What’s new with the Environment & Climate Change Council

This is the last in a series of six articles on TAC’s Fall Technical Meetings that were held in Edmonton on October 1 and 2, 2022. Each article has profiled one council and its committees.

TAC’s Environment & Climate Change Council had 35 attendees at its fall meeting. The council heard presentations from Shauna Lehmann on the development of a compliance-focused environmental management system (EMS) framework by the Saskatchewan Ministry of Highways, and from Lorraine Andrusiak of Ausenco on British Columbia’s best management practices for bats and bridges. Other discussion topics included regulatory updates to the Migratory Birds Convention Act, liabilities at maintenance depots, the UK Net Zero Highways strategy, and non-invasive techniques for establishing fish presence or absence.

Committee updates

The Council is supported by three committees that had met previously.

The Climate Change Integrated Committee meeting attracted 26 attendees. It featured presentations from Ahsan Habib on integrated bottom-up transport and emission modelling for climate action planning, and from Alex Izett on using PIEVC Climate Risk Assessment protocols to assess TAC’s Geometric Design Guide for Canadian Roads. The committee also discussed the “big picture” of climate mitigation measures, for example the need to consider the impacts of a transition to electric vehicles when the required electricity is generated using fossil fuels.

A joint meeting of the Environmental Issues Committee and Environmental Legislation Committee involved 24 participants. The Committees heard from Mark Svenson of Alberta Transportation on Indigenous Peoples consultation, including challenges and lessons learned. During the meeting, participants took a walking tour of Edmonton’s new LRT bridge that was facilitated by Chris Gentile of the City of Edmonton and Lynn Maslen of Spencer Environmental.

Environment & Climate Change Council Executive volunteers

• Chair – Ethan Askey (City of Calgary)
• Vice-Chair – Dawn Irish (Ministry of Transportation, Ontario)
• Chair, Climate Change Integrated Committee – Naz Capano (City of Toronto)
• Chair, Environmental Issues Committee – Robin Taylor (Hemmera EnviroChem)
• Chair, Environmental Legislation Committee – Melissa Rutherford (CBCL Limited)
• Past Chair – Shauna Lehmann (Saskatchewan Ministry of Highways)
• Board Liaison – Lon LaClaire (City of Vancouver)