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U.S. SIGNS INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENT TO REDUCE AIR POLLUTION
Release Date: 12/13/99
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FOR RELEASE: MONDAY, DEC. 13, 1999
U.S. SIGNS INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENT
TO REDUCE AIR POLLUTION
TO REDUCE AIR POLLUTION
The United States has signed an international protocol to reduce air emissions of the pollutants that acidify lakes and streams, damage forests and cause smog. The agreement, signed by 27 countries so far, creates the first comprehensive, multinational structure to simultaneously reduce the long range transport of the various pollutants that, in different combinations, cause acid rain, smog and other serious air pollution problems. The targeted pollutants include nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides, volatile organic compounds and, in Europe, ammonia. The agreement, which requires ratification by at least 16 countries, was signed on Dec. 1 in Gothenburg, Sweden. It is the latest in a series of international protocols to advance scientific understanding and air pollution control throughout the North American and European regions covered by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. Along with the United States, participants in the negotiations included Canada, the Russian Federation, the new independent states of the former Soviet Union, and countries of central, western and eastern Europe. The U.S. and Canadian commitments will be formalized when the two nations have completed separate, on-going ozone negotiations under the 1991 U.S.-Canada Air Quality Agreement. Additional information can be found on the Agency web site at https://www.epa.gov/airlinks (look under "Protocol to the 1979 Convention").
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