CELA PUBLICATION #1558 VIA ELECTRONIC MAIL RE: Regulations Repealing the Secondary Lead Smelter Release Regulations – Canada

Basis for the Government Proposal The Gazette notice indicates that in 2022 the Department completed a review of the regulations and concluded that they were no longer needed for the following reasons: • There are enforcement issues with the regulations, including the absence of reporting requirements, outdated lab methods and uncertainty over who is covered under the definition of a secondary lea. [...] The Gazette notice also indicates that the emission limit requirements in the regulations led to the installation of control equipment and to the achievement of lower lead and particulate matter concentrations. [...] The Gazette notice further indicates that the number of lead smelters in Canada has dropped from 51 in 1984 to 6 in 2020 and that these six lead facilities include five secondary lead smelters and one primary lead smelter that is also a secondary lead smelter. [...] fish, moose).4 The Need to Continue Applying CEPA, 1999 to Lead Air Emissions from the Smelting Industry Lead was one of the first substances to be listed under the Schedule 1 list of toxic substances regulated under CEPA, 1999. [...] Lead was specifically mentioned by the Supreme Court of Canada in its decision upholding the constitutionality of the Act as a valid exercise of the criminal law power in dealing with toxic substances.5 Reliance on CEPA, 1999’s pollution prevention plan (“PPP”) regime as a substitute for on-going federal regulation of air emissions from the lead smelting industry seems misplaced as the PPP program.