US-Canada Air Quality Committee Progress Report, April 1998

The US - Canada Air Quality Committee was established through, and implements the terms of, the 1991 US - Canada Air Quality Agreement. In April, 1997, US EPA Administrator Carol M. Browner and Canadian Minister of the Environment Sergio Marchi signed an agreement to develop a Joint Plan of Action for Addressing Transboundary Air Pollution. Subsequently, the US - Canada Air Quality Committee developed recommendations for technical analyses to support a possible ozone annex under the Air Quality Agreement, and for developing a joint workplan for transboundary fine inhalable particles. These recommendations, approved by US EPA Administrator Browner and Canadian Minister of the Environment Cristine Stewart in June, 1988, are as follows:

Development of Technical Analyses to Support Drafting of Possible Elements for Ozone Annex

Comparative and analytical work will be undertaken jointly by Canada and the U.S. to demonstrate transboundary transport of ozone and precursor emissions, air quality trends and the impact on the United States and Canada of planned programs and management regimes. This work will take the form of the following actions:

• Joint air quality data analyses using integrated U.S. and Canadian data for the years 1991-1996 to determine how, when and where transboundary transport of ozone and precursor emissions occurs within the region and the regional extent of elevated 8 hour ozone levels;
  
  
• Joint trajectory analyses of ozone and precursor emissions to identify major source regions within the transboundary region;
  
  

• Joint modeling using U.S. and Canadian data and forecasts of planned reduction programs to demonstrate the likely impact of emission control scenarios within the transboundary region;
  
  
• Joint modeling using U.S. and Canadian data to assess the impact within the transboundary region of nitrogen oxide emission trading;
  
  
• Legal analyses of transboundary emission trading; and
  
  
• A report on the progress of technical analyses for review by the Air Quality committee at its 1998 meeting and in support of the drafting of possible elements for an ozone annex by April 1999 under the Agreement.
  
  

Development of Joint Workplan for Transboundary Fine Inhalable Particles.

Joint work will be undertaken by the U.S. and Canada to put in place comparable and harmonized analytical tools to enable the assessment of transboundary transport, trends and analysis regarding fine Inhalable particles in the transboundary region. The following work will be undertaken:

• Definition of the transboundary transport regions for fine Inhalable particles;
  
  
• Summary of the health effects of fine Inhalable particles.
  
  
• Joint monitoring including establishing comparative analyses of the instrumentation to enable U.S. - Canada integration of results, ensuring adequate siting of monitors within the transboundary transport regions and possible co-location of monitors;
  
  
• Establishment of a framework for an integrated air quality database for fine Inhalable particles and beginning to populate the database with air quality data;
  
  
• Planning for joint modeling in the transboundary region including model intercomparisons; and
  
  
• Proposal for review by the U.S. - Canada Air Quality Committee at its 1998 meeting on joint actions toward the development of an annex on fine Inhalable particles under the Agreement.