Revisions to Alberta’s soil and groundwater remediation requirements came into effect on May 1, 2016, reports environmental law firm Willms & Shier.

Tier 1 guidelines are generic guidelines for application at a range of sites within a given land use. Tier 2 guidelines describe how to develop a site-specific approach by modifying the Tier 1 guidelines using site-specific information.

According to Willms & Shier, Tier 1 guidelines introduce more rigorous standards for ethylbenzene and xylenes (commonly associated with motive fuels) and for tetrachloroethylene (often associated with dry cleaning operations).

Tier 1 and Tier 2 revisions also include the Subsoil Petroleum Hydrocarbon Guidelines for Remote Forested Sites in the Green Area (public land that is managed primarily for timber production).

Alberta Environment and Parks and the Alberta Energy Regulator will continue to accept remediation certificate and reclamation certificate applications that used the former 2014 guidelines, provided environmental site assessment reports filed in support of these applications are dated April 30, 2016 or earlier.