CEPA Part IV: controls on government operations

Part IV of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA) contains the authority to regulate waste handling and disposal practices as well as emissions and effluents from the operations of federal departments, Crown corporations and federal agencies. During 1997-98, the following were undertaken to assist federal government operations:

• regulations respecting the registration of storage tank systems for petroleum products and allied petroleum products on federal lands came into force August 1, 1997;
• a training course for storage tank owners and operators was developed and delivered;
• a Storage Tank Network to promote compliance with the storage tank regulations was initiated;
• development of a compliance promotion web site was initiated;
• a consolidated manual for storage tank owners and operators was initiated;
• Federal Halocarbon Regulations were drafted;
• drafting of federal hazardous waste management regulations commenced;
• guidelines on glycol were reviewed through a public consultation process and adopted without change.

Through the Greening of Government Operations initiative, the government has established guidelines for all departments to follow in order to integrate environmental considerations into their operations. The guidelines are to be applied with existing regulatory and technological feasibility considerations in mind. The Federal Committee on Environmental Management Systems provided a forum for departments to exchange best practices in the following areas: procurement, waste management, water usage, energy use and fleet management.

The greening of government was supported through the following activities:

• publication of the first report of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development; and
• workshops on training and environmental performance measures for the environmental management system.