Triangle". Mexico committed itself to the installation of continuous sulfur dioxide controls before expansion of smelting capacity at Cananea. It also stated that the industry has pledged to install an acid plant at Nacozari by January 1988. In return, the U.S. promised to ensure compliance at the Phelps Dodge smelter in Douglas, Arizona with Clean Air Act provisions soon as possible, but no later than January 2, 1988.

as

In July 1985, the national coordinators reviewed the joint recommendations of all three working groups. The coordinators are now developing an "action plan" for 1985-86 and beyond. Progress on environmental cooperation is reviewed regularly at meetings of the national coordinators.

Other Bilateral Cooperative Arrangements

Federal Republic of Germany (FRG)

Bilateral cooperation with environmental authorities and scientists in the FRG provides significant benefit to EPA's domestic program. The two countries share common concerns and commitment and benefit through exchange of information and experience on their approaches to solution of major environmental problems. Current work under the U.S.-German Agreement on environmental cooperation focuses on acid deposition and its ecological effects, hazardous waste management, innovative regulatory approaches, source controls for air pollution, radiation protection, groundwater protection, and other topics. Specialists from both sides have visited each other's laboratories and the field to advance the research program on forest damages, a major concern in the FRG and of growing interest in this country.

During 1985, EPA personnel worked with their colleagues in German organizations for up to six months on hazardous waste management and enforcement techniques, control of automotive air pollution, and legal elements for environmental case development. The U.S. also had significant exchange with the FRG through multilateral fora such as the OECD, the ECE and the NATO Committee on the Challenges of Modern Society (CCMS). Within CCMS, the U.S. and FRG led a major effort on control of dioxins. The German Marshall Fund of the U.S. has promoted and assisted in the exchange of specialists and meetings on development of innovative economic instruments to encourage voluntary compliance with pollution regulations.

The Netherlands

In June 1985 EPA Administrator Lee Thomas and the Dutch Minister of Housing, Physical Planning, and Environment signed a renewal of the U.S./Netherlands MOU on environmental cooperation. Taking into account the productiveness of the relationship, the two sides agreed to modify the termination clause, so that the Memorandum is now self-renewing every five years. A co-sponsored international symposium on aerosols was held in the U.S. in May; over three hundred participants from 17 countries and organizations discussed the creation, transport, effects, and control of aerosol pollutants. cooperation is focused on innovative cross-media, results-oriented environmental management, hazardous waste management and emergency preparedness, water quality protection, health effects, acid deposition, and other priority topics.

Ongoing

European Community (EC)

Under a 1974 agreement between the Department of State and the EC Commission, consultations on environmental issues are held on a yearly basis. The last meeting took place in Brussels in February 1985. Topics included: the ozone layer, chemicals (existing chemicals, biotechnology, hazard assessment, formaldehyde, and EPA's proposed rule for several exemptions to Premanufacturing Notification), air pollution (acid rain, unleaded gasoline toxic air pollutants, motor vehicle emissions), hazardous waste (notification system, waste management, RCRA reauthorization), and issues of mutual interest pending before international organizations. Information on these and other environmental problems is exchanged regularly so that the U.S. and the EC countries are aware of major environmental developments that may affect political and economic relationships.

Japan

The U.S.-Japan Agreement on Environmental Cooperation, discussed in the 1985 Title V Report, was extended for an additional five year period in July 1985. EPA and the Japanese Environment Agency exercise general oversight for the Agreement, which, through its fourteen projects, successfully promotes the exchange of new technologies, practical experience, and data on a broad array of priority environmental issues. Benefits derived by both sides from these exchanges is evaluated at the Joint Planning and Coordinating Committee Meeting normally held every 12-18 months, alternately in the United States and Japan. Wastewater treatment, air pollution control, solid and hazardous waste management, toxic substances, environmental impact assessment, and food chemistry are the subjects of current projects.

Soviet Union

The volume of cooperative activity under the U.S.-U.S.S.R. Environmental Agreement decreased somewhat in FY 1985. However, high-level contact between the Administrator of EPA and his Soviet counterpart was established. The two sides carried out nearly 40 man-months of exchange visits on such topics as earthquake prediction, marine mammal ecology, rare and endangered plants, wastewater treatment, air pollution modeling and measurement methodology, water quality research, and climatic effects of atmospheric pollution. The U.S. side submitted several proposals for new joint projects for the Ninth Environmental Joint Committee Meeting held in Moscow in November 1985. This was the first such meeting in nearly six

years.

China

The joint lung cancer/coal combustion study remains the highlight of U.S.-Chinese cooperation in environmental protection under the U.S.-China Environmental Protection Protocol. In a three man-month exchange visit and extensive separate work in epidemological data collection, air sampling, and chemical and toxicological analysis, the two sides made significant strides toward an enhanced understanding of lung cancer risk from indoor air pollution sources. In FY 1985 there was also excellent progress in cooperation on several problems of environmental processes and effects. A well-executed joint workshop on water quality modeling at

Nanjing University brought together specialists from EPA and several institutes from different regions in China. This activity represented the first step in organizing a water quality modeling capability in the PRC, an important contribution toward effective environmental decision-making in that country. Over two man-months of exchange visits saw the initiation of very promising field research on land application as a cost-effective approach to municipal wastewater treatment in the Beijing area.

In another three man-months of exchange visits, Chinese and American scientists collaborated on an extended field study of medium-range air pollution transport which yielded an excellent array of data. The two sides continued discussion of mutual research interests in acid deposition and initiated informal contacts on protection of the ozone layer. The U.S.-PRC Environmental Protection Protocol was extended for a second five-year term beginning in February 1985.

Yugoslavia

Cooperative research contacts in environmental protection are maintained through EPA participation in the U.S.-Yugoslav Joint Board for Scientific and Technological Cooperation. In FY 1985, EPA managed 12 joint projects with various Yugoslav institutes in such areas as human health effects, mobile source emission control, marine pollution, and hazardous waste management.

Multilateral Activities

OECD Environment Ministers Meeting

Environment Ministers met as the OECD Environment Committee from June 18-20, 1985 in Paris, approved a number of actions and outlined directions for the Committee's work in the next five years. EPA Administrator Lee M. Thomas led the U.S. delegation.

The theme of the meeting was environmental management and economic development. The Ministers focused on the need to achieve better integration of environment and economic policies and to address key concerns of air pollution, control of toxic substances and hazardous wastes, management of natural resources, and improved environmental relationships with developing countries. The major conclusion of the meeting was that continued environmental improvement and sustained economic growth were essential, compatible, and interrelated policy objectives for OECD countries.

The Ministers approved member country actions on establishment of a system for handling hazardous waste crossing national boundaries, control of air pollution from fossil fuels, development of environmental assessment in foreign aid projects, environmentally favorable energy options, and noise abatement. Mr. Thomas led the ministerial discussion on new directions in pollution control involving chemicals and toxic substances. The need to consider cross media pollutant transfer and the use of new data and analytical techniques, including risk assessment, was also emphasized.

Biotechnology

Biotechnological research, products, and processes have been the subject of extensive oversight by many countries for some time. A great deal has been learned already about the safety of existing recombinant DNA techniques. Nevertheless, emerging commercial use of recombinant DNA engineered organisms has resulted in a call for the international exchange of information on current national approaches to oversight in terms of safety considerations and incremental risks. International activity on biotechnology has focused within the

OECD.

An OECD Experts Group was tasked several years ago with development of a draft paper on "Safety and Regulations in Biotechnology." The Group's mandate, inter alia, was to assess member countries' experiences with safety in the industrial and agricultural use of genetically engineered organisms and to explore ways for monitoring nationally the future production and use of such organisms in industry, agriculture, and the environment. In support of this mandate, a major policy goal of the United States is the development of a document by the OECD Experts Group which meets the Group's mandate but which is also scientifically credible, useful to member countries, and helpful in safeguarding health and the environment. The United States took an active role within this Group, particularly during 1985. FDA Commissioner Frank Young headed the U.S. delegation to the Group's December meeting. The Department of State, USDA, NIH, EPA, OSTP and USTR were represented. Our objectives were successfully achieved at the December meeting, because of the cooperation received from the other experts and the extensive involvement by the U.S. representatives. It is now expected that the Experts Group's final report will be acceptable to all OECD member countries.

NATO Committee on the Challenges of Modern Society (CCMS)

The United States has continued its strong leadership role in CCMS activities by supporting new pilot studies in areas of special interest. The EPA Office of International Activities coordinates all U.S. participation by federal, state and local agencies, and the private sector.

The U.S. proposal for a new study on health and medical aspects of disaster preparedness was approved at the November 1984 Plenary. Belgium serves as project co-leader. A planning meeting in spring 1985 was followed by a pilot study meeting in New York City in conjunction with the Urban Emergency Medical Service Symposium and Disaster Drill. The drill, "Operation Safe" at JFK airport, was a simulation of an aircraft disaster and the subsequent handling of casualties. The next pilot study meeting will be in Washington, D.C. in June 1986.

In the past year, the U.S. has co-sponsored with the Federal Republic of Germany new pilot studies on dioxin information exchange and aircraft noise abatement. The U.S. has also participated in projects initiated by other countries. U.S. experts from the private sector and state governments are supporting the Italian-led pilot study on forest fires. In addition, the U.S. is involved in studies on estuarine management (led by the Netherlands), training and education in environmental matters (Spain), and risk assessment/management of toxic chemicals in the environment

(Norway).

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At the fall 1985 CCMS plenary, the U.S. participated in a U.K.-led round table discussion of policy officials on the topic of "National Experiences of Public Participation in Governmental Environmental Decision-Making." The proceedings of the round table will be published by NATO.

Economic Summit Initiative

Pursuant to a decision by the Heads of State or Government at the London Economic Summit in June 1984 to consider environmental issues, the "Technology, Growth and Employment Working Group" of the Economic Summit countries developed in December 1984 a report outlining the status of environmental research and recommendations for future research. Also in December 1984, Environment Ministers from six summit countries and the Commission of the European Communities met in London to set environmental priorities and identify future directions for their cooperation on environmental matters. The Ministers emphasized the need for integrating environmental and economic factors in national policies and suggested key environmental problem areas which should be addressed by governments and international organizations.

The Environment Ministers proposals were considered at the Bonn Economic Summit in May 1985. In their final communique, the Heads of State or Government at Bonn addressed environmental issues, calling for new approaches and strengthened international cooperation. They cited, among others, the pressing problems of acid deposition, air pollution from motor vehicles, climate change, stratospheric ozone layer, and management of toxic chemicals and hazardous waste. The Summit leaders invited their experts to consider improving and harmonizing techniques of environmental measurement.

Environment and Natural Resources

United Nations Environment Program (UNEP)

UNEP was established pursuant to a 1972 UN General Assembly resolution as a catalytic and coordinative agent for international efforts, especially within the UN system, to deal with environmental and natural resource issues of common interest. Operating under the supervision and guidance of a Governing Council of 58 member governments, including the United States, it has become the main international body for interaction between developed and developing countries in this field.

Those

UNEP carries out a wide range of program activities. of primary interest to the U.S. include: 1) The Global Environmental Monitoring System (GEMS), which compiles, analyzes, and disseminates global data on conditions and trends in major environmental media. A new GEMS component, the Global Resource Information Database (GRID), was established in 1985 utilizing space applications and major U.S. (NASA) support via expert personnel and technology: 2) the Regional Seas Program, which promotes pollution control and environmental management agreements among countries bordering specified ocean regions. The U.S. in 1985 took particular interest in implementation of the Cartagena Convention, embodying an environmental Action Plan for the Wider Caribbean Region developed under the Regional Seas Program; 3) the Environmental Law Program, which in 1985 was highlighted by completion of a convention to protect the atmospheric ozone layer. Work will go forward on a