Reduction in the Release of Volatile Organic Compounds (Storage and Loading of Volatile Petroleum Liquids) Regulations (SOR/2025-88)

Interpretation

Marginal note:Definitions

• 1 (1) The following definitions apply in these Regulations.

  Act

  Act means the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999. (Loi)

  ASTM

  ASTM means ASTM International, formerly known as the American Society for Testing and Materials. (ASTM)

  authorized official

  authorized official means

  • (a) in respect of an operator that is a corporation, an officer of the corporation who is authorized to act on its behalf;

  • (b) in respect of an operator that is an entity other than a corporation, an individual who is authorized to act on its behalf; and

  • (c) in respect of an operator who is an individual, that individual or another individual who is authorized to act on their behalf.

  It includes a person who has been designated in writing as a delegate to an officer or individual referred to in paragraph (a), (b) or (c), as the case may be, as well as a person who has been appointed to a position in replacement of such a person. (agent autorisé)

  design specifications

  design specifications means documents and records relating to any equipment, instrument or monitoring device that establish how the equipment, instrument or monitoring device must be manufactured, constructed, used or maintained to achieve its intended function and level of performance, including technical data, engineering drawings, standards, material specifications, manufacturer specifications, commissioning checklists, data sheets, manuals and standard operating procedures. (spécifications de conception)

  emissions control equipment

  emissions control equipment means any type of equipment – including a vapour control system, temporary vapour control system, internal floating roof or external floating roof or pressure-vacuum vent, as well as alternative emissions control equipment referred to in section 80 – that is used to limit VOC emissions from tanks and loading racks. (équipement de contrôle des émissions)

  existing tank

  existing tank means a tank that is in service on or before the day on which these Regulations come into force. (réservoir existant)

  existing loading rack

  existing loading rack means a loading rack that is in service on or before the day on which these Regulations come into force. (rampe de chargement existante)

  existing vapour control system

  existing vapour control system means a vapour control system that is under construction or in service at the facility on or before the day on which these Regulations come into force. (système de contrôle des vapeurs existant)

  external floating roof

  external floating roof means a floating roof that is installed in a tank without a fixed roof such that the upper surface of the floating roof is exposed to atmospheric conditions. (toit flottant externe)

  facility

  facility means any buildings, other structures and stationary equipment that are used in the storage or loading of volatile petroleum liquid and located on a single property or on several properties that have at least one operator in common, are connected by piping that transfers volatile petroleum liquid and are separated by a property boundary to property boundary distance of no more than 2 km. (installation)

  fenceline monitoring program

  fenceline monitoring program means,

  • (a) a standard, modified or alternative fenceline monitoring program that meets the requirements of the Reduction in the Release of Volatile Organic Compounds Regulations (Petroleum Sector);

  • (b) a fenceline monitoring program in accordance with section 60 of the Petrochemical - Industry Standard issued under Ontario Regulation 419/05 (Air Pollution – Local Air Quality); or

  • (c) a fenceline monitoring program that meets all the requirements of the following methods published by the United States Environmental Protection Agency:  

    • (i) Method 325A — Volatile Organic Compounds from Fugitive and Area Sources: Sampler Deployment and VOC Sample Collection, except that the sampling period may range between 13 and 15 days, and

    • (ii) Method 325B — Volatile Organic Compounds from Fugitive and Area Sources: Sampler Preparation and Analysis, except that all samples must be analyzed for benzene. (programme de surveillance du périmètre)

  fixed roof

  fixed roof means a roof that is permanently attached to a tank. (toit fixe)

  fixed roof tank

  fixed roof tank means a tank that is equipped with a fixed roof but is not equipped with an internal floating roof. (réservoir à toit fixe)

  flare

  flare means any type of combustion device without an enclosed combustion chamber, including a burn pit designed to burn liquids or mixtures of gases and liquids. (torchère)

  floating roof

  floating roof means a structure that floats on the surface of a liquid and whose purpose is to limit vapour loss of that liquid to the environment. (toit flottant)

  gasoline

  gasoline means

  • (a) a fuel that is sold or represented as gasoline with a benzene concentration of less than or equal to 1.5% by volume; or

  • (b) a petroleum distillate, or a mixture of petroleum distillates, oxygenates or additives, that is suitable for use in a spark ignition engine and has the following characteristics, as determined using the applicable test method listed in the National Standard of Canada standard CAN/CGSB-3.5-2021 entitled Automotive gasoline:

    • (i) a vapour pressure of at least 35 kPa,

    • (ii) an antiknock index of at least 80,

    • (iii) a distillation temperature at which 10% of the fuel has evaporated of not less than 35°C and not greater than 70°C,

    • (iv) a distillation temperature at which 50% of the fuel has evaporated of not less than 60°C and not greater than 120°C, and

    • (v) a benzene concentration of less than or equal to 1.5% by volume. (essence)

  guide pole

  guide pole means a structure that is placed in a tank equipped with a floating roof for the purpose of preventing the floating roof from rotating within the tank or for the purpose of monitoring or sampling the liquid inside the tank. (poteau de guidage)

  high benzene loading rack

  high benzene loading rack means a loading rack that is designated under paragraph 13(a) or used to load a volatile petroleum liquid with a benzene concentration greater than 20% by weight. (rampe de chargement de liquide à haute concentration en benzène)

  high benzene tank

  high benzene tank means a tank that is designated under paragraph 12(a) or contains a volatile petroleum liquid with a benzene concentration greater than 20% by weight. (réservoir de liquide à haute concentration en benzène)

  inerted tank

  inerted tank means a tank that opens to the atmosphere only through a pressure-vacuum vent and that is supplied with a non-hydrocarbon inert gas such that the atmosphere inside the tank contains insufficient oxygen to support combustion. (réservoir inerté)

  internal floating roof

  internal floating roof means a floating roof that is installed in a tank with a fixed roof such that the upper surface of the floating roof is protected from atmospheric conditions. (toit flottant interne)

  liquid

  liquid means any type of liquid, including volatile petroleum liquid. (liquide)

  liquid leak

  liquid leak means a leak for which three drops of liquid per minute or more form at the source as measured from the average number of drops per minute observed visually over a period of three minutes. (fuite de liquide)

  loading

  loading means any transfer of a liquid into a vehicle tank or from a vehicle tank into a fixed roof tank. (chargement)

  loading factor

  loading factor means a numerical value that represents the level of VOC emissions from a loading rack. (facteur de chargement)

  loading rack

  loading rack means all of the stationary equipment used for loading liquids, including structures, loading arms, pumps, piping and instrumentation. (rampe de chargement)

  lower explosive limit

  lower explosive limit or LEL means the lowest concentration of a combustible vapour in the air that may ignite at a given temperature and pressure. (limite inférieure d’explosivité ou LIE)

  lower explosive limit percentage

  lower explosive limit percentage or LEL% means the ratio of the observed concentration of a combustible vapour to the LEL of that vapour, expressed as a percentage. (pourcentage de la limite inférieure d’explosivité ou pourcentage LIE)

  occupied building

  occupied building means a structure located outside of a facility’s property boundary that is used as a residence, workplace, place of education, medical establishment, childcare establishment or social or community centre, including a mobile home or portable building, but does not include

  • (a) other mobile structures such as a tent, trailer or houseboat;

  • (b) structures in which persons are present for less than one hour per day; or

  • (c) structures whose initial construction began after the day on which these Regulations first applied to the facility. (bâtiment occupé)

  operator

  operator, in respect of a facility, means

  • (a) if there is one person who operates, has charge of, manages or controls the facility, that person;

  • (b) if there is more than one person who operates, has charge of, manages or controls the facility, the person who, under a written agreement between all those persons, is designated to be the operator; and

  • (c) if the persons referred to in paragraphs (a) and (b) cannot be identified, the owner of the facility. (exploitant)

  petroleum

  petroleum means

  • (a) naturally occurring hydrocarbons, such as natural gas, natural gas condensate, crude oil or bitumen;

  • (b) hydrocarbon derivatives of the substances referred to in paragraph (a), such as fuels, lubricating oils, petrochemicals or asphalt;

  • (c) coal tar and coal tar distillates; or

  • (d) synthetic or semi-synthetic analogues of the substances referred to in paragraphs (a) to (c). (pétrole)

  petroleum processing equipment

  petroleum processing equipment means equipment that is used to physically or chemically separate, transform or modify petroleum, including a distillation column, reactor or coker, but does not include equipment used only for storing, handling or blending petroleum, such as a tank, loading rack, pump or pipeline. (équipement de traitement du pétrole)

  population centre

  population centre means a population centre — as defined by Statistics Canada in its publication entitled Dictionary, Census of Population, 2021 — with a population greater than 20,000. (centre de population)

  pressure-vacuum vent

  pressure-vacuum vent means a device that permits the flow of gas to or from the environment in the event of excess pressure or vacuum inside a fixed roof tank.(évent à pression-dépression)

  primary seal

  primary seal means, as the case may be,

  • (a) on a floating roof that has two or more rim seals, the rim seal that is mounted closest to the surface of the liquid; or

  • (b) on a tank that has only one rim seal, that rim seal. (joint primaire)

  qualified professional

  qualified professional means a scientist or technologist who specializes in an applied science or technology applicable to their duty or function, such as engineering, engineering technology or chemistry. (professionnel qualifié)

  scheduled maintenance

  scheduled maintenance means maintenance of equipment that is scheduled to be performed on or before a date known to the operator of a facility in order to

  • (a) comply with the design specifications of the equipment;

  • (b) adhere to a schedule or project plan established by the operator in respect of the equipment; or

  • (c) ensure that the equipment complies with a regulatory requirement. (entretien prévu)

  secondary seal

  secondary seal means any rim seal mounted above the primary seal on a floating roof that has two or more rim seals. (joint secondaire)

  standard m³

  standard m³, in respect of the volume of a fluid, means cubic metres, when the fluid’s volume is measured at a temperature of 15°C and an absolute pressure of 101.325 kPa. (m³ normalisé)

  switch loading

  switch loading means the loading of a liquid that is not a volatile petroleum liquid into a vehicle tank that previously contained a volatile petroleum liquid without, before the liquid is loaded, the vapours in the vehicle tank being purged to a vapour control system or the vehicle tank being washed with a liquid that is not a volatile petroleum liquid. (chargement en alternance)

  tank

  tank means a tank, vessel, reservoir or container that is used to contain liquids, regardless of its shape or material of construction, but does not include

  • (a) a vessel that operates under pressure or as part of a closed system such that there are no expected releases to the environment while the vessel is operating under normal operating conditions, including when it is being filled or emptied and when ambient conditions are changing; or

  • (b) a cavern, underground porous rock reservoir or geological formation where liquids are stored under pressure. (réservoir)

  temporary vapour control system

  temporary vapour control system means a vapour recovery system or vapour destruction system designed for temporary or mobile use. (système temporaire de contrôle des vapeurs)

  vapour

  vapour means any vapour or gas containing VOCs, including vapour arising from volatile petroleum liquid. (vapeur)

  vapour balancing system

  vapour balancing system means a vapour control system that conveys vapours displaced during loading operations from the receiving tank to the source tank and prevents them from being released to the environment. (système de retour en boucle des vapeurs)

  vapour control system

  vapour control system means a system that is designed to capture all vapours emitted from tanks or during loading operations and prevent them from being released to the environment. (système de contrôle des vapeurs)

  vapour destruction system

  vapour destruction system means a vapour control system that destroys vapours by combustion, thermal oxidation or other means, including systems in which vapours are combusted to produce useful heat or energy and systems in which vapours are combusted for the sole purpose of preventing their release to the environment. (système de destruction des vapeurs)

  vapour leak

  vapour leak means any release of vapour other than a release for which the concentration of VOCs at the source is determined, using a portable monitoring instrument, to be less than

  • (a) 10 000 parts per million by volume, if the release is detected on or before December 31, 2026; or

  • (b) 1000 parts per million by volume, if the release is detected after December 31, 2026. (fuite de vapeur)

  vapour pressure

  vapour pressure means the absolute partial pressure exerted on the walls of a vessel containing a liquid by the gas molecules above that liquid, when the liquid and its vapour are in equilibrium. (pression de vapeur)

  vapour recovery system

  vapour recovery system means a vapour control system that captures vapours for a use other than their immediate use to produce heat or energy at a facility, including a non-regenerative system that retains the vapours in a solid or liquid medium. (système de récupération des vapeurs)

  vehicle

  vehicle means a machine that is designed to be mobile, including a truck, railcar, ship, transport barge or trailer but is not designed or has not been modified to serve for the purposes of the permanent stationary storage of liquids. (véhicule)

  vehicle tank

  vehicle tank means a tank attached to or integrated into a vehicle, other than a tank that is exclusively used to supply fuel to the vehicle’s engine. (réservoir de véhicule)

  vehicle-to-vehicle loading

  vehicle-to-vehicle loading means the loading of volatile petroleum liquids directly from one vehicle tank to another without the use of a loading rack. (chargement de véhicule à véhicule)

  volatile organic compound

  volatile organic compound or VOC means a compound that participates in atmospheric photochemical reactions that is not excluded under item 60 of Part 2 of Schedule 1 to the Act. (composé organique volatil ou COV)

  volatile petroleum liquid

  volatile petroleum liquid means petroleum, or a mixture that contains petroleum, that

  • (a) exists as a liquid at a temperature of 20°C and an absolute pressure of 101.325 kPa;

  • (b) contains 10% or more volatile organic compounds by weight;

  • (c) has a vapour pressure greater than 10 kPa or, if the benzene concentration is greater than 2% by weight, 3.5 kPa; and

  • (d) is not a mixture of petroleum and ethanol that contains less than 10% petroleum by weight. (liquide pétrolier volatil)

• Marginal note:Incorporation by reference

  (2) Any document that is incorporated by reference in these Regulations is incorporated as amended from time to time.

• Marginal note:Inconsistencies with these Regulations

  (3) In the event of an inconsistency between a provision in a document incorporated by reference into these Regulations and any provision of these Regulations, the provision of these Regulations prevails to the extent of the inconsistency.