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Georgia Basin / Puget
Sound
International Airshed Strategy
and Inventory of
Air Quality Practices
Mt. Baker, from Ferndale, Washington
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Statement of Intent
between Environment Canada and the Environmental Proection Agency
on a Georgia Basin/ Puget Sound International Airshed Strategy
Preamble
• High quality air is essential to the well being of the ecosystems and the physical and cultural health of the people, and the economies of the Puget Sound and Georgia Basin.
• Canada and the United States share an airshed and collectively seek healthy air quality.
• The national and regional economies of Canada and the United States are interdependent, creating a need to ensure that the public policies and regulatory frameworks in both countries are complementary.
Objectives
The Department of he Environment of Canada and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(hereinafter referred to as "the participants") hereby declare our intent to protect the air
in the Puget Sound and Georgia Basin Region, as follows:
• To work collaboratively to address present and future air quality issues and to resolve pressing air quality issues in the region in a timely manner.
• To carry out this work in a manner consistent with the efforts being taken under existing transboundary agreements and mechanisms such as the Canada-United States Statement of Cooperation on the Georgia Basin-Puget Sound Ecosystem, the United States-Canada Air Quality Agreement, and the British Columbia-Washington State Environmental Cooperation Council.
• To work at resolving the most pressing issues which include but may not be limited to:
-growing concern about the links between air quality and human health;
- increasing reliance on fossil fuels for the production of energy within the region;
- land use patterns and transportation systems that rely increasingly on inefficient uses of fossil fuels; and
- increases in total loading of pollutants on the region’s airshed as a result of continued industrial, commercial and residential development and population growth.
• To cooperate in the development of a Georgia Basin - Puget Sound International Airshed Strategy (Strategy) to guide actions to address the issues, encourage efforts to understand and manage air quality and foster the stewardship of this critical natural resource.
• To improve the basis for collaboration by taking a variety of actions, including but not limited to the following:
- developing compatible approaches to emission inventories, air quality monitoring and atmospheric modeling to provide a common basis of knowledge;
- characterizing conditions in the airshed to assist in the further identification of key air quality issues and the development of action programs;
- developing a clearinghouse for best practices; and
- assuring notification and exchange of information on projects that are likely to have transboundary impacts.
Procedures
• The Participants intend to:
- involve Provincial, State and Local governments, Regional Air Quality Authorities, the private sector, academia, and non-government organizations in this initiative;
- develop and implement work plans to give effect to this Statement of Intent; and
- meet on a regular basis to review progress.
• Environment Canada intends to involve the Aboriginal people of the Georgia Basin.
• U.S. EPA intends to involve affected federally recognized tribes consistent with the EPA Indian Policy as issued in 1984 and reaffirmed most recently on July 11, 2001 by Administrator Christine Todd Whitman.
Signatures
• The signing of this Statement of Intent, reflects our intention to work collaboratively with all interested stakeholders to address present and future air quality issues in the Georgia Basin-Puget Sound region.
Signed by: Don Fast John Iani
Regional Director General Regional Administrator
Pacific-Yukon Region Region 10
Environment Canada Environmental Protection Agency
A list of the participating agencies
in the Georgia Basin / Puget Sound International Airshed Strategy is available.
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