Acid Rain/Mercury Workshop

The Conference of New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers will hold an acid rain and mercury workshop in Portland, Me., from Feb. 11-13.

The workshop will be hosted by the Office of the Governor of Maine and the Maine Environmental Protection Department, and is sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Commission for Environmental Cooperation.

The first day of the workshop will focus on acid rain issues. Panelists and participants will examine developments in acid rain policy over the past decade, impacts on forests and lakes, fine particulates and health issues, and regional solutions. Panels will include New England and Eastern Canadian experts in these areas, as well as guests from outside the region.

The second day's program will be devoted to mercury issues. Multimedia monitoring programs, mercury inventories, and control strategies will be addressed. As with acid rain, a key part of the program will concern collaborative reduction strategies.

On Feb. 13, representatives from New England environmental commissions and Eastern Canadian environmental ministries will draft two documents, a set of recommendations on acid rain strategies and a mercury action plan. These two documents will be presented to the governors and premiers at their next meeting, to be held in June in Fredericton.