Canada chems support move to speed up environmental approvals

04 March 2010 18:56  [Source: ICIS news]

TORONTO (ICIS news)--Canada’s chemical producers stand to benefit from an initiative by Ontario province to speed up environmental approvals for projects, a trade group said on Thursday.

The provincial government of Canada’s most populous province this week said it was seeking public input on a proposed new process to simplify environmental approvals.

The new process should shift the province towards a “risk-based” approval process that would focus on companies with a poor record of environmental performance, said Chemistry Industry Association of Canada.

At the same time, projects that clearly had no environmental impact should no longer require certificates of approval, the group said.

The association believed the reforms would ensure that Ontario remained competitive in the global marketplace, without compromising environmental protection, it said.

Under Ontario’s current process, project approvals sometimes took up to 18 months, a delay that prevented Ontario-based companies from taking advantage of production opportunities and causing them to lose out to other jurisdictions with more responsive regulatory systems, the group said.

Major chemical producers with production in Ontario include NOVA Chemicals, ExxonMobil’s Canadian Imperial Oil affiliate, DuPont Canada and Invista, among many others.

For more on NOVA and DuPont visit ICIS company intelligence
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By: Stefan Baumgarten
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