Download - International Airshed Strategies
International Airshed Strategies
Jean O. Melious, J.D.Huxley College of the Environment
Western Washington UniversitySeptember 23, 2009
I. Introduction
Why have an international airshed
strategy?
Can experience in other places help to answer this
question?
(Detour to the other border)
*
* The US side of the US-Mexico Border
http://www.epa.gov/region6/water/beyondtranslation/2007/presentations/env-health-prior_fc.pdf
(Back to our border)
How do transboundary initiatives survive in tough
times?
Dilbert, Sept. 20, 2009
Doing as much as possible with less
• Priorities• Best practices• Lessons learned (what worked, what
didn’t)• Gap analysis
2. Why a transboundary strategy?
Experience along our border
and in other places
1. Cope with Crises and Avoid Surprises
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
What about slow-moving emergencies?
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
4. Share information and best management practices
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
Address environmental justice concerns and hot spots.
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)
3. Meeting Theme
“Connection With Communities
for Cleaner Air”: A Whatcom County Perspective
Good luck with the work ahead of you