About the Environmental Review Tribunal

The Environmental Review Tribunal (ERT) is one of the five Tribunals within the Environment and Land Tribunals Ontario cluster. The ERT is committed to conducting timely, fair, efficient and impartial hearings that protect the environment and are consistent with the governing legislation.

The ERT functions as a quasi-judicial body, subject to the rules of natural justice and the requirements of the Statutory Powers Procedure Act.

The ERT primary role is adjudicating applications and appeals under various environmental and planning statutes.

The ERT hears applications and appeals under the Clean Water Act, 2006, the Environmental Assessment Act, the Environmental Protection Act, the Nutrient Management Act, 2002, the Ontario Water Resources Act, the Pesticides Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, 2002, the Toxics Reduction Act, 2009, leave to appeal applications under the Environmental Bill of Rights, 1993, and matters under the Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Act, 2001, and the Greenbelt Act, 2005.

The Environmental Review Tribunal also functions as the Office of Consolidated Hearings to hear applications made under the Consolidated Hearings Act and as the Niagara Escarpment Hearing Office to hear development permit appeals and Niagara Escarpment Plan amendment applications under the Niagara Escarpment Planning and Development Act.

This website is divided into three parts, one for each function.

ATTENTION – ERT’S REQUEST FOR STATUS OF REPRESENTATIVES

Because of the new rules regulating paralegals issued by the Law Society of Upper Canada, the Environmental Review Tribunal may be requesting the status of representatives.

The Tribunal may ask whether a representative is licensed, has applied for a license or is exempt from the Law Society’s regulations. Failure to provide this information may have an impact on whether a representative will be permitted to appear before the Tribunal.

For more information, please contact the Tribunal or visit the Law Society’s website at http://www.lsuc.on.ca.

Statistics

View statistics from the last quarter.

April 2011

The Acknowledgement of Expert’s Duty Form (#5) found in Appendix F of the Tribunal’s Rules of Practice and Practice Directions is now available under the Forms Tab of the website. As well, a link to the Niagara Escarpment Plan which includes the latest Plan amendments, effective April 1, 2011, has been added.

October 2010

A Table of Concordance between the ERT’s July 9, 2010 Rules of Practice and the November 15, 2007 Rules (Word version, PDF version) has been posted to the ERT website.

July 2010

The ERT’s revised Rules of Practice and Practice Directions (Word version, PDF version) and a new Guide Word version and Guide PDF version have been posted.