Resolutions Issued Monday, Aug. 27

The following are resolutions issued Monday, Aug. 27, during the New England Governors/Eastern Canadian Premiers Annual Conference in Westbrook, Connecticut.

RESOLUTION ON ENVIRONMENT PROJECTS

WHEREAS, the New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers recognize that joint action to address environmental issues such as mercury and acid rain are needed to protect regional resources, thus enhancing the long-term economic competitiveness of the region and free and fair trade; and

WHEREAS, environmental co-operation in New England and Eastern Canada during the last year included the integration and formatting of transboundary acid rain-related data sets with the financial support of the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, which will contribute to a greater understanding of the effects of acidifying pollutants and how they will be reported to our citizens; and

WHEREAS, the Committee on the Environment recommends to the New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers, the release of the report Data Without Borders as part of the overall communications plan to increase public awareness pertaining to acid rain; and

WHEREAS, the New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers recognize that there is increasing evidence of the interrelationships between respiratory health problems, acid deposition, and the emission of air pollutants, and the Government of Québec has offered to host a health symposium to discuss the impacts of acid rain on human health; and

WHEREAS, New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers recognize that actions being implemented will likely result in a 50 per cent or greater reduction in regional mercury emissions by the end of next year, thus meeting the mercury action plan interim 2003 reduction target, and where a post-2003 reduction goal would provide an incentive and benchmark to track progress towards virtual elimination; and

WHEREAS, coal-fired boilers continue to be a source of mercury and acidifying emissions, as well as other pollutants, in the United States and Canada and a preliminary regional report indicated that approaches to substantially reduce such emissions exist; and

WHEREAS, monitoring of mercury in the environment is needed to track progress in reducing mercury pollution and extensive regional efforts are underway to implement pollution prevention and education initiatives, including legislation to reduce mercury uses and release, and to promote strategies for the safe disposal and retirement of mercury.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Conference of New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers adopt the reports: Data Without Borders; Acid Rain Communications Plan; and the Mercury Action Plan Regional Progress Report and accompanying technical reports.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT the Conference of New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers direct its state and provincial environmental and health agencies, to organize a symposium on the impacts of acid rain on human health; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT the Conference of New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers direct its state and provincial environmental agencies to identify and implement actions to achieve an overall 75 per cent, or greater, regional reduction in anthropogenic mercury releases to the environment from regional sources by or before 2010, and to re-evaluate this regional goal in 2005 to allow for new data to be taken into account; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT, the Conference of New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers directs its state and provincial environmental agencies to

• complete an update of multi-pollutant control options for utilities;
• complete a report on mercury monitoring in the region;
• continue to advance mercury pollution prevention and education initiatives;
• advocate for long-term mercury retirement strategies.

RESOLUTION CONCERNING ENERGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT

WHEREAS, the Conference of New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers (NEG/ECP) has interest in addressing energy supply and reliability, promoting environmental stewardship and assuring an efficient and effective transportation system, issues which by their nature are linked and whose resolution will also be linked; and

WHEREAS, the New England states and Eastern Canadian provinces are linked by a common energy system and transportation network, which are subject to the same market forces regarding energy and fuel diversity, and the region has developed common strategies to address the energy and environmental aspects of transportation; and

WHEREAS, the NEG/ECP Committee on the Environment and the Northeast International Committee on Energy have developed a Climate Change Action Plan to address actions to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases in the region and adapt our economies and social infrastructure to the negative impacts likely to result from climate change; and

WHEREAS, within the region, greenhouse gas emissions within one jurisdiction associated with cleaner energy production, can be offset by greenhouse gas emission reductions within another jurisdiction, resulting from the replacement of higher carbon intensity fuels with imported cleaner energy; and

WHEREAS, the New England states and Eastern Canadian provinces suffer from the effects of air pollution transport from upwind sources, have strong public support and co-operation between jurisdictions to substantially reduce air pollution, and have together shared the productive experience of identifying and reducing emissions that contribute to acid deposition and mercury pollution through the implementation of the conference's Acid Rain Action Plan and the Mercury Action Plan; and

WHEREAS, the conference recognizes that substantial opportunities to improve conservation and efficiency in energy use and transportation are embodied in the Climate Change Action Plan;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Conference of New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers, working with its Coordinating Committee, Committee on the Environment and Northeast International Committee on Energy, continue to jointly coordinate common strategies for the resolution of regional energy, environmental and transportation issues; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT the Conference of New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers accepts the Climate Change Action Plan and directs its environment and energy committees to form a task force of energy, environmental and other appropriate officials from state and provincial agencies to develop specific strategies and oversee and co-ordinate the implementation of the Climate Change Action Plan; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT the conference also directs its Committee on the Environment and Northeast International Committee on Energy to work together to address regional energy and environmental issues such as integrated approaches to energy reliability, fuel diversity, regional emission credit trading, energy conservation, and improved energy facility and transmission siting; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT the conference recognizes the value of an effective transportation network that is compatible with the principles of growth management including open space preservation and sustainable economic growth; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT the conference directs its environment and energy committees to report on their progress to the next meeting of the Conference of New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers.

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