Environmental Response Regulations (SOR/2019-252)

Interpretation

Marginal note:Definitions

1 The following definitions apply in these Regulations.

Act

Act means the Canada Shipping Act, 2001. (Loi)

area of environmental sensitivities

area of environmental sensitivities means an area containing threatened, vulnerable or endangered species or locations of cultural or high socio-economic significance. (milieux sensibles)

PART 1Vessels

Classes of Vessels

Marginal note:Classes

• 2 (1) The following classes of vessels are prescribed for the purposes of subsection 167(1) of the Act:

  • (a) oil tankers of 150 gross tonnage or more;

  • (b) vessels, other than oil tankers, of 400 gross tonnage or more that carry oil as cargo or as fuel; and

  • (c) vessels that carry oil as cargo or as fuel and that are engaged in towing or pushing at least one other vessel that carries oil as cargo or as fuel, if the combined gross tonnage of the vessels is 150 gross tonnage or more.

• Marginal note:Exclusions

  (2) The classes of vessels that are prescribed by subsection (1) do not include

  • (a) foreign vessels that are only transiting in the territorial sea of Canada or the exclusive economic zone of Canada and are not engaged in the loading or unloading of oil during transit;

  • (b) pleasure craft; or

  • (c) government vessels, naval auxiliary vessels or vessels owned or operated by a foreign state and used only on government non-commercial service.

• Marginal note:Definition of oil tanker

  (3) In this section, oil tanker means a vessel constructed or adapted primarily to carry oil in bulk in its cargo spaces and includes the following vessels that are carrying a cargo or part cargo of oil in bulk:

  • (a) a combination carrier, which is a vessel designed to carry oil or solid cargoes in bulk;

  • (b) an NLS tanker, which is a vessel constructed or adapted to carry a cargo of noxious liquid substances in bulk and includes an oil tanker that is certified to carry a cargo or part cargo of noxious liquid substances in bulk; and

  • (c) a gas carrier, which is a cargo vessel constructed or adapted for the carriage in bulk of any liquefied gas or other products listed in Chapter 19 of the International Code for the Construction and Equipment of Ships Carrying Liquefied Gases in Bulk, published by the International Maritime Organization.

Exception — Arrangement with a Response Organization

Marginal note:Exception

3 Paragraph 167(1)(a) and subparagraphs 167(1)(b)(ii) and (iii) of the Act do not apply in respect of vessels that are in waters north of latitude 60° N.

Maximum Quantity of Oil

Marginal note:Maximum quantity

4 For the purposes of paragraph 167(1)(a) of the Act, the prescribed maximum quantity of oil is 10,000 tonnes.

PART 2Oil Handling Facilities

Classes of Facilities

Marginal note:Classes

5 For the purposes of sections 167.1 to 167.4 and subsections 168(1) and 168.01(1) of the Act, classes of oil handling facilities at which operations are carried out in relation to the loading or unloading of oil to or from a vessel referred to in section 2 are established according to their oil transfer rate as set out in the following table:

Exception — Arrangement with a Response Organization

Marginal note:Exception

6 Paragraph 168(1)(a) and subparagraphs 168(1)(b)(ii) and (iii) of the Act do not apply in respect of oil handling facilities that are located north of latitude 60° N.

Maximum Quantity of Oil

Marginal note:Maximum quantity

7 For the purposes of paragraph 168(1)(a) of the Act, the prescribed maximum quantity of oil is 10,000 tonnes.

Notification of Proposed Operations

Marginal note:Timing — section 167.1 of the Act

8 For the purposes of section 167.1 of the Act, the prescribed time to notify the Minister of the proposed operations relating to the loading or unloading of oil to or from vessels is at least 180 days before the commencement of those operations.

Submission of Plans

Marginal note:Time limit — section 167.4 of the Act

9 For the purposes of section 167.4 of the Act, the time within which to submit the prevention and emergency plans referred to in that section to the Minister is one year after the day on which these Regulations come into force.

Oil Pollution Prevention Plan

Marginal note:Content

10 The oil pollution prevention plan must contain the following:

• (a) the position of the person who is responsible for supervising in person the loading or unloading of oil to or from a vessel;

• (b) the types and quantity of equipment for use in the loading or unloading of oil to or from a vessel and the measures to be taken in order to meet the manufacturer’s specifications in respect of the maintenance and certification of that equipment;

• (c) the procedures to be followed by the oil handling facility’s personnel before and during the loading or unloading of oil to or from a vessel;

• (d) the procedures to be followed in order to meet the requirements of subsection 38(2) of the Vessel Pollution and Dangerous Chemicals Regulations and in order to reduce the rate of flow or pressure in a safe and efficient manner when the supervisor on board a vessel gives notice of the stopping of the loading or unloading of oil to or from the vessel to the person referred to in paragraph (a);

• (e) the measures to be taken in order to meet the requirements of section 33 of the Vessel Pollution and Dangerous Chemicals Regulations and, in the event of failure of the means of communication referred to in that section, in order to ensure that effective two-way communication between the person referred to in paragraph (a) and the supervisor on board the vessel is continuously maintained before and during the loading or unloading of oil to or from the vessel;

• (f) a description of the lighting to be provided in order to meet the requirements of section 34 of the Vessel Pollution and Dangerous Chemicals Regulations;

• (g) documentation that demonstrates that the transfer conduit at the oil handling facility meets the requirements of subsection 35(1) of the Vessel Pollution and Dangerous Chemicals Regulations;

• (h) the measures to be taken in order to meet the requirements of subsection 35(3) of the Vessel Pollution and Dangerous Chemicals Regulations;

• (i) the procedures to be followed by the person referred to in paragraph (a) in order to meet the requirements of subsection 35(4) of the Vessel Pollution and Dangerous Chemicals Regulations;

• (j) the procedures to be followed by the operator of the oil handling facility in order to prevent a discharge of oil;

• (k) a description of the training provided, or to be provided, to the oil handling facility’s personnel who are engaged in the loading or unloading of oil respecting the procedures to be followed in order to prevent an oil pollution incident, including the frequency of the training; and

• (l) the procedures to be followed for the review and updating of the plan in order to meet the requirements of section 12.

Oil Pollution Emergency Plan

Marginal note:Content

• 11 (1) The operator of an oil handling facility must demonstrate in its oil pollution emergency plan that the operator has the ability to meet the requirements relating to the procedures, equipment and resources referred to in section 13 by providing the following information:

  • (a) the procedures to be followed in order to respond to an oil pollution incident;

  • (b) in respect of each type of oil product that is loaded or unloaded to or from a vessel, an oil pollution scenario that

    • (i) in the case of a facility of a class set out in the table to section 5 located at or south of latitude 60° N, describes the procedures to be followed to respond to a discharge of a quantity of that oil product of at least

      • (A) 1 m³, in the case of a class 1 facility,

      • (B) 5 m³, in the case of a class 2 facility,

      • (C) 15 m³, in the case of a class 3 facility, and

      • (D) 50 m³, in the case of a class 4 facility,

    • (ii) in the case of a facility located north of latitude 60° N, describes the procedures to be followed to respond to a discharge of the total quantity of the oil product that could be loaded or unloaded to or from a vessel, up to a maximum of 10,000 tonnes,

    • (iii) identifies the assumptions on which that scenario is based,

    • (iv) identifies the factors that were taken into account when developing those assumptions, including:

      • (A) the nature of the oil product,

      • (B) the types of vessels to or from which the oil product is loaded or unloaded,

      • (C) the tides and currents that exist at the facility,

      • (D) the meteorological conditions that exist at the facility,

      • (E) the surrounding areas of environmental sensitivities that would likely be affected by a discharge,

      • (F) the measures to be taken to minimize the effects of a discharge, and

      • (G) the time necessary to carry out a response to an oil pollution incident in accordance with these Regulations;

  • (c) the activities to be carried out in the event of an oil pollution incident, the order in which and the time within which those activities are to be carried out, and the name and the position of the persons responsible for carrying them out, taking into account the following priorities:

    • (i) the safety of the facility’s personnel,

    • (ii) the safety of the facility,

    • (iii) the safety of the communities living adjacent to the facility,

    • (iv) the prevention of fire and explosion,

    • (v) the minimization of the effects of a discharge,

    • (vi) the reporting of the oil pollution incident,

    • (vii) the environmental impact of a discharge, and

    • (viii) the measures to be taken for clean-up following the oil pollution incident, including with respect to areas of environmental sensitivities and surrounding ecosystems;

  • (d) the types and quantity of equipment and resources referred to in subsection 13(2) that are available for immediate use at the location of the discharge;

  • (e) the name of each person or organization and the location from which the equipment and resources will be obtained in the event of an oil pollution incident, and the manner in which the equipment and resources will be deployed at the location of the incident;

  • (f) the name and the position of the persons who are authorized and responsible for ensuring that the response to an oil pollution incident is immediate, effective and sustained;

  • (g) the name or the position of each person who has received oil pollution incident response training or any other training in relation to an oil pollution incident;

  • (h) a description of the training provided, or to be provided, to the oil handling facility’s personnel or other individuals in preparation for the responsibilities that they may be requested to undertake in response to an oil pollution incident;

  • (i) an oil pollution incident exercise program established to evaluate the effectiveness of all aspects of the procedures, equipment and resources that are identified in the plan, including exercises to be coordinated with vessels engaged in the loading or unloading of oil, vessels used to respond to oil pollution incidents, response organizations, the Department of Transport and the Canadian Coast Guard;

  • (j) the measures to be taken by the operator, in accordance with applicable federal and provincial regulations relating to health and safety, to protect the health and safety of personnel and of other individuals who are involved in responding to an oil pollution incident at the operator’s request;

  • (k) the procedures to be followed for the review and updating of the plan in order to meet the requirements of section 12;

  • (l) the procedures to be followed by the operator in order to meet the requirements of section 39 of the Vessel Pollution and Dangerous Chemicals Regulations; and

  • (m) the procedures to be followed by the operator to investigate any oil pollution incident in order to determine the causes and contributing factors and the actions that are needed to reduce the risk of reoccurrence.

• Marginal note:Other plans

  (2) The operator must ensure that the oil pollution emergency plan takes into account any contingency plan for its geographical area that may affect the facility’s plan, including contingency plans that are issued by the Canadian Coast Guard or provincial or municipal governments.

• Marginal note:Notification — exercise

  (3) The operator must submit a written description of any exercise referred to in paragraph (1)(i) to the Minister at least 30 days before the day on which it conducts the exercise.