Alberta Bill 31 Establishing New Environmental Monitoring Agency Passes First Reading

As first discussed in our earlier publication entitled Alberta Government Sets Up New Environmental Monitoring Agency¹, the  Alberta Minister of Environment and Sustainable Resource Development Diana McQueen (the "Minister") introduced Bill 31, Protecting Alberta's Environment Act, ("Bill 31") in the provincial Legislature.² Bill 31 will establish the Alberta Environmental Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting Agency (AEMERA), an arm's-length agency responsible for operating a comprehensive, science-based environmental monitoring system. The provincial government heralds AEMERA's creation as the next step in developing a more integrated and coordinated approach to developing and managing Alberta's natural resources.

Scope

AEMERA's initial focus will be on the Lower Athabasca area, and more specifically on work which is currently being done in the oil sands area under the Joint Oil Sands Monitoring Plan. Eventually, AEMERA will be responsible for province-wide environmental monitoring, evaluation, and reporting as land use plans are implemented. The data AEMERA collects will detail the condition of Alberta's environment – specifically air, land, water, and biodiversity.

Organization

AEMERA's management board, which has already been appointed, will oversee AEMERA's creation. The management board's initial work will focus on how the new agency will operate, long-term funding options, and establishing a Science Advisory Panel to provide input and advice on monitoring efforts. The current management board will operate until AEMERA is legally established under Alberta law. Once Bill 31 passes, the Alberta government will appoint an agency chair and board members through a public application process.

Bill 31 mandates that AEMERA appoint a Science Advisory Panel to periodically review the scientific basis and the components of AEMERA's monitoring, evaluation, and reporting activities, and to advise AEMERA regarding the scientific integrity of environmental monitoring in Alberta.  Bill 31 also empowers AEMERA to establish any advisory committee or panel that it considers necessary in connection with any matter pertaining to its purposes.

Purposes

AEMERA's stated purposes in Bill 31 are:

1. To create credible and relevant scientific data and other information regarding the condition of the environment in Alberta, and
2. To ensure the data and other information are available and reported to the public in an open and transparent manner.

In carrying out its purposes, Bill 31 requires AEMERA to:

a)      plan, co-ordinate and conduct environmental monitoring,

b)      collect, store, manage, analyze and evaluate environmental monitoring data,

c)      report on the status and trends related to the condition of the environment on the basis of the evaluation of the data collected,

d)     make environmental monitoring data and related evaluations and assessments publicly available, develop standards respecting environmental monitoring,

e)      establish advisory committees or panels respecting environmental monitoring, and

f)       carry out other activities determined by the Minister.

Cost-Recovery

Bill 31 allows AEMERA to charge fees on a cost-recovery basis for requested services it provides in fulfilling its mandate.

Reporting

Bill 31 requires AEMERA to report to the public on the condition of Alberta's environment, at a frequency determined by AEMERA in consultation with the Minister.

Timeline

Bill 31 passed its first reading on October 28, and must pass additional readings before it receives Royal Assent and comes into force.

The provincial government expects that AEMERA will start operating in early 2014.

Footnotes

^{1 Original publication date: November 28, 2012.}

^{2 1st Sess, 28th Leg, Alberta, 2013.}

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