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also create new duties and responsibilities,requiring a person responsible for acontaminated site to notify and takereasonable measures to remedy thedamage caused, at their own expense.Nova Scotia Environment (“NSE”) isresponsible for ensuring enforcement andcompliance with the Act and Regulations.Enforcement is carried out throughinspections and investigations by NSEinspectors, who have relatively broadpowers to enter and inspect property, seizeproperty, and issue directives. Unlikeministerial orders, directives are notappealable. Ministerial orders may require aperson, at that person’s expense, toremedy, clean up or rehabilitate adverseenvironmental effects, among other things.It is an offence to fail to comply with adirective or ministerial order.Environmental assessments and approvalsare regulated under the Environment Act, inconjunction with the Activities DesignationRegulations and the EnvironmentalAssessment Regulations. Environmentalassessments are only required forundertakings listed in the EnvironmentalAssessment Regulations. Likewise, theActivities Designation Regulations set outthe activities for which an approval isrequired.Under the Environment Act any officer,director or agent of a corporation can befound personally liable if they direct,authorize, acquiesce in or participate in aviolation of the Act or Regulations, whetheror not the corporation has been prosecuted.A director or officer who establishes thatthey exercised due diligence to prevent thecommission of the offence or that theirconduct was innocent in the circumstancescannot be convicted under the Act. As withother jurisdictions, directors and officersmust ensure there are environmentalmanagement systems in place, and cannotturn a blind eye to environmentallydamaging corporate activities.The Environmental Goals and SustainableProsperity Act is legislation unique to NovaScotia. It sets out the government’scommitments to a cleaner and moreeconomically sustainable province. The Actestablishes far-reaching goals for theprovince that range from reduced airemissions and waste, to new energystandards for buildings, increased protectionfor water and land and encouragement ofsustainable purchasing of goods andservices.Newfoundland and LabradorNewfoundland and Labrador’s principalenvironmental legislation is theEnvironmental Protection Act (“NLEPA”).The NLEPA and its accompanyingregulations set environmental standardsand procedures for business activities thatmay have significant environmental effect.The NLEPA and its regulations specify thepermissible amount, concentration and rateof release for substances released into theenvironment that may have an adverseeffect, and impose reporting requirements inthe event a release occurs that may havesuch an adverse effect. Personsresponsible for unauthorized releases arerequired to remedy the adverse effects ofthe substance and/or dispose of thesubstance at their own cost. As with manyother provincial statutes, “personEnvironmental Law 120

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