2.               February 19, 2009 Work Group Meeting

In September 2008, the EC’s Pollution Data Division (PDD) (i.e., division responsible for the NPRI program) underwent reorganization, which resulted in new EC officials being responsible for NPRI consultations. A meeting of the WG was held on February 19, 2009 in Ottawa, Ontario to inform stakeholders of this transition and to discuss the changes that would occur as a result of this transition and new delivery model for the NPRI.

2.1           Participants [1]

Industry, Non-government Organizations and Aboriginal Representatives
Victoria Christie	Canadian Electricity Association (CEA)
Jim Cormack	Canadian Energy Pipeline Association (CEPA), Canadian Gas Association (CGA), Canadian Energy Partnership for Environmental Innovation (CEPEI)
Nancy Coulas	Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters (CME)
John Cuddihy	Cement Association of Canada
Ramsey Hart	Mining Watch
Justyna Laurie-Lean	Mining Association of Canada (MAC)
John Lundrigan	ArcelorMittal Dofasco – representing CSPA
Anna Mitchell	Canadian Institute for Environmental Law and Policy (CIELAP)
Alan Penn	Grand Council of the Crees
Ron Plain	Aamjiwnaang First Nation, ON
Kathryn Podgurny	Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP)
Jorma Salmikivi	Canadian Chemical Producers’ Association (CCPA) / Canadian Petroleum Products Institute (CPPI)
Anna Tilman	STORM Coalition
Iva Vasileski	Canadian Water and Wastewater Association (CWWA)
James White	Ecology Action Centre
Attendees via Conference Call
Tammy Giroux	Canadian Vehicle Manufacturer’s Association (CVMA)
Wayne Hillier	Husky Energy
John Jackson	Great Lakes United
Krista Phillips	Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP)
Olga Schwartzkopf	Soil and Water Conservation Society, BC Chapter
Environment Canada
George Enei	Acting Director General, Science and Risk Assessment Directorate
Terry Mah	Acting Manager, NPRI Data Collection Section, Pollution Data Division
Henry Quon	Senior Science Officer, NPRI Data Collection
Jody Rosenberger	Senior Science Officer, NPRI Data Collection
Nancy Tremblay	Science Officer, NPRI Data Collection
Jennifer Underhill	NPRI Technical Support Officer, NPRI Data Collection
Nazih Zakhour	Acting Director, Pollution Data Division

 

2.2           Purpose of the Meeting

The general purposes of the meeting were to:

1. Update stakeholders on NPRI activities since the last work group meeting (June 2008), including:
• Reorganization of the Pollution Data Division (PDD) and future delivery of the NPRI under a more focused management model;
• Status of EC’s response to the 2008 WG recommendations; and
• Status of the publication of the 2009 NPRI Canada Gazette notice.
2. Describe the current priorities and policy landscape in EC; and
3. Have an open discussion on the future of the NPRI Work Group and various sub-groups.

 

2.3    Key Points of the Meeting

2.3.1      Changes in NPRI

The stakeholders expressed an interest in knowing the roles and responsibilities of the EC members at this meeting, as all EC members present were new to the work group.  Terry Mah introduced the EC staff members and their roles were identified.  The Acting Director General of Science and Risk Assessment, George Enei, then gave an overview presentation of the four pillars of the Pollution Data Divison:

1. Data Collection
2. Data Quality & Inventory Compilation
3. Analysis & Prediction
4. Reporting and Coordination

George Enei also provided information on the linkages of PDD to other parts of the Science and Technology (S&T) Branch such as Greenhouse Gases Reporting, and other data collection efforts within EC.  The current goal in EC is to harmonize reporting requirements as much as possible and adopt an integrated data collection mechanism with the purpose of going out only once to industry.  The priorities of the NPRI under the S&T Branch are to make the data relevant, robust and reliable through but not limited to consultation and integration within the federal government to ensure one government voice on programming.  The provincial and other federal governments would be engaged.

The overriding theme of the NPRI is to get back to a more simplified approach, have a service-oriented approach which is linked to the priorities of today, and to gather information that would inform the priorities of tomorrow.

2.3.2   Status of the NPRI since the June 2008 meeting of the WG

A presentation was given as an update on the current status of the NPRI.  The 2007 NPRI validated data was released in December 2008.  The changes made to the NPRI for 2008 were presented; it was highlighted that there were very minimal changes with only one addition to the list activities for reporting for dioxins/furans and hexachlorobenzene.  The 2009 Canada Gazette notice is scheduled to be published in July 2009.  Stakeholders expressed that they would like the Gazette notice published in advance of the reporting year to which it pertains in order to gather required data make appropriate preparations.

The Final WG report from the June 2008 meeting was still outstanding at the time of this meeting and stakeholders would like notice of when it will be published.

2.3.3      Discussion on Future of NPRI Consultations

During the open discussion on the future of consultations for the NPRI, many issues were discussed around the mandate of the group, governance and decision-making for consultations, and a number of outstanding issues from previous consultations cycles.  It was decided that the Terms of Reference for the WG should be revisited, and that an expanded mandate for the group be considered.  Suggestions for issues that could fall under an expanded mandate included topics such as modifying and streamlining NPRI requirements, identifying and resolving data gaps, improving public access to and interpretation of pollutant data, improving outreach to the public, improving data quality and assisting in coordinating NPRI requirements with other pollutant data collection initiatives where appropriate.

The status of sub-groups that were in existence at the conclusion of the June 2008 WG meeting was raised – it was decided that this is a topic that will be discussed at future WG meetings, along with the outstanding issues from previous work group meetings.  There was concern that as some of these sub-groups were not necessarily working on high priority issues, and thus their status needed to be addressed as soon as possible. 

It was discussed that a more focused work plan should be developed to guide activities of the WG – this will be another point of discussion for future meetings of the group.

2.3.4      Other Topics and Issues

There was a point specifically made about the inconsistencies of ammonia reporting in the NPRI, and EC agreed to look into this issue at the earliest opportunity.

Stakeholders expressed interest in becoming involved with the development of the NPRI new on-line reporting software system, or in the re-development of the existing system and would like EC to engage them at the appropriate point in time.

Furthermore, stakeholders expressed interest in being involved in the development of the NPRI query site/search tool and would like to be engaged by the Reporting and Coordination Section on this issue.