PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The Western Australian state government has appointed environmental scientist and researcher Dr Tom Hatton as the new chairperson of the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA).

The appointment would run for an initial five-year period, and would start on November 5.

Hatton’s appointment followed from an earlier announcement that current chairperson Paul Vogel would step down at the end of his term in November.

Environment Minister Albert Jacob said on Thursday that deputy chairperson Robert Harvey had also been reappointed from November 18.

“Dr Hatton has significant expertise in environmental science and its application to issues of state development. I have confidence that Dr Hatton will appropriately and effectively serve Western Australia as the chairperson of the EPA."

A former Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation group executive of energy, Hatton has been a member of the EPA board since November 2014 and brings more than 25 years of national and international research experience to the role.

Hatton chairs the Western Australian Marine Parks and Reserves Authority, is one of the three independent delegates assessing the Browse liquefied natural gas precinct strategic proposal, and is on scientific advisory boards for the Department of Water and the University of Western Australia, where he is also an adjunct professor.

Harvey was appointed to the EPA in 2012, has considerable board experience and many years of expertise in water resource management and related environmental issues. He was a member of the Water Corporation board from 2007 until this year and has been a member of the Western Australian Planning Commission since 2010.

The other EPA members are Elizabeth Carr and Glen McLeod.  The state government would seek expressions of interest in the near future to fill the fifth position.