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US-AEP leads Indian Delegation on
arsenic removal study tour.
"The high concentration of arsenic in drinking water is an international
problem, especially in India and Bangladesh where naturally occurring
arsenic contamination has evolved into a major health crisis affecting
millions of people," states Rom Papdopoulos, CEO of Apyron Technologies.
Long-term, high level arsenic exposure may cause arsenocosis, birth defects,
neurological disorders, and cancer. In response to the serious problem of
arsenic contaminated groundwater, US-AEP�s Environmental Exchange Program
arranged for a delegation of Indian public health officials to visit U.S.
experts in San Francisco, Houston, Austin, Atlanta, and Hartford, to learn
about the best technologies to remove arsenic from groundwater.
Rural communities throughout India and Bangladesh obtain their drinking
water from small tube wells. Experts estimate that more than three million
of these tube wells contain arsenic exceeding levels considered safe by the
World Health Organization. In the Bengal Basin, 15 percent of the population
is suffering from symptoms of arsenic poisoning and 50 percent is at risk
from contaminated drinking water.
The Indian delegation wanted to explore the possibility of importing
arsenic removal technologies. After visiting U.S. companies such as
Electrochemical Design Associates, Apyron Technologies, MSE Technology
Applications, BioRem, Sabrex, and Water Systems International, the delegates
had a better sense of which technologies would be suitable. "We are really
impressed with what we saw," remarked Mr. R.K. Tripathy, Principal Secretary
of the West Bengal Public Health Engineering Department. "If these
technologies could be fitted into the tubewells, I think we will welcome
it."
[The Environmental Exchange Program is administered by the Institute for
International Education.]
NGO
- Business Environmental Partnership receives Goldman Foundation grant
The Asia Foundation (TAF), a US-AEP partner, was
awarded the Goldman Foundation grant worth $150,000 to continue the next
phase of the Nongovernmental Organization Business Environmental Partnership
(NGO-BEP).
US-AEP and TAF conceptualized the NGO-BEP several
years ago between US-AEP and TAF with the principle of having Asian NGOs
work closely with polluting Asian industries to solve their solid waste, air
and water pollution problems. NGO-BEP established a creative partnership
where NGOs are now a part of the solution and elevates NGOs� platform in
environmental advocacy.
The Goldman Foundation is a prestigious group that
awards environmental grants to groups in the likes of the Sierra Club, and
Earth Island Institute.
U.S.
industrial waste management is introduced to seven Asian countries
The US-AEP Environmental Exchange Program hosted a
study tour for government and industry representatives of seven Asian
countries to learn from the lessons of the U.S. industrial hazardous waste
management experience. The March 6-10 study tour included visits to
Washington, DC, Maryland, and New Jersey. The tour demonstrated U.S. policy
experience and viable hazardous waste management strategies.
First, U.S. government and industry policy experts
presented their perspectives on lessons learned from U.S. industrial
hazardous waste policy in a panel discussion in Washington, DC. Second,
participants learned about state regulatory approaches for site remediation,
information management, outreach and industrial hazardous waste siting and
program development from the New Jersey Department of Environmental
Protection. Participants made site visits to different types of treatment
storage and disposal facilities from three manufacturing industries.
Pharmaceuticals, electronics, and metal finishing firms provided successful
case studies of industrial hazardous waste management.
The U.S. host companies were the IT Group, Clean
Harbors, Safety-Kleen, Bristol-Meyers Squibb, Marisol, New Brunswick Plating
and Lucent Technologies.
Vietnamese
NEA meets with U.S. EPA and US-AEP to discuss environmental law revision
Dr. Nguyen Dac Hy, Head of Policy at the National
Environmental Agency (NEA) within the Vietnamese Ministry of Science,
Technology and Environment (MOSTE), met with EPA and US-AEP on March 16-17,
in Washington, DC, to discuss the revision of Vietnam�s 1993 environmental
law. Dr. Nguyen, who is now in charge of revising the environmental laws,
also served on the original committee from 1985-1993 that wrote the laws.
The purpose of the meetings with U.S. EPA was to
discuss the technical assistance that U.S. EPA will provide for NEA�s
upcoming revision of the Vietnam�s environmental laws. EPA�s proposed
assistance in this policy and legal project would include the following
components. First, review key articles in the environmental laws, and make
recommendations on which articles need to be supplemented by update decrees,
regulations, and guidance. Second, examine how to integrate the key law
articles and the proposed policies into the national strategic plan.
Before proceeding with full implementation of a
policy and legal project, EPA recommended conducting a "demonstration"
example of law changes in a specific program area. EPA also recommended
establishing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between MOSTE and U.S. EPA
in coordination with US-AEP in Vietnam.
During his visit, Dr. Nguyen met with Alan Hecht,
Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator in EPA�s Office of International
Activities, Peter Kimm, US-AEP Executive Director, Richard Sheppard, US-AEP
Deputy Executive Director, Harley Laing, EPA Senior Advisor, and Peter
Lallas, Senior Attorney in EPA�s Office of General Counsel.
Upcoming
events:
The Policy Group is hosting a Policy Forum entitled, "EPA�s
Eco-efficiency Benchmarks for Industry Sectors" on April 4th. The
speakers from the Environmental Protection Agency are Dr. Daniel Fiorino,
who directs the Emerging Strategies Division of the Office of Policy and
Reinvention, and Ted MacDonald, who manages pollution prevention programs
for the Office of International Activities.
Their presentation will touch on developing tools that allow firms to
measure and compare their environmental performance on a "per unit" and "per
dollar" basis. This session will take place at 12:30pm at 1720 Eye St.,
Suite 700, NW, Washington, DC. For more (information, contact Brenda Bateman
at: bbateman@usaep.org
Welcome and Farewell:
Please welcome Ms. Catherine Kan as the new Administrative Assistant in
the US-AEP Hong Kong office. Previous to US-AEP, Ms. Kan worked as a Human
Resource Officer. She has a degree in Human Resource Management.
Rhonda Vandeworp will be leaving US-AEP on March 31. She has been with
US-AEP communications for over 3 years, and has been responsible for getting
the US-AEP website up and running. She will be joining the communications
team at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Farewells are also extended to Mr. Mike Palma from US-AEP Philippines
office. Mike has served as the Deputy Director for the past year and a half.
We wish both Rhonda Vandeworp and Mike Palma many successes in their
future endeavors.
US-AEP Thailand Office Number change
The US-AEP Thailand office is under renovation. Please use the temporary
fax number at: 662-255-2915 and 662-205-5914 until further notice.
News to share?
Contact editor Kim Phan via e-mail
kphan@usaep.org or fax
(202-835-0366). Thanks for contributions go to Randy Yamada
(US-AEP Secretariat), Satit Sanongphan (US-AEP/Thailand),
Mike Palma (US-AEP/Philippines) Magdalena Mook (CSG),
Christopher Plante (TAF), Mary Wong, Liza Luboff,
Bayanjargal Byambasaikhan (EEP/IIE), Brenda Bateman, Paul
Weishaupt, Sandy Denham, Eunhee Rim and Rhonda Vandeworp (IRG).
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