CASA AND ALBERTA AIR COUNCIL JOINT STANDING COMMITTEE

DESCRIPTION

The CASA and AAC Joint Standing Committee (JSC) was created in 2010 as an ongoing mechanism to strengthen the relationship between CASA, the Alberta Airsheds Council (AAC) and the individual airshed zones, and to provide a forum for discussing and addressing strategic issues related to effective air quality management in Alberta.

STATUS

Inactive

HISTORY

2010: At their March meeting, the CASA Board accepted the final report from the CASA Airshed Zones Board Committee (AZBC). A key recommendation was the formation of the JSC. A working group was established to develop a terms of reference for the new committee.

At the September board meeting, the CASA and AAC Joint Standing Committee Terms of Reference were presented to the CASA Board. The board approved the terms of reference, agreed to the establishment of the JSC, and disbanded the working group.

2011: In February, the JSC began to meet to work on key tasks outlined in the terms of reference. Over the following months, the committee began to prioritize and execute the tasks, beginning with establishment of a common understanding of the roles and interests of the airsheds.

2012: The JSC contracted consultants to write a discussion paper to inform their deliberations. The discussion paper was titled Roles, Responsibilities and Relationships in Alberta’s Air Quality Management System.

2013: In March the JSC met with representatives from Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development (ESRD) to review the discussion paper and discuss where the JSC could do work to support current initiatives.  Following this meeting, JSC sent a letter to the Alberta Environmental Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting Agency (AEMERA), requesting that the agency:

  1. Meet regularly with the JSC as their work continues; and
  2. Provide feedback about how the JSC could most effectively provide input to the agency’s ongoing work.

The JSC received a response to their letter, which proposed a follow-up meeting in late fall 2013 or early 2014 “to provide an update on progress towards the creation of the arms-length agency and an enhanced provincial environmental monitoring system”.

2014: The Secretariat has been in contact with AEMERA and is working to coordinate a meeting as soon as possible.