ESAA Environmental Summit
April 1-3, 2025
Kananaskis Mountain Lodge
The 2025 ESAA Environmental Summit (‘The Summit’) will feature all of the things you expect from an ESAA event: great talks, great location and
great networking.
The 2025 edition will take place at the Kananaskis Mountain Lodge. The completely modern getaway nestled amidst the pines and mountains. Room rates at the Lodge start at $255.00 + taxes.
The format will be a series of panel discussions over the two-days of the conference. Full event details can be found at: https://esaa.org/summit/
Registration is now OPEN. Early bird rates end January 24st – Register now at: https://esaa.org/summit/register/ ** Day passes are also available (limited quantity)
Sponsorship is now OPEN. See our Website for all Sponsorship opportunities https://esaa.org/summit/sponsors/
ESAA invites you to submit proposals for panel discussions to be held during The Summit.
Proposals for panels are encouraged in, but not limited to, the following areas:
- Risk Management
- Disaster Management
- The Future of Water
- Evolution of Energy in Alberta
- Climate Resiliency
- ESG and the Environment Sector
- Indigenous Engagement and Inclusion
- The Future of the Environment Industry Workforce
- Other topics will be considered
To propose a panel, please submit the following:
- The panel’s topics
- The panel’s overall goal
- A summary of each panelist’s topic/contribution to the panel discussion. Note: Each panel must have 3 speakers and one moderator.
- Panel should include a variety of presenters representing not just individuals from company submitting the proposal. Example: a panel ideally would include, a consultant, a supplier and a client with one of these possibly being replaced by a regulator.
- Limit the proposal to 750 words not including the speaker bios
- Deadline January 10th, 2025.
- Submit to ciezki@esaa.org
Note: The individual submitting the proposal and organizing the panel should act as the moderator and be comfortable with moderating a panel discussion. The moderators registration will be complimentary. Panelists will be required to register at a discounted rate.
ESAA truly appreciates your support of world-class events and looks forward to welcoming you to ‘The Summit’ at the amazing Kananaskis Mountain Lodge.
Alberta: Guilty plea for environmental charges
An Alberta company has pleaded guilty for contravening the Water Act.
On Nov. 26, 2024, 1656758 Alberta Inc. operating under the firm name and style of Enviro Container and Cleaning Solutions Inc. pleaded guilty for contravening the Water Act. It was sentenced to a fine of $12,000, inclusive of a victim fine surcharge.
The company was using water from an unlicensed water well for washing empty plastic totes at its intermediate bulk container reconditioning and recycling facility in Red Deer County. The water well could not be licenced for a commercial purpose because it drew from multiple aquifers, and so violated the Water Act.
As a part of the creative sentencing, $11,500 will go towards supporting the Canada WaterPortal Society to modernize its website and promote information about groundwater, focusing on Alberta and the Red Deer watershed.
Alberta is committed to the protection of the environment, providing regulatory assurance and ensuring environmental compliance. This includes requiring those diverting water for a commercial purpose to obtain a license. All Water Act approval applications undergo a detailed regulatory review before they can be authorized to proceed.
Quick facts
- Alberta’s Water Act supports and promotes the conservation and management of water through the use and allocation of water in the province.
- The Water Act addresses Albertans’ rights to divert water and the types of instruments and decision-making processes available for diversion and use of water.
- If you have information about a spill, release or emergency that could damage the environment, call 1-800-222-6514, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
- The Canada WaterPortal Society’s mission is to educate and inform Canadians on the value of water as a vital resource by providing objective information.
Impact Assessment Act lands Ottawa in court again
Alberta’s government is again taking the federal government to court over its unconstitutional Impact Assessment Act after they failed to meet the province’s four-week deadline.
In October 2023, the Supreme Court of Canada concluded that the Impact Assessment Act was largely unconstitutional. On June 20, 2024, the federal government amended the Impact Assessment Act as part of a large omnibus budget bill. The amendments fail to correct the constitutional deficiencies the Supreme Court of Canada identified with the original legislation and will continue killing jobs and hurting the economy.
Alberta’s government gave the federal government a four-week deadline to remedy the unconstitutional provisions in the amended Impact Assessment Act or face another legal challenge. The federal government has failed to address Alberta’s concerns, showing a continued disregard and refusal to engage with Alberta on the legislation and its flawed amendments. In response, Alberta has referred the constitutionality of the amended Impact Assessment Act to the Court of Appeal of Alberta.
“We have tried working with Ottawa to change their deeply flawed and unconstitutional Impact Assessment Act but we’ve been met with resistance every step of the way. They have chosen to disregard our input, disregard a Supreme Court of Canada decision, and disregard our deadline, so we’ll see them in court. Again. We will not stand down on this issue.”
The federal government’s Impact Assessment Act enables Ottawa to derail, delay and interfere in projects that have little or nothing to do with matters falling within federal jurisdiction. Alberta’s government has been consistent in its response and continues to wait for the federal government to engage meaningfully and make meaningful amendments to the legislation.
Alberta’s government asked the federal government to:
- Eliminate federal encroachment into provincial jurisdiction.
- Recognize equivalency and the ability to fully substitute our provincial environmental assessment for a federal impact assessment.
- Create certainty for industry and increase investor confidence by imposing concrete timelines and curbing ministerial discretion.
- Emphasize that significant adverse effects within federal jurisdiction is the minimum threshold for federal involvement.
- Streamline the process by scoping projects appropriately and placing some parameters on public involvement.
- Focus the public interest decision-making process on significant adverse effects within federal jurisdiction and countervailing positive effects.
“The federal government needs to respect the decisions of the Supreme Court and stop making meaningless attempts to bypass the rulings of Canada’s highest court. The courts agreed with Alberta in the first legal challenge, and we are prepared to fight as many times as is necessary to defend the rights of Albertans against this blatant overreach.”
First Nations want Impact Assessment Act review for Pathways Alliance project
(Source: Canadian Press / Energy Now) CALGARY — Eight First Nations in Alberta are asking that the $16.5-billion carbon capture and storage project proposed by a consortium of oilsands companies be reviewed under the federal Impact Assessment Act.
The Beaver Lake Cree Nation, Cold Lake First Nations, Frog Lake First Nations, Heart Lake First Nation, Kehewin Cree Nation, Onion Lake Cree Nation, and Whitefish (Goodfish) Lake First Nation #128 made the request in a letter to federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault.
In the letter, dated Nov. 28, the First Nations urge the minister to exercise his discretion to designate the Pathways Alliance proposal as subject to review under the federal act.
“This is a massive and unprecedented project,” the group wrote in the letter.
“(It) carries with it non-negligible, novel, and irreversible adverse impacts.”
The Pathways Alliance is a group of oilsands companies who are proposing to build what would be one of the world’s largest carbon capture and storage networks. It would involve trapping greenhouse gas emissions from more than 20 oilsands facilities in northern Alberta and transporting them 400 kilometres by pipeline to an underground storage hub in the Cold Lake area.
Pathways’ membership includes Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., Cenovus Energy Inc., ConocoPhillips Canada, Imperial Oil Ltd., MEG Energy Corp. and Suncor Energy Inc. Together, the companies account for more than 95 per cent of Canada’s total oilsands production.
While the group has not made a final investment decision to go ahead with the project, it has begun submitting regulatory applications to the Alberta Energy Regulator for approval.
The project’s boundaries lie entirely within the province of Alberta, but the First Nations say the project’s potential impact on reserve land and Indigenous territory means it should be subject to federal review instead.
All of the eight First Nations have reserve lands that are located directly above or in close proximity to the Pathways proposed CO2 storage hub.
They have serious concerns about the environmental impacts that could result from the project’s construction and operation, as well as the potential safety and health risks that could result from an accidental release of concentrated CO2 from the pipeline or storage hub.
“Because this project will result in the sequestration of carbon beneath our homes forever, Canada must fully understand the immediate, short-term, and long-term implications of the project,” the letter states.
The federal Impact Assessment Act, which came into effect in 2019, is used to determine whether certain major resource projects should go ahead, based on their expected environmental, social and economic effects.
It has generated intense opposition within the energy sector and Alberta, where detractors have been known to call it the “No More Pipelines Act.”
The Alberta government is also battling the federal government in court over the Impact Assessment Act’s constitutionality.
On its website, the federal Impact Assessment Agency said it has received the First Nations’ request and is conducting an analysis.
The agency said it will make a recommendation to the minister on whether to designate the project under the Impact Assessment Act.
In an emailed statement Wednesday, Pathways Alliance president Kendall Dilling said the organization is reviewing the First Nations’ request and “will respond to the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada.”
The aim of Pathways’ proposed carbon capture project is to help the oilsands industry, the largest source of emissions in the country, achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions from oilsands production by 2050.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 4, 2024.
Companies in this story: (TSX:SU; TSX:CNQ; TSX:CVE; TSX:IMO; TSX:MEG)
Amanda Stephenson, The Canadian Press
Remediation Technology News and Resource
(The following are selected items from the US EPA’s Tech Direct – http://clu-in.org/techdirect/)
Upcoming Live Internet Seminars
NAPL Migration in the Subsurface – Tuesday, December 10, 2024, 1:00PM-2:30PM EST (18:00-19:30 GMT). A wide variety of organic wastes, commonly referred to as nonaqueous phase liquids (NAPLs), are contaminating soils and groundwater. The physical properties of these NAPLs, including their density, volatility, and viscosity determine how they flow through soils, and understanding their flow in soils is key to understanding how to characterize and remediate NAPL sites. This presentation will include the properties of common NAPLs and describe how they migrate in soils. Future presentations will discuss approaches to characterizing NAPL sites, and how NAPLs can be remediated using thermal remediation techniques. For more information and to register, see https://www.clu-in.org/
Characterization Approaches for Various Types of NAPLs – Wednesday, December 18, 2024, 1:00PM-2:30PM EST (18:00-19:30 GMT). With an understanding of the characteristics of NAPLs, how they flow in soils, and the capabilities of the tools available for remedial investigations, approaches can be developed for determining the extent of NAPLs in the subsurface and making estimations of the contaminant mass. This presentation will describe the Triad approach for characterizing NAPL sites to determine the contaminant distribution, and the geologic and hydrogeologic properties of the subsurface that are critical for determining a technically sound remedial approach. For more information and to register, see https://www.clu-in.org/
New Documents and Web Resources
Research Brief 359: User-friendly Technology Detects NDMA in Water. A new technology, developed by researchers at the NIEHS-funded Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Superfund Research Program (SRP) Center, can detect the contaminant N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) in water. This breakthrough tool offers a quick way to monitor NDMA by triggering a visible color change when light interacts with the contaminated solution. For more information, please visit https://tools.niehs.nih.
NAVFAC Factsheet: When to Transition from Active Remediation to Monitored Natural Attenuation, October 2024. Transitioning from active remediation to monitored natural attenuation (MNA) can be a cost-effective strategy for managing these sites, after constituent levels have been significantly reduced through active treatment. This fact sheet outlines a technical approach for performing transition assessments. A web-based learning and decision tool, the Transition Assessment Teaching Assistant (TA2) Tool, was developed as part of a project sponsored by the Department of Defense (DoD) Strategic Environmental Development and Research Program (SERDP) to help practitioners gather information for site-specific transition assessments. View or download at https://exwc.navfac.navy.
Upcoming Events
Smart Remediation 2025: Full Agendas Available On-Line!
The moment you’ve all been waiting for is finally here: the full agendas for the upcoming SMART Remediation 2025 events in Toronto and Ottawa are now available! Once again, we have a great line-up for you this year with talks focusing on Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, PFAS, Vapour Intrusion, Expert Opinions, Legal Updates and more. The full agendas are included below and also available on the SMART Remediation website here: https://smartremediation.com/upcoming-events/
- Toronto – January 30th
- Ottawa – February 6th
ESAA Job Board
Check out the new improved ESAA Job Board. Members can post ads for free.
Current Listings:
- Senior Environmental Planner -Stantec
- Site Investigation & Remediation (SIR) Team Lead -Stantec Consulting Services Inc.
- Environmental Risk Assessment & Technical Reporting – Arletta Environmental Consulting Corp
- Environmental Project Manager – Arletta Environmental Consulting Corp
- Intermediate Report Reviewer – North Shore Environmental Consultants Inc.
- Environmental Technologist – 51026 – City of Edmonton
- Project Manager (Remedial Earthworks) – RemedX Remediation Services Inc