director of Waste Management. Effective March 1, 2023, with some exceptions, a person removing soil from a “source site” to a “receiving site” must, pursuant to s. 55(1.1) of the EMA and ss. 42 and 43 of the CSR, submit a Soil Relocation Notification Form (found in Schedule 8 of the Regulation) to the B.C. Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy at least one week and no more than two years in advance. Information from the form will be posted to a public database.

“High volume sites” (those receiving 20,000 cubic metres or more) must be registered with the minister in a specified form and be managed in accordance with a soil management plan developed by a qualified professional, pursuant to s. 55.1 of the EMA and ss. 46 and 46.1 of the Regulation.

With the elimination of the CSRA process, contaminated soil regulation will be done through other existing Ministry requirements contained in the EMA and the CSR. These include waste discharge permits under the Waste Discharge Regulation, B.C. Reg. 320/2004; independent remediation requirements; and issuance of certificates of compliance and approvals in principle.

Part 8: Division 2 – Removal of Soil

Removal of soil

  • 42 (1) Section 55(1.1) of the Act applies to the removal of soil from a source site to a receiving site unless the soil is exempt under
  • (a) section 55(1.4) of the Act,
  • (b) section 55(5) of the Act, or
  • (c) subsection (2) of this section.
  • (2) A removal of soil to a receiving site is exempt from section 55(1.1) of the Act in any of the following circumstances:
  • (a) the receiving site is outside of British Columbia;
  • (b) the receiving site is on federal land, other than a reserve within the meaning of the Indian Act (Canada);
  • (c) the source site has not been used other than for a low-impact land use or mining of marl, earth, soil, peat, sand, gravel, dimension stone, rock or any natural substance that is used for a construction purpose on land and the soil was
    • (i) extracted in accordance with a permit under the Mines Act, and
    • (ii) transported directly to the receiving site;
  • (d) the soil is preload that was originally extracted from a site used for a low-impact land use, whether or not the source site is used for a low-impact land use;
  • (e) the soil is winter-maintenance sand.
  • (3) For the purposes of section 55(1.4) of the Act, the following amount of soil is prescribed as exempt from section 55(1.1) of the Act:
  • (a) in the case of soil removed from a source site classified under a director’s protocol as low, moderate, medium or intermediate risk, the prescribed amount is 30 cubic metres calculated in accordance with subsection (4) of this section;
  • (b) in the case of soil removed from a source site classified under a director’s protocol as high risk, no amount is prescribed.
  • (4) For the purposes of subsection (3)(a), the amount of soil removed is to be calculated by adding the amounts removed over the course of the same project in any period of 2 years.

[en. B.C. Reg. 128/2022, App. 2.]

Notice of removal of soil

  • 43 (1) A notice under section 55(1.1) of the Act must be
  • (a) in the form set out in Schedule 8, and
  • (b) provided to the minister by a qualified professional, through a website maintained by or on behalf of the minister, at least one week and no more than 2 years before the removal of the soil to which the notice relates.
  • (2) For the purposes of section 55(1.2)(a)(iv) of the Act, a summary of an analysis of the quality of soil must identify
  • (a) which substances in the soil or in vapours emitted from the soil were analyzed, and
  • (b) the concentrations of those substances.
  • (3) For the purposes of section 55(1.2)(a)(v) of the Act, a notice under section 55(1.1) must include the information specified in the form set out in Schedule 8.

[en. B.C. Regs. 128/2022, App. 2; 133/2022.]

Soil management plan

  • 46.1 (1) For the purposes of section 55.1(2)(a) of the Act, the owner of a high volume site must
  • (a) have a soil management plan for the site, and
  • (b) manage the site in accordance with that soil management plan until the site is closed.
  • (2) A soil management plan for a high volume site must be
  • (a) developed by a qualified professional, and
  • (b) approved by an approved professional other than the qualified professional who developed the plan.
  • (3) A soil management plan for a high volume site must
  • (a) ensure the managed soil at the site is contained so that substances in that soil do not migrate from the site in concentrations sufficient to cause contamination at another site, and
  • (b) without limiting paragraph (a),
    • (i) set out procedures for
      • (A) the detailed tracking of the source sites of the managed soil at the site and the locations at the site where the managed soil from each source site is deposited, and
      • (B) seasonal groundwater monitoring, and
    • (ii) include a plan for closure of the high volume site.
  • (4) A soil management plan under subsection (1) for a high volume site must be implemented under the supervision of a qualified professional.
  • (5) A closure plan under subsection (3)(b)(ii) must provide that the site must not be closed until
  • (a) the operator has ceased accepting relocated industrial or commercial site soil for deposit at the site, other than soil exempt under section 45(3), and
  • (b) an approved professional has given an opinion that
    • (i) the substances in the managed soil at the site are stable, in accordance with the director’s protocols, and
    • (ii) seasonal groundwater monitoring is no longer required for the purposes described in subsection (3)(a) of this section.
  • (6) An opinion referred to in subsection (5)(b) must be in writing and must set out the reasons on which the opinion is based.
  • (7) The owner of a high volume site must retain a copy of the soil management plan for the site for at least 10 years after the site is closed.

[B.C. Reg. 196/2017, effective November 1, 2017; am. B.C. Reg. 133/2022.]