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Message from the Chair
Volunteer organizations like the Air & Waste Management Association have a tendency to ramp up and ramp down faster and more frequently than most businesses.
The Ontario Section along with the Ottawa Chapter, which recently joined us, has been ramping up for some time now. In large part this is due to the exemplary efforts of a number of individuals.
Please broaden your networking and professional satisfaction by attending breakfast meetings and workshops. Also look for opportunities to work with our group. We can only function due to the involvement of volunteers.
If you drop a line to Ciara De Jong ( cdejong@ortech.ca) or me ( pcomplin@ortech.ca), or any of the other Board members or Executives whom you may know, we will pair you with activities that match your interests and needs.
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Presidential Thank You
A&WMA Fall Workshop
As President of the AWMA-OS, I would like to give a big thank you to all of those who attended, sponsored, presented and supported our
Fall Monitoring Workshop to Support the Development of Proposed Technical Standards for the Petroleum and Petrochem Sectors
held this past November 5th and 6th in Sarnia, Ontario. The workshop sold out before the end of October and was very well attended and well received by the audience. Thank you for another very successful workshop!
A special thanks to all our sponsors:
- Ontario Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change
- CEM Specialities Inc.
- INTEGRA Technologies Ltd.
- RWDI Air Inc.
- SNC-Lavalin Inc.
- Sarnia-Lambton Environmental Association
- ALS Life Sciences Division – Environmental
- Canadian Fuels Association
As well as a thanks to the vendors:
- Novatech
- Westech Industries
- FLIR Canada
- CAI
- LEHDER
- AGAT Laboratories
- ALS Environmental
- Maxxam
Lastly, a very special thanks to those who worked tirelessly in putting together the workshop namely:
Tony van der Vooren - AMEC Foster Wheeler
Scott Grant - MOECC - Standards Development Branch
MOECC - Standards Development Branch:
- Ian Parrott
- Steve Klose
- Hadi Sharifi
- Larry Smet
- Nick Fragiadakis
- Nicholas Ting
- Cathy Grant
MOECC - Southwest Region (London):
- Gerald Diamond
- Jean Van Dusen
Aamjiwnaang First Nation: Jared Macbeth
Canadian Fuels Association: Eric Bristow
Sarnia-Lambton Environmental Association:
- Dean Edwardson
- Phil Vance
- Michele McKay – Styrolution
- Roya Imami – Novachem
- Jill Ward - Suncor
A&WMA Ontario Section:
- Paul Complin – ORTECH Environmental
- Brian Bobbie – Altech Environmental
- Elaine Farrow – RWDI
- Sarah McQuaig – Suncor Energy
Thank-you once again to everyone who made this event so successful.
Ciara De Jong
President A&WMA Ontairo Section
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A&WMA Fall Monitoring Workshop
The monitoring workshop in Sarnia, Ontario on November 5th-6th included a variety of presentations on the topic of ambient air monitoring and leak-detection-and-repair monitoring for petroleum refineries and petro-chemical facilities.
Close to 150 attendees attended at the excellent facilities at Lambton College. Speakers from all over Canada and the United States covered topics ranging from the latest monitoring technology to the latest in air pollution rule development; and including initiatives for the protection of local air quality; industry experiences; and a local First Nation perspective. This eclectic mix of topics and speakers made for engaging discussions.
There is significant potential for future collaboration with Ontario’s MOECC (Ministry of Environment and Climate Change). The outcome of the workshop will play an important role in MOECC’s development of proposed technical standards for the petroleum refining and petro-chemical sectors.
The program’s success owed much to the collaborative efforts and support of MOECC and of the Canadian Fuels Association (CFA). A&WMA-OS volunteers provided the leadership, organization, and logistical support.
Many of the presentations can be found at www.awma.on.ca. |
Our Newest Fellow Member:
Paul Complin
The Fellow Grade of Membership was inaugurated in 1986 to recognize professional attainment and accomplishments related to the mission and objectives of A&WMA. A fellow member has a minimum of 15 years of experience in an area served by the Association and has been a member of the Association for at least 10 continuous years. Fellows are recognized for their professional accomplishments and service to the Association based on a process, product, or regulatory development; project leadership; managerial achievement; the education of specialists; peer-reviewed technical publications; patents; and research or theoretical developments.
At the Annual Conference and Exhibition this year in Long Beach California, the A&WMA recognized Paul Complin as a fellow member.
Congratulations Paul!
Paul Complin is the current Chair of the Ontario Section, a position he has held several times following a stint as Section Treasurer. He has been an active A&WMA member since the mid-1970s, is Chair of several A&WMA Ontario Committees, and has been an Ontario Section Director off and on since 1979. He has contributed to the organization through a number of A&WMA and other specialty conferences, as well as serving as chair and speaker. He helped developed, implement, and update the Ontario Section’s By-laws and Policy Manual as identifying, mentoring, and encouraging new board members.
Paul has had the privilege of holding positions with industry, government, and consulting over his 40-year career in the environmental field. He currently leads the Compliance and Permitting Group at ORTECH Consulting Inc. in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, where he manages technology reviews, air, noise, and wastewater permit submissions and emissions testing for mining, pulp and paper, cogeneration plants, utilities, institutions, and diverse manufacturing facilities, including steel processing, gas production and transmission, health products, auto parts manufacturing, and surface coating operations. He previously held several positions with the Ontario Ministry of the Environment and other engineering and environmental consultants, completed the first Canadian Environmental Assessment on a nuclear reactor, and worked on the design and construction of the first Canadian heavy water production facility.
Paul’s areas of expertise include pollution control, combustion processes, process analysis, inventory development, source assessment, audits, policy and regulatory development, abatement programs, and waste management. He coordinated the team that negotiated the first province-wide air emission operating permit for a gas utility and is now leading teams to complete two additional province-wide approvals. He has also volunteered to teach several air quality-related courses and has written and presented a number of technical papers at the A&WMA annual and specialty conferences.
Paul holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in applied science and engineering from the University of Toronto, is a licensed Professional Engineer in Ontario, and a member of the Ontario Society for Professional Engineers. He continues to co-manage the Ontario ‘Air Practitioners’ stakeholders group that interfaces with the Ontario Ministry of the Environment on issues related to permitting and standard setting. |
Welcome To Our New Members
We welcome the following individuals to the A&WMA Ontario Section. These people joined the A&WMA since our last newsletter:
Kalia Akkad |
Jackson Mak, Golder Associates |
Ardevan Bakhtari, Scentriod |
Jennifer Murphy, Enbridge Gas Distribution (Environment) |
Jodie Eadie |
Prameet Rathod |
Nina Feng |
Michael Rix, Zorix Consultants, Inc. |
Amanda Foster, Canadian Fertilizer Institute |
Robert Stelzer, Safety Power Inc |
Minnie (Wing Tung) Huang, |
Muqeeth Syed, Suncor Energy |
Faisal Hussain, University of Ottawa |
Sandy Willis, General Motors of Canada |
Ravi Mahabir, Dillon Consulting Limited |
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Note: Existing members are considered "New" if they renew their membership after their renewal date.
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Exciting Opportunity to Volunteer!
Join our Board.
You too can be a Director!
We are looking for nominations to both the Ontario Section and the Ottawa Valley Chapter Board of Directors.
Nominations are now open and will be accepted until December 31, 2014 for the Ontario Section and at the Annual General Meeting on December 9th for the Ottawa Valley Chapter. For more information about the process in Ottawa please contact Camille Taylor cstaylor@golder.com.
Voting for the Section will be held in late January with the new board members announced in the spring. The time commitment includes attending one hour meeting per month and volunteer work associated with any of the Committees of the Board.
It’s a great opportunity to broaden your professional horizons, make excellent connections and add cachet to your resume.
Please visit our website (http://www.awma.on.ca) for more information regarding activities of the Board of Directors.
Please email Brian Bobbie at BBobbie@altech-group.com with your nomination. |
2015 Future Environmental Professional Scholarship
Since 2011, AWMA Ontario Section has awarded over $50,000 in scholarships to students who have a passion for sustainability and the environment.
Many recipients demonstrate leadership in their communities by encouraging environmental awareness through sustainability initiatives. Other recipients exhibit a strong commitment to leading cutting edge research to improve our environment.
In 2015, we will be awarding three (3) students $2000 each who are pursuing programs related to engineering or sciences at Ontario’s post-secondary institutions. The scholarship is intended to foster the furtherance of studies relating to the environment and sustainability, by striving to encourage young leaders to enter the environmental field and to stimulate professionalism.
High school, collage, and university students who can demonstrate leadership through studies, research or community involvement are encouraged to apply.
Refer to the AWMA Ontario Section’s scholarship webpage (awma.on.ca/scholarships-information/) for further details. Questions can be directed to info@awma.on.ca. |
Practitioners Group Update
The Ontario Air Practitioners Group (Practitioners) are environmental professionals and representatives from the Ministry of the Environment (MOE) that have gathered from time to time to informally discuss issues related to regulatory compliance. The group has developed Frequently Asked Questions, guidance materials and best practice documents; these documents are posted on the website of the Air & Waste Management Association – Ontario Section (http://awma.on.ca/). It has also provided a discussion forum and input for the practical aspects of regulatory compliance for S.9 approvals, O.Reg. 419/05, and other regulatory initiatives. In our view this approach has proven useful to both Practitioners and several different branches within the MOE, and has positively affected the quality of work submitted to the MOE.
With over 100 active and corresponding representatives from consulting firms and industries whose day-to-day roles are heavily involved in the permitting process reporting and compliance, we are in a unique position to offer our combined experience to assist in developing effective and meaningful regulations and associated guidance materials. Our members have literally hundreds of person-years of direct experience on Ontario environmental issues.
The Practitioners sub group met with MOECC representatives during the summer to work on a number of new Frequently Asked Questions. The FAQs and answers have now been finalized and are on the AWMA-OS website here: http://awma.on.ca/frequently-asked-questions/.
In January, the working group of the Practitioners (the “one per organization”) will be meeting with the MOECC to discuss implementation of new model versions (Aermod and ASHRAE), new template for Limited Operational Flexibility ECAs, AERMOD modelling guidance for mobile plants, updates on overall guidance, electronic submissions and EASRs. Stay tuned for a specific date and time.
The working group meeting will be followed up with a full practitioners meeting on Wednesday February 11 at Resources Road. |
Upcoming Canadian Events
The A&WMA Canadian Affairs Committee is a cross Canada group of volunteers working with the Canadian Section and Chapters to assist in delivering A&WMA programming with a Canadian focus. The chair of the committee Ahmed Idriss of Capital Power.
The first activity of the committee is to host a webinar on January 27, 2015 from 1:00 to 2:30 PM EST.
The focus of the webinar will be on Climate Change policy in Canada, at both the Federal and the provincial levels. The presentation will be done by Duncan Rotherham of ICF International. Keep an eye open for further information and registration information coming from A&WMA HQ is Pittsburgh.
Mark the date and time in your calendar now!
Other webinars are also being planned with Canadian focussed issues for the rest of the year; including an update AQMS, modelling across Canada and monitoring.
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Featured Article: Climate Change as a Threat Multiplier
By Dan Kirby, Patrick Welsh and Rebecca Hall-McGuire
On November 11, 2014, U.S. President Barack Obama and President Xi Jinping of China released the “U.S. – China Joint Announcement on Climate Change and Clean Energy Cooperation.” It was heralded as a “game changer” that caught many by surprise. However, there have been a number of recent developments in the fall of 2014 that signal a shift in the U.S. Government’s approach to climate change, even if generally not reflected in the soon-to-be Republican-dominated Senate and House of Representatives. In particular, the United States Department of Defense released its 2014 Climate Change Adaptation Roadmap on October 14, 2014. The Roadmap notes that climate change is a “threat multiplier” and cautions that “Politics or ideology must not get in the way of sound planning." Given its content, the Roadmap comes from a surprising source. Legislators in the soon-to-be Republican-controlled House of Representatives and Senate may find, in the military-oriented Roadmap, compelling reasons to pay heed to the climate change file.
From the Canadian perspective, in light of the Government of Canada’s stance that Canada will move in “lock-step” with U.S. climate change initiatives, it would appear that further action on climate change is inevitable unless the Conservative Majority changes its previous position. Recent history suggests that the Conservatives will likely merely try to avoid the issue altogether since they appear to believe that any attempt to deal with climate change will have a negative impact on the economy. The Roadmap suggests that such a position could endanger world security directly and the economy indirectly in the longer term if adopted.
This article reviews the U.S. Department of Defense’s report and discusses the report’s wider implications for Canadian businesses.
Dan Kirby and Pat Welsh practice in the Regulatory, Environmental and Aboriginal Law Group at Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP in Toronto. Rebecca Hall-McGuire is an articling student at Osler.
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Member Contact Information
On another note, please keep your A&WMA membership information up to date. You may do so on a self-service basis:
- Go to www.awma.org
- Select the “Log In” button at the upper right.
- Enter your member number and password (or follow the password help instructions).
- Select “Membership” from the menu at the top of the page.
- Select “My Account” from the Member Services memo on the left of the page.
- To update your address or email address, select “Address” and “Edit” at the bottom of the “Address” page.
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Our Next Newsletter
If you have an idea for a future newsletter article please email info@awma.on.ca.
Tony van der Vooren, Newsletter Coordinator
tony.vandervooren@amecfw.com
John Willms, Content Editor
jwillms@willmsshier.com
Linda Lattner, Design Editor
linda.lattner@amecfw.com |
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