E2 regulations come into force August 24, 2019

The official publication of the Environmental Emergency Regulations (E2 Regulations), 2019 in the Canada Gazette, Part II, occurred on March 6, 2019. The E2 Regulations will come into force on August 24, 2019.

The E2 Regulations apply to the owner or the person in charge, management or control of a substance listed in schedule 1 of the regulations. When specific quantity or container capacity thresholds are met or exceeded, this person must notify Environment and Climate Change Canada and submit information on the installation and substance concerned. When both the quantity and container capacity reach or exceed the thresholds, the responsible person must prepare, bring into force and periodically exercise an environmental emergency plan (E2 plan).

For propane, the threshold for reporting is 4.5 tonnes. Note, this was the threshold in the previous version of the E2 regulations.

Notable changes and potential impacts from the previous E2 regulations:

• E2 plan requirements updated
• Updates to exercise requirements of the E2 plans
  • Annual exercise requirement per hazard classification
  • 5-year full scale exercise requirement
• Reporting requirements of substances onsite
  • If the threshold of substances is met, the total quantity and/or maximum container size must be submitted to Environment Canada within 90 days of the regulation coming into effect

For more information on the regulations, please visit Environment Canada's website. 

Emergency Response Assistance Canada has provided a detailed breakdown of the changes. The CPA thanks ERAC for their detailed review. The documents can be found here.