Transporters of liquid petroleum products in British Columbia now will need to have provincial plans in place to manage a spill.
The new regulations requiring spill preparedness apply to pipelines, as well as rail and trucking operations transporting over 10,000 litres.
The regulations extend liability for full cost of response and recovery to a combination of both the owner as well as the transporter of the substance.
Transporters will be required to have contingency plans in place before product is moved, and anyone who causes a spill can now be directed by the Province to develop and implement a recovery plan. Recovery plans outline the work that is required following the initial response to an incident to ensure environmental damage is fully addressed.
Spill response legislation to establish new requirements and create new offences and penalties was passed in 2016. This first set of new regulations passed by the current government activates that legislation, and contains provisions that:
- define “regulated persons” as pipeline, rail and trucking transporters of liquid petroleum products over 10,000 litres;
- require the development and implementation of spill contingency plans;
- define requirements for drills and exercises;
- mandate record-keeping for spill preparedness and response;
- require enhanced reporting and set additional cost recovery mechanisms; and
- enable government to require plans for recovery.
Learn More:
Do You Have
Current, effective, written Spill Response Procedures and/or a Plan?
Appropriate Spill Response Resources such as Spill Kits?
Suitably trained personnel?
It’s the LAW!
Both BC Ministry of Environment and WorkSafe BC demand it!
Rocky Mountain Environmental can assist you with:
- Developing or updating your written spill response procedures
- Supplying Spill Kits/equipment appropriate to the products you handle
- Training your personnel in spill response
Call us to inquire.