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on environmental matters. We also authorize the new Department to provide tech- 

 nical environmental assistance to foreig^n governments and international bodies. 

 How important do you think this provision is? 



A. 16: EPA believes that the international authorities of the Department of the 

 Environment are extremely important. It is essential that the Department of the 

 Environment play an active international role in order to assure that U.S. policy on 

 important international environmental issues is fully integrated with, and in fur- 

 therance of, the Department's mission to protect the environment. 



U.S. international environmental policy needs to be closely coordinated with our 

 domestic environmental program, both because the international policy should be 

 informed by and seek to further the U.S. domestic environmental agenda, and be- 

 cause the international obligations of the United States can be honored only 

 through development and implementation of domestic laws and regulations. A sub- 

 ordinate international role for the Department of the Environment would diminish 

 its ability to ensure that the United States pursues a vigorous international envi- 

 ronmental policy that it consistent with, and implemented by, its domestic program. 

 It is also critical that the new Department's prestige and effectiveness in the U.S. 

 and abroad be retained. 



Currently, EPA's authority to conduct international activities is derived from a 

 patchwork of statutory sources whose international scope is not always well defined. 

 S. 171 would clarify and simplify the new Department's authority to conduct the 

 activities enumerated in § 103(f) (1) (B) which include those currently engaged in by 

 EPA. The language of § 103(fKl)(BXii) authorizes the Department of the Environ- 

 ment to improve the quality of the environment through: a) the use of contracts, 

 assistance agreements, interagency agreements, international agreements, and 

 other arrangements for supporting or conducting activities such as education, train- 

 ing, monitoring, research, development, investigations, experiments, demonstra- 

 tions, surveys, studies and emergency response; b) the provision of technical, finan- 

 cial, legal and other assistance; and c) cooperation with foreign governments and 

 international organizations. 



Q. 17: Can you give us some specific examples of where such assistance may be 

 rendered? 



A. 17: EPA currently gives environmental assistsuice, sharing its accumulated ex- 

 pertise, to the countries in trgmsition in Central and Eastern Europe. This assist- 

 ance is provided through the Asian Environmental Partnership to developing coun- 

 tries in Asia, and the Enterprise for the Americas Initiative to developing countries 

 in Latin America and the Caribbean. This environmental assistance is coordinated 

 with the Agency for International Development (AID), the Department of the Treas- 

 ury and other U.S. agencies. The work with AID will carry on, and will be expanded 

 to include the countries of the former Soviet Union. Assistance to Mexico in connec- 

 tion with the 1983 Border Environment Agreement and the 1992 Integrated Border 

 Environmental Plan is continuing, and increasing as a result of supplemental activi- 

 ties in connection with the North American Free Trade Agreement and the pro- 

 posed North American Commission on the Environment. The new Department 

 would continue this important bilateral assistance work. 



Q. 18: Environmental concerns are obviously very important in trade agree- 

 ments and will likely become more so in the future. Existing trade agreements 

 may not adequately address these concerns. Conflict and disparities in enforce- 

 ment and monitoring capabilities are and will remain critical issues. What role 

 can the new Department play in ensuring environmental protection issues receive 

 adequate attention in these proceedings? 



A. 18: The new Department will be able to play three roles, if it is given adequate 

 funding and access to the appropriate processes. First, the Department will be able 

 to evaluate enforcement and monitoring programs in and to engage in cooperation 

 and training activities with other countries to help improve enforcement and moni- 

 toring functions. Second, if EPA has access to the Trade Policy Review Group 

 (TPRG) and related bodies (EPA currently is not a member of the TPRG, but is 

 sometimes invited to participate), the new Department will be able to ensure that 

 environmental concerns raised by trade policy and trade agreements are identified 

 and considered. Third, if EPA can play a meaningful role in n^otiating future 

 trade agreements (as occurred with the North American Free Trade Agreement), 

 the new Department will work to ensure that environmental considerations are 

 taken into account in the text of those agreements. 



Q. 19: The Toxic Substances Control Act gives EPA authority to obtain informa- 

 tion about effects on human health and the environment of chemicals. However, 

 since the law's enactment 16 years ago, EPA has identified for testing less than 1 

 percent of more than 70,000 chemicals and has complete test data for only 22 



