GPro Talks

Upcoming Talks

• Jan 20

  BC Regulatory Update: Stage 13 Amendmentskeyboard_arrow_down

  The Stage 13 amendments to the Contaminated Sites Regulation were set by Order in Council 368 to take affect as of February 1, 2021. The most significant change made by the Stage 13 amendments include a sweeping restructuring to the entire Site Profile system and that will dramatically affect which properties require legal instruments and when those requirements occur.

  This presentation will provide a summary of some of the key changes made to this program and discuss their potential implications to operators and developer of sites with CSR Schedule 2 activities.

  Tadd Berger , M.Sc., EP, P.Ag., CSAP

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Past Talks

• Jan 13

  Not-So-Rare Earth Elements. An Introduction to REE in our Environment.keyboard_arrow_down

  Contrary to their naming convention, rare earth elements ( REEs ) are far from rare and are found in small concentrations within mineral deposits around the world. Given their widespread prevalence in common applications such as portable electronics, transportation and telecommunications, these elements are present in the analytical footprint of a variety of sites.When undergoing testing for some analytical techniques, REEs interfere with the measured quantities of other metallic elements giving false higher and lower results. This potential analytical challenge highlights the importance of understanding when rare earth elements are present and applying the correct methodology. The implications of solubility in relation to water hardness as a potential toxicity modifying factor will be discussed.

  Bryan Shaw, Ph.D, P.Chem.

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• Dec 9

  Toronto Waterfront New River Constructionkeyboard_arrow_down

  Waterfront Toronto and its partners, the City, Province and Federal Government, are enabling the transformation of the industrial Port Lands into a vital new neighbourhood.  The Port Lands Flood Protection, a $1.25-billion project, involves the construction of a 1 kilometre new river through former industrial lands and the excavation and management of 1.4 million cubic metres of soil.  The presentation will provide an overview of the environmental strategy and design, current construction status and future vision. 

  Meggen Janes

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• Nov 25

  Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substance Dark Matter: Role of Total Organofluorine Analysiskeyboard_arrow_down

  Significant effort continues in delineating the extent of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substance (PFAS) contamination and recent advances in remedial approaches hold promise. However, the extent of remedial effort required for many of these sites remains unknown. This is due to the presence of large PFAS precursor compounds and other unknown or uncharacterized PFAS, which are not included as part of the suite of PFASs routinely monitored, but will add to the risk burden of a site in terms of both ecological and human health risks and remedial cost estimates.The challenge in accounting for this pool of undetermined PFAS can be significant as its nature and quantity are generally unknown (the Dark Matter). This presentation will describe our efforts in developing technologies to determine the magnitude of total PFAS including the Dark Matter, reported as total organofluorine (TOF) in environmental matrices such as soil, water and biota.

  Heather Lord

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• Nov 18

  Update on Jurisprudence – Contaminated Sites in the Courtskeyboard_arrow_down

  Jana McLean, principal of Iris Legal, will provide an update on recent jurisprudence in the area of contaminated sites.  Jana is a leading practioner in the area, recognized nationally for both her environmental and Aboriginal law practice.

  Jana McLean

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• Nov 4

  Derivation of Reptile Toxicity Reference Values for Use in ERAkeyboard_arrow_down

  Morgan Cunningham and Elissa Liu from Environment and Climate Change Canada will be presenting on the reptile ecological risk assessment project that is being developed. Toxicity information on reptiles is currently limited and not easily accessible, which presents difficulties for risk assessors to assess reptiles at contaminated sites. Although the primary literature may offer sufficient information on toxicity to reptiles, the data has not been summarized to offer easily accessible information that illustrate what contaminant concentrations might represent a risk to reptiles. The approach to the reptile project is very similar to the now published amphibian ecological risk assessment guidance document. The first step of this project is to compile toxicity data from published studies to construct concentration-response profiles. In the future, there is the intention to consolidate other available resources for reptile effect assessment. The project is in the preliminary stages and the goal of this presentation is to provide an overview of the project and also obtain feedback from participants. 

  Elissa Liu & Morgan Cunningham

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