Under B.C.’s Environmental Management Act, a director or officer of a company that owns or operates on, or has historically owned or operated on, a contaminated site is a “person responsible for remediation” of that site simply in virtue of their position with the company. Such directors and officers can be liable to pay the ...
Although it is standard practice for landlords to build several provisions into their commercial lease agreements to guard against liability exposure stemming from their tenants’ operations on their land, few landlords appear to fully appreciate the potential environmental liability risks that they are exposed to as a result of their tenants’ activities, which exist both ...
Since both landlords and tenants can attract statutory environmental liability arising from mere ownership or having carried out any (even non-polluting) operation on contaminated land, measures to minimize and, where appropriate, allocate, the liability risk should be considered by both prior to the commencement of the lease. That being said, the nature of the protections ...
The Environmental Management Act, S.B.C. 2003, c. 53 (“EMA”) and the Contaminated Sites Regulation, B.C. Reg. 375/96 (“CSR”) provide the regulatory framework for identifying and allocating liability among persons responsible for the remediation of contaminated sites in British Columbia. There are two avenues by which a person may become liable for the costs of remediation ...