31 



The policy implications of the Environmental Protocol have been examined in 

 some detail by an ad hoc committee appointed by the Polar Research Board at the 

 request of the Department of State. This Committee on Antarctic Policy and Science 

 (CAPS) was charged to evaluate the possible impacts of policy decisions on scientific 

 programs in Antarctica. Consideration of the possible implementing legislation for 

 the Environmental Protocol was part of the committee's charge. 



The report of the committee, "Science and Stewardship in Antarctica," was issued 

 in late 1993. In Chapter 4, entitled "Implementation of the Environmental Protocol," 

 one of the sections is called "Environmentally Responsible and Science-Friendly Leg- 

 islation." Further sub-sections are headed by words such as Clarity, Flexibility, Sim- 

 plicity, and Practicability. These refer not only to the design of the implementing 

 legislation, but just as or even more important, to the drafting of the implementing 

 regulations. 



Copies of this bill have been distributed to a number of working Antarctic sci- 

 entists with a call for comments. To date I have received only positive responses 

 to H.R. 3060, and all are impressed by the clarity, simplicity, practicability, and 

 friendliness toward science and the environment. 



In November of 1995, in response to a Congressional mandate for a review of U.S. 

 Antarctic Policy by the National Science Technology Council, the present and the 

 past three Chairmen of the National Research Council's Polar Research Board wrote 

 a letter to the President's Science Advisor in support of a national commitment to 

 a vigorous and high quality Antarctic research program. That letter cited the impor- 

 tant contribution of Antarctic research to the study of the ozone hole, the further 

 understanding of the role of the southern oceans in exchanges between the ocean 

 and the atmosphere, the long term climatic records from ice cores on the continent, 

 and the major contributions to astronomy from South Pole Station. The crux of that 

 letter was to urge the U.S. government to maintain its leadership role in Antarctic 

 Science, noting that Antarctic research has been very productive. 



There is no question about the leadership role of the U.S. Antarctic Program in 

 Antarctic science in its actions to implement the provisions of the Environmental 

 Protocol. Passage of H.R. 3060 will allow the U.S. to become a Party to the Protocol. 

 Implementation of the Environmental Protocol will ensure the preservation of the 

 Antarctic environment and the ability to conduct cutting edge science well into the 

 future. 



I am here today to urge you and your colleagues to pass H.R. 3060, an action that 

 will officially return the U.S. to a dual leadership role in environmental matters and 

 in science. 



The Chairman. Thank you very much. 



I think I'm going to preserve that testimony and frame it so that 

 I can show people that at least at some point, someone stated that 

 Congress did something with clarity and simplicity. 



[Laughter.] 



Mrs. MORELLA. In a bipartisan manner. 



The Chairman. In a bipartisan manner, that's right. 



But I thank you both very much for your testimony. 



Ms. Fuller, you indicated a sense of urgency in your remarks 

 about the need for passage. 



What consequences do you foresee if 3060 should not be enacted 

 this year? 



Ms. Fuller. Well, Mr. Chairman, earlier there was a discussion 

 about the standards that other countries are following. And they 

 are, certainly I would say that the other parties are making efforts 

 to conform to the various agreements, but the danger is, I think, 

 that because there's variability among the standards, and the per- 

 formance is not at the level of United States performance in the re- 

 gion, that you will have some diminution unless you can really get 

 the Protocol moved through. 



It is also true that this is a time when, in the run up to this next 

 meeting, if the United States can exercise leadership, there is a 

 pretty good likelihood that the other countries will come along. 



