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Previous Members’ Updates

MEMBERS’ UPDATE – Summer 2024

In this issue:

Message from the President

I hope everyone is enjoying the summer and finding time for some rest, relaxation, and fun. Hopefully there isn’t too much smoke wherever you are.

I want to start by welcoming to the Board our newest parent organization representatives — Jason Christensen, Beth Power, and Travis Deeter. We are also welcoming two new appointed members — Jason Tonin from Beedie Development Group as our Industry representative and Jana MacLean from Iris Legal as our Environment representative. Thanks to everyone for stepping up. Board members are now settling into their new committee chair or executive assignments and I’m sure they will bring fresh ideas and energy to their roles.

It was great seeing so many of you at June’s AGM and PD Workshop. A big thank you to the PD Committee and to the CSAP operations team for putting together a great event. And thanks to Carrie and the ENV team for their updates and taking all of our questions.

As I mentioned in my closing remarks, I think we could up our game when it comes to celebrating our successes. During my SkyTrain rides into the office, I have been watching the progress of the new St. Paul’s Hospital construction. Our fellow members at PGL obtained the AiP that allowed for the building and development permits to be issued for this project. And the team at Pinchin has been carrying out the remediation work during construction. This is a hugely important project, not only for Vancouver but for the whole province and members of our Society are playing an important role in that. Well done!

Andrew Sorensen

Ministry Updates

No update.

Performance Assessment Committee and Preliminary and Detail Administrative Screening Committee Updates

  • The Q&A forum launched on May 14, 2024, and three questions have been received to date.
  • If you are uncertain if a precluding condition applies under Protocol 13, check with ENV if your interpretation is correct.
  • There has been an update to the CSAP Rules for a detailed risk assessment submission with the instance that only the Standards Portion is found to be Deficient. The Final Findings Report may conclude that the Risk portion of the CSAP submission is “Not Applicable” as the Risk portion relies on the Standards Portion for completion of the supporting risk assessment. The updated CSAP Rules are now posted on our website.
  • It should be noted that for Type 2 sites when a site meets risk-based standards under current and future uses through the use of institutional or engineered risk controls, a Performance Verification Plan (PVP) is typically required. However, as each site is unique there may be instances where a PVP may not be required, and ultimately the decision to require a PVP in any circumstance is decided by the director.
  • As per CSR Section 15 (7), 47 (1.5), and 49 (8) ENV will inform the AP’s parent organization if the recommendation for a certification document is rejected by ENV.

A summary of previous PAC Updates is available here.

Screening Updates

Preliminary Screening

Ministry Fee for P6 Submissions
Ministry fees for P6 submissions, payable to the Minister of Finance, are to be sent to CSAP Society and not directly to the Minister of Finance office in Victoria. Submissions will only be logged when CSAP Society receives both the submission electronically as well as both cheques with the correct amounts.  Any missing component(s) will delay the processing of the submission.

Draft Certification Document Cover Letter
Please ensure your templates are updated to include [email protected] in the cc block of draft certification document cover letters. Please remove previous outdated CSAP Society contact from your cover letter templates.

Preliminary and Final Determination
To obtain a Final Determination, the responsibility is on the submitting AP to email the draft Final Determination and cover letter to CSAP Society within 35 to 60 days of receiving the signed Preliminary Determination from ENV. Please ensure that all content between the Preliminary and Final Determination matches.

Detailed Screening

Detailed screenings continue to go smoothly for the most part, with relatively minor issues identified. Here a few reminders based on issues identified in recent Detailed Screenings (spoiler alert: you have heard them all before!):

  • Metes and bounds must be shown in the Schedule A Site Plan.
  • In the SoSC Section 4.4, both current and future vapour use must be addressed and information on the vapour attenuation factors used in the vapour assessment must be included.
  • In the SoSC Section 4.6, notes must be provided on the risk classification for the site.
  • If P4 or P9 background determinations have been applied for, or if regional background concentrations are applied, the background concentrations must be included in the notes in the SoSC Section 4.6.
  • If P2 site-specific standards have been applied, the derived site-specific standard(s) must be included in the notes in SoSC Section 4.6.
  • Spellings for substances much match the CSR schedules (applies to both SoSC and instrument). Please pay specific attention to xylenes, VPH, LEPH and HEPH.

For risk-based submissions, the Site Type (1 or 2 — these are the only options currently available (1A and 1B for example, no longer exist)) must be provided in the notes in the SoSC, Section 4.6 (can also be included in Section 5.1 and/or 5.2). All Type 2 sites require a PVP.

Review Services Committee Updates

We welcome new committee members Chuck Jochems and Paul Gardner.

CSAP Society, through the RSC, reviews annual reports and similar documents that are typically produced to satisfy the Director’s requirements located in Schedule B instrument conditions.  Just a reminder that the RSC does not review annual reports associated SDS related to Scenario 3 release requirements and that those types of reports should be submitted to the Site Identification group at ENV ([email protected]).

We encourage all practitioners to familiarize themselves in regard to which types of applications are required to be sent CSAP Society (vs. ENV) via the RSC webpage.

The RSC has been reviewing approximately 30 to 40 applications per year.  Last year the majority of submissions reviewed by the RSC were associated with AIPs that had been issued in the past two to three years. The details required in an AIP annual report are specified in Schedule B (which are in regard to remedial progress updates and progress against the Remedial Plan schedule) and we encourage submitters to directly speak to those requirements in reporting to avoid CSAP Society clarification questions during the review process.

Technical Review Committee Updates

The TRC welcomes new committee member David Kettlewell.

The committee has been busy working on kicking off three new Special Projects as well as finalizing one project from last year. Further details on these projects are included below.

Shallow Vapour Attenuation Factors — The purpose of this project was to provide practitioners with science-based approaches for assessment of vapours in indoor air where groundwater is near to or in contact with the building foundation. The project also included a desktop evaluation of attenuation factors and information from other jurisdictions as it relates to the new soil relocation legislation and the triggers for soil vapour assessment. This project is now complete and two reports have been prepared and posted to the CSAP website for members’ review:

Background Soil Concentrations — The purpose of this project is to identify whether there is sufficient information available to support changes/additions to the Protocol 4 background soil concentrations. A contract was awarded to Active Earth on June 11 and a kick-off meeting was held on July 3. Additional updates on this project will be included in the Fall Member’s Update.

Background Groundwater Concentrations — The purpose of this project is to expand the dataset such that background concentrations for groundwater could potentially be developed for other regions of the province. A contract was awarded to PGL Environmental Consultants on June 11 and a kick-off meeting was held on July 2.  Additional updates on this project will be included in the Fall Member’s Update.

Review of Groundwater Plume Stability Assessment Methods — The purpose of this project is to provide practitioners with some options for stability assessment methods that can be used for assessing the stability of groundwater contaminant plumes to confirm that contaminated sites in BC are being assessed using the best available technology. A contract was awarded to WSP on June 11 and a kick-off meeting was held on June 26. Additional updates on this project will be included in the Fall Member’s Update.

If you have any suggestions for a topic that you would like the TRC to tackle, please send your ideas to [email protected].

Membership Committee Updates

The Membership Committee is pleased to welcome Lora Paul to the committee.

The preparation for the 2024 exam process is underway. We thank this year’s experience reviewers who reviewed applications and supporting documentation to determine candidate eligibility. The Exam Sub-committee has held the exam setting workshops for this year’s technical assessments with preparation underway for the regulatory exam setting workshop.

Please note the following deadlines and dates:

  • Deadline to Apply for Sitting for the Regulatory Exam for existing members (who have not fulfilled the submission requirement): August 31, 2024
  • 2024 Exam Dates
    • Numerical Technical Assessment: September 10, 2024
    • Risk Assessment Technical Assessment: September 11, 2024
    • Regulatory Exam: November 14, 2024

Professional Development Committee Updates

The committee welcomes new member Blair King.

AGM & PD Workshop presentations
Thank you those who were able to make our June event. It was great to see so many of you. Find the ENV presentations in Member Services and the others on our workshops’ webpage.

Lunch and Learn
In May, we held a panel session on Assessing Tetraethyl Lead with Kevin Haines, R.P.Bio., Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy; Lindsay Beaton, P.Eng., AECOM Canada; and Kris Beaudet, P.Chem., Bureau Veritas Group. Find a recording of the session here.

Our autumn session, open to the public, takes place September 18 at 11 a.m. and will be on Protocol 2 Site Specific-Standards Numerical Soil Standards’ Groundwater Protection Model. Watch your email and the Lunch and Learn webpage for the Zoom link.

Fall PD Workshop
Our annual autumn event takes place on November 7, this time at the Hyatt Regency Vancouver. Registration is open and agenda details will be shared as they are finalized.

Submission Statistics update (as of July 15, 2024)

What’s new at CSAP

  • Preliminary screening — Effective June 2024, to establish consistency with Site Registry entries, for CSAP submissions that do not have a Site ID assigned, CSAP staff forward the CSSAF and Transmittal Letter to the Site Information Advisor (SIA) team at ENV. The SIA team assign Site IDs for the respective submissions, ensuring that new Site IDs are required and that appropriate associations are included in the Site Registry. ENV then provides confirmation of the new Site IDs back to CSAP staff. The SIA team also performs this task for direct to ministry applications.
  • We are pleased to welcome new CSAP staff member Liam Prendergast, Administrative Coordinator, to the team. Liam will be processing submissions and other related duties.

Professional development opportunities

Please note, these are virtual unless otherwise noted.