Special report on transboundary air quality issues
The International Air Quality Board was created in 1996 to provide advice to the International Joint Commission in fulfilling an air quality alerting function requested by governments in that year. The Board undertook a review of the many issues affecting transboundary air quality along the Canada-US border. This report reflects on issues previously addressed by the Board in its reporting to the Commission. Section 1 discusses the need for Canada and the US to adopt a seamless border approach to address pollution sources and receptors in a holistic manner. Section 2 discusses nitrogen oxides as a key contaminant because of its direct impact on the ecosystem and its effects on future levels of other secondary pollutants. Section 3 outlines the deficiencies of emission inventories regarding persistent toxic substances such as mercury, which must be addressed if source-to-receptor relationships are to be established. Section 4 covers the need to develop monitoring and modelling tools to further examine pollutant transport and concentration, and the resulting human and ecological exposure. Section 5 describes issues in individual regions along the border. Section 6 is directed at the harmonization of standards, which would assist in the effective control of transboundary pollutants such as ozone. Section 7 discusses collaboration with other organizations in addressing transboundary air pollution issues. Section 8 describes various feedback mechanisms for verifying that the elimination or management of air pollution is achieving improvement and benefits. Section 9 considers emissions and preventive strategies for major source sectors, including coal-fired utilities and mobile sources. The final section outlines future Board activities.
- Research Organization:
- International Air Quality Advisory Board, Windsor, Ontario (Canada)
- OSTI ID:
- 362198
- Report Number(s):
- MIC-99-02285/XAB; ISBN 1-894280-02-4; TRN: 91441825
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: 1998
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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