[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 117 (Wednesday, July 19, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10322-S10323]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


  SENATE RESOLUTION 154--RELATING TO ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENTS

  Mr. PELL submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 
the Committee on Foreign Relations:

                              S. Res. 154

       Whereas in 1978 the Senate adopted Senate Resolution 49, 
     calling on the United States Government to seek the agreement 
     of other governments to a proposed global treaty requiring 
     the preparation of Environmental Impact Assessments for any 
     major project, action, or continuing activity that may be 
     reasonably expected to have a significant adverse effect on 
     the physical environment or environmental interests of 
     another nation or a global commons area;
       Whereas subsequent to the adoption of Senate Resolution 49 
     in 1978, the United Nations Environment Programme Governing 
     Council adopted Goals and Principles on Environmental Impact 
     Assessment calling on governments to undertake comprehensive 
     Environmental Impact Assessments in cases in which the 
     extent, nature, or location of a proposed activity is such 
     that the activity is likely to significantly affect the 
     environment;
       Whereas Principle 17 of the Rio Declaration on Environment 
     and Development, adopted at the United Nations Conference on 
     Environment and Development in 1992, states that 
     Environmental Impact Assessments as a national instrument 
     shall be undertaken for proposed activities that are likely 
     to have a significant adverse impact on the environment and 
     are subject to a decision of the competent national 
     authority;
       Whereas on October 7, 1992, the Senate gave its advice and 
     consent to the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the 
     Antarctic Treaty, which obligates parties to the Antarctic 
     Treaty to require Environmental Impact Assessment procedures 
     for proposed activities in Antarctica; and
       Whereas the United States is a signatory to the 1991 United 
     Nations Economic Commission for Europe's Convention on 
     Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context, a 
     regional treaty that calls for the use of Environmental 
     Impact Assessments as necessary tools to minimize the adverse 
     impact of certain activities on the environment, particularly 
     in a transboundary context: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that--
       (1) the United States Government should encourage the 
     governments of other nations to engage in additional regional 
     treaties, along the lines of the 1991 United Nations Economic 
     Commission for Europe's Convention on Environmental Impact 
     Assessment in a Transboundary Context, regarding specific 
     transboundary activities that have adverse impacts on the 
     environment of other nations or a global commons area; and
       (2) such additional regional treaties should ensure that 
     specific transboundary activities are undertaken in 
     environmentally sound ways and under careful controls 
     designed to 

[[Page S 10323]]
     avoid or minimize any adverse environmental effects, through 
     requirements for Environmental Impact Assessments where 
     appropriate.

  Mr. PELL. Mr. President many of my colleagues know of the interest 
that I have long had in the protection of the global commons. As early 
as 1967 I introduced resolutions containing draft treaty language that 
eventually resulted in treaties banning the emplacement of weapons of 
mass destruction on the seabed floor and the use of environmental 
modification techniques in warfare.
  In 1978, a resolution that I had introduced in 1977 was adopted by 
the Senate, which called on the U.S. Government to seek the agreement 
of other governments to a proposed global treaty requiring the 
preparation of an international environmental assessment for any major 
project, action, or continuing activity which may be reasonably 
expected to have a significant adverse effect on the physical 
environment or environmental interests of another nation or a global 
commons area--Senate Resolution 49, May 18, 1978, Report
 No. 95-990, July 17, 1978

  My proposed Environmental Impact Assessment Treaty did not aim to 
prohibit a state from carrying out activities, but rather required it 
to make a detailed assessment of the impact this activity would have, 
and to communicate this information to the affected countries. As such, 
it would play a crucial part in ensuring that the United States would 
not be negatively impacted by the activities of another state. 
Alternatively, when the activity was to have an impact on a global 
commons area, the United Nations Environment Programme [UNEP] was to be 
the recipient of that information.
  The United Nations Environment Programme was created in the 
aftermaths of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, 
held in Stockholm in 1972. This conference represented the first 
concerted effort on the part of all nations to integrate human 
development and the protection of the environment and natural resources 
for future generations. UNEP has now become the legal entity where most 
international environmental programs are either initiated or hosted 
and, as such, is widely recognized as a useful and efficient arm of the 
United Nations.
  The United States has truly been a visionary in this respect, as the 
ideas embedded in my 1978 resolution were later endorsed in a number of 
international environmental legal instruments. The United Nations 
Environment Programme itself endorsed this view when its governing 
council adopted a series of goals and principles that specify how 
important these assessments can be, and how and when they should be 
carried out.
  Building on these goals and principles, the U.S. Government, along 
with other members of the United Nations Economic Commission for 
Europe, signed the Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a 
Transboundary Context, done at Espoo, Finland on February 25, 1991. 
While my 1978 resolution initially called for a global treaty applying 
to all activities worldwide, much of the reflection that followed led 
to a breakthrough in thinking with which I agree, namely that a 
regional approach would be more suited.
  The Espoo Convention is a perfect example, as it embodies the 
commitment by member states to the U.S. Economic Commission of Europe 
to act in a precautionary manner when dealing with transboundary 
activities. The
 convention highlights how and when environmental impact assessments 
need to be carried out, and an annex to the convention lists the 
activities that will trigger their application. Because different 
countries in different areas of the world carry out different 
activities, separate regional conventions, along with specific lists of 
triggering activities, are more appropriate than one global treaty.

  Even after the Espoo Convention was signed in 1991, other 
international legal instruments highlighted the need for Environmental 
Impact Assessments. In 1992, at the conclusion of the United Nations 
Conference on Environment and Development--the Rio Earth Summit--more 
than 180 participating nations adopted the Rio Declaration of 
Principles on Environment and Development. Principle 17 of the 
declaration states that environmental impact assessment, as a national 
instrument, shall be undertaken for proposed activities that are likely 
to have a significant adverse impact on the environment and are subject 
to a decision of a competent national authority.
  This was but the latest indication of the endorsement by the whole 
international community of environmental impact assessment as a means 
to ensuring that human activities with a view to enhancing human 
betterment are undertaken in environmentally sound ways.
  On October 7, 1992, the Senate gave its advice and consent to the 
protocol on environmental protection to the Antarctic Treaty, signed in 
Madrid on October 4, 1991--Treaty Doc. 102-22. This protocol builds 
upon the Antarctic Treaty to extend and improve the treaty's 
effectiveness as a mechanism for ensuring the protection of the 
Antarctic environment. Among other obligations, it requires application 
of environmental impact assessment procedures to activities undertaken 
in Antarctica for which advance notice is required under the Antarctic 
Treaty. Annex I of the protocol sets out different environmental impact 
assessment procedures that apply according to whether the proposed 
activities are identified as having less than a minor or transitory 
impact, a minor or transitory impact, or more than a minor or 
transitory impact. This is a very rational approach to environmental 
impact assessment, an approach to which the Senate gave its advice and 
consent, and the same approach that my 1978 resolution embodied.
  As previously noted, the United States has pursued the objectives of 
my 1978 resolution--Senate Resolution 49--by becoming a party to the 
Espoo regional convention of the United Nations Economic Commission of 
Europe. This convention represents the consensus between the United 
States and its industrialized allies that the best way to proceed is to 
require environmental impact assessments before transboundary 
activities are carried out. As I have explained before, regional 
treaties are the best possible approach because they allow taking into 
account the particularities of the region at hand. What the United 
States and its allies have achieved must now be duplicated by other 
states, in other regions, so that the adoption of environmental impact 
assessment truly becomes a standard precautionary measure.
  Consequently, the resolution I introduce today builds upon my 1978 
resolution--Senate Resolution 49--by urging the administration to 
encourage other states to pursue the negotiation of appropriate 
environmental impact assessment requirements in other regional 
treaties. My resolution acknowledges the history of international 
efforts carried out since 1978 and allows the Senate to endorse once 
more these important goals.


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