Decision Date: February 3, 1998

Panel: Toby Vigod

Keywords: Waste Management Act – s.31

This is the decision on a stay request from International Forest Products Limited, Hammond Cedar Division (Appellant) with regard to an Amended Pollution Abatement and Prevention Order issued on January 23, 1998. The Order had been amended to include the Appellant and the other parties because the Respondent had reasonable grounds to believe that pollution of Burrows Ditch and related tributaries in Surrey, B.C., was occurring as a result of the unauthorized dumping of wood waste at two properties in the area. One of the requirements listed in the Amended Order was that the named parties submit within 7 days a written plan prepared by a qualified person to prevent and abate the pollution. The Appellant requested an expedited stay of this requirement as it related to Interfor.

The Board accepted the Appellant’s arguments that the 7-day time frame for developing the plan was problematic. The Board found that if there was no consultation with the Appellant prior to the issuance of the Amended Order, no specifics were provided on the environmental concerns, and the Order provided no right of access to the properties, then requiring a plan in 7 days was unreasonable if not impossible. Moreover, a failure to comply with the deadline would have placed the Appellant in violation of the Waste Management Act and subject to legal action.

Due to time constraints the Board chose to deal with the stay application on an ex parte basis rather than taking the time to provide all the other relevant parties with an opportunity to make submissions. The Board therefore authorized a short interim stay of two weeks during which time the parties would have the opportunity to make submissions on the appropriateness of extending the stay. The stay application was granted on a short-term, ex parte basis.