This release was issued under a previous government.
“With Lorne and Greg at the helm, I am confident that AEMERA will take Alberta’s environmental monitoring to even greater levels of reliability, credibility and transparency. This is fundamental to responsible resource development in our province.”
The chair and vice-chair’s first job is to provide input on board member recruitment. The Alberta Environmental Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting Agency (AEMERA) is expected to begin its monitoring operations in April.
The arm’s-length agency will be in charge of coordinating province-wide environmental monitoring and evaluation. It will also be responsible for work currently done through the Joint Oil Sands Monitoring project. The focus will be on sound science, and comprehensive, coordinated monitoring and reporting of land, air, water, and biodiversity.
AEMERA was created as part of the foundation for Alberta’s integrated resource management system; a system that uses a holistic approach that accounts for cumulative effects on the land.
Related information
Alberta Environmental Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting Agency (AEMERA)
Joint Oil Sands Monitoring project
Related stories
Bill creates environmental monitoring agency (Oct 28, 2013)
Alberta to establish arm’s length environmental monitoring agency (Oct 17, 2012)
Backgrounder
Biographies of Chair and Vice-Chair
Dr. Lorne Taylor
Dr. Lorne Taylor is a consultant and businessman based in Medicine Hat. He was the founding Chair of the Alberta Water Research Institute and is currently the Special Advisor to Alberta WaterSMART. He has held tenured positions at several universities.
From 1993 to 2004, Dr. Taylor served as Alberta's Minister of Science, Research and Information Technology; Minister of Innovation and Science; and Minister of the Environment. While in government, Dr. Taylor was instrumental in the creation of the Alberta Ingenuity Fund, Alberta SuperNet, and the Water for Life Strategy which remains the government's water strategy to this day.
Dr. Greg Taylor
Dr. Greg Taylor is the former Dean of the Faculty of Science at the University of Alberta and a Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences. As an environmental toxicologist, his research focuses on understanding the mechanisms plants use to tolerate stresses in the soil environment, such as metal toxicity and nutrient deficiency.
Dr. Taylor has served on the editorial boards of BMC Plant Biology, Plant and Soil and the Canadian Journal of Botany, and on a number of boards, including the Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute, the Telus World of Science, and Tecterra Inc. He also served on the Alberta Environmental Monitoring Panel and the Alberta Environmental Monitoring Working Group.
Most recently, Dr. Taylor served on the Alberta Environmental Monitoring Management Board which provided advice on the creation of the Alberta Environmental Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting Agency.