Environmental Standards and Practices
Introduction
The Ontario Ministry of Transportation (MTO) is the provincial agency responsible for Ontario's provincial highway program. The ministry must manage the provincial highway program in compliance with federal and provincial environmental legislation and government policy. To this end, the Provincial and Environmental Planning Office of MTO, develops policies and standards to support regulatory compliance and to provide for a consistent and systematic approach to environmental management.
The Environmental Standards and Practices documents provide the ministry's staff and its agents with the requirements, guidance and tools to protect the environment during all stages of highway management including transportation planning and highway design, construction and operations and maintenance. Some are also intended to support inter-agency protocols between the ministry and specific regulatory agencies such as the Ontario Ministry of the Environment and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada.
The documents broadly include direction in the following areas:
- A synthesis and interpretation of the extensive list of applicable requirements from environmental legislation, regulation and government policy;
- The ministry's environmental assessment processes and procedures applicable to a range of environmental factors; and
- The selection, design and implementation of environmental protection, mitigation and compensation measures.
Some of the documents were updated from previous versions while others are new. All documents were updated or developed through extensive consultation with provincial and federal regulatory agencies and internal stakeholders, as well as through public consultation using the Environmental Bill of Rights Registry. The documents will continue to be updated over time, as regulatory requirements and ministry processes and procedures change.
The Environmental Standards and Practices documents are also available from Publications Ontario.
For further information please contact:
Ministry of Transportation
Provincial and Environmental Planning Office
Garden City Tower, 2nd Floor
301 St. Paul Street
St. Catharines, ON L2R 7R4
Phone: 905-704-2207
Email: Brenda.Carruthers@ontario.ca
