Over the past few years there has been much discussion about how companies go about establishing and achieving sustainability and social responsibility objectives. Unless one is careful these initiatives can result in overlooking the need to meet the fundamental objective of regulatory compliance. There is no country where this is more important than the United States where the environmental, health, and safety (EHS) regulatory burden is substantial and the consequences of non-compliance can be quite severe. In order to merit a “license to operate” in the U.S. it is important to understand clearly and completely the regulatory environment and its requirements…

Ongoing concerns about the potential impact of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) on drinking water have pushed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to investigate public concerns in light of the growing importance of natural gas in the clean energy future of the United States. On 23 June 2011, the EPA announced plans to conduct a draft
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From Environment Canada. Canada’s Environment Minister Peter Kent announced in August that the Canadian government is moving forward with regulations for the coal-fired electricity sector. “Our strategy to lower our emissions is based on making improvements sector by sector to sustain our economy and protect our environment,” said Minister Kent. “We are taking action in the
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