Cannabis Air Quality Permitting

Air quality and environmentally related regulations across Canada and in Ontario have not been developed for the Licensed Producers (“LP”) of Cannabis or the industry in general, but that should not stop the LP’s investigating air quality concerns such as odour issues.  Players in the Cannabis industry have more pressure to be a “good corporate citizen” than those industries with a long corporate history.  Either through regulations or as a good corporate citizen, the Cannabis industry will need to deal with public odour issues. ORTECH recommends that odour concerns be addressed in the building design stage as this is the most cost-effective point in the process.  For already established facilities, these odour control retrofits should be incorporated into the facilities operating practices.    Cannabis Using Ontario’s Environmental Protection Act (“EPA”), the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change (“MOECC”) has the authority to respond to odour concerns when:

  • there is a reason to believe that discharge into the environment could cause:

    • harm to the natural environment or a person,

    • loss of enjoyment of the normal use of property, or

    • interferes with the normal conduct of business (Section 14 of the EPA)

  • if a discharge released into the air from an industrial, commercial or other source exceeds a standard as set out in Ontario Regulation 419/05 – Local Air Quality

  • using the Environmental Compliance Approval (“ECA”) which puts strict requirements on how facilities operate to protect the environment. Depending on the type of facility, the ECA may include specific requirements to control odour.

  • the ministry inspects facilities that are required to have an ECA

Based on the recent regulation, O.Reg 1/17 EPA which allows many low-risk facilities to register with Environmental Activity and Sector Registry (“EASR”) instead of the ECA permitting path.  The EASR is meant to be a faster and less complicated permitting process.  Facilities that register under the EASR must develop an Emission Summary and Dispersion Modelling (“ESDM”) Report including a Noise Report and an Odour Screening Report.

ORTECH has been providing air quality permitting for some of the most odorous industries in Ontario for over 40 years.  We can assess your current situation and prepare you for the time when regulations are developed for the Cannabis Industry.  Typically, these rules are from Provincial governments and ORTECH will be monitoring the current situation and reaching out to the LPs with any new information.

For more information, please use the contact form below.