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