International Airshed Strategies
Jean O. Melious, J.D.Huxley College of the Environment
Western Washington UniversitySeptember 23, 2009
*
* The US side of the US-Mexico Border
http://www.epa.gov/region6/water/beyondtranslation/2007/presentations/env-health-prior_fc.pdf
Doing as much as possible with less
• Priorities• Best practices• Lessons learned (what worked, what
didn’t)• Gap analysis
IAS:• Biannual Meetings• Review of Major New
Source Initiatives• US-Canada Air Quality
Assessment, Notification, and Mitigation Requirements
• Memorandum of Understanding between the Washington State Department of Ecology and the British Columbia Environmental Assessment Office (MOU).
• Commitment on TEIA under NAAEC (North American Agreement on Envtl. Coop.)
Other places:• Europe, LRTAP: EIA is
not in the agreement; obligation is in other conventions.
• US/Mexico: – EIA for US federally
funded projects (BECC); negotiated between border governors/Mexican states
– Emergency cooperation for hazards
2. Harmonize standards to avoid economic competition
over pollution regulation ( “race to the bottom”)
IAS• Marine Vessel and
Port Emission Reduction Initiative
• Climate Change Initiative ( ?)
Other Places• EU SECAs (North
Sea, Baltic Sea)• US/Mexico: 1983
La Paz Agreement (hazardous wastes produced by maquiladores must be shipped back to originating country); Border 2012
3. Maintain and expand emissions inventories and
monitoring networks; make the data publicly available.
IAS– Characterization of
the GB-PS Airshed – Marine Vessel and
Ports: GB-PS emissions inventory; regional air quality monitoring
– Agriculture: Emissions inventory
– Airwatch Northwest (www.airwatchnorthwest.org)
• Other Places– Europe: Protocol to the
LRTAP Convention on the Financing of the Co-operative Programme for Monitoring and Evaluation
– US-Mexico: Technology Transfer Network, U.S.-Mexico Border Information Center on Air Pollution (CICA): Border Air Quality Data http://www.epa.gov/ttncatc1/cica/airq_e.html
IAS• The Coordinated
Transboundary Science and Data Initiative
• “Analysis of Best Management Practices and Emission Inventory for Agriculture Sources in the Lower Fraser Valley”
• Clean Vehicles and Fuels: Shared information on best management practices to reduce emissions from on-road vehicles
• Woodstoves: Shared information on woodstove change-out programs
Other Places• US-Mexico:
– Technology Transfer Network:U.S.-Mexico Border Information Center on Air Pollution (CICA), “Technical Resources,” http://www.epa.gov/ttncatc1/cica/atech_e.html
– LinkedIn Group (EPA Pacific Southwest)
• Aarhus Clearinghouse for Environmental Democracy, http://aarhusclearinghouse.unece.org/index.cfm
• Possible model: Re:Nepa, “the Federal Highway Administration's online community of practice.” http://nepa.fhwa.dot.gov/ReNEPA/ReNepa.nsf/home?openform
IAS• “Transboundary air
pollution and environmental justice: Vancouver and Seattle compared” (2009), funded by the BC Centre for Disease Control, via an agreement with Health Canada as part of the U.S.–Canada Border Air Quality Strategy.
• “The tools developed in the Border Air Quality Study enable air quality managers to identify pollution ‘hot spots’, and to identify where higher levels of pollution coincide with at-risk populations.” (Summary Report from the BAQS, March 2008)
Other Places• California Air
Resources Board, Envtl. Justice Resource Guide (not transboundary)
• EPA, EJSEAT, http://www.epa.gov/compliance/resources/policies/ej/ej-seat.html
• U.S. –Mexico border: Cleanup of Metales y Derivados, (abandoned, U.S.-owned lead recycling maquiladora factory in Tijuana, Mexico; CEC citizen submission)