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Policies, goals and objectives


Despite these factors, response across North America has been far from stagnant, with considerable innovation and enthusiasm. What has emerged is a complex landscape of responses that leverage adaptive governance, new uses of data, and city-based innovation. Physical infrastructure and legal frameworks that were designed for a past era have been re-formed in pursuit of new goals and outcomes. Provincial and state governments, businesses, municipalities and counties, community organizations, and religious institutions have all taken the lead in developing new projects, initiatives, and laws that often address multiple environment-related goals. Coalitions among unlikely partners have formed on a project-by-project basis, including an effort with farmer, environmentalist, and military support for renewable energy development and preservation of agricultural lands.


3.2 Policy: state and trends


This section presents a broad survey of policy developments in Canada and the US, focused on issues presented in this assessment’s state and trends coverage.


3.2.1 Air


Canada and the US have demonstrated effective air quality management strategies and roles for local, regional, and national governments, as well as for bilateral arrangements such as the Canada-US Air Quality Agreement. Canada and the US have successfully used a range of regulatory and non-regulatory policy approaches to significantly decrease emissions from a variety of air-polluting sources. It has been shown that protecting public health and building the economy can go hand-in-hand. Some persistent air quality problems, however, remain.


Common air pollutants


Both Canada and the US have implemented systems for management of key common air pollutants, such as ground- level (or tropospheric) ozone and fine particles, through which provinces and states develop regulatory programmes to achieve uniform national standards for ambient air


quality. The efforts of provinces and states are supported by regulations and guidelines established at the national level. In the US, this federated approach is specified by the Clean Air Act of 1970 and its amendments in 1977 and 1990, which give the national government authority to set the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) and require states to develop plans to achieve those standards. The Canadian Ambient Air Quality Standards (CAAQS) are established under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act of 1999 and implemented through an Air Quality Management System developed under the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME 2012).


Canada and the US have required dramatic reductions in emissions from new motor vehicles and non-road engines— such as those used in construction, agriculture, industry and marine vessels—through harmonized industry-wide standards that require a combination of cleaner engine technologies and cleaner fuels. Canada and the US worked together to establish a North American Emissions Control Area for marine vessels under the International Maritime Organization, establishing emission limits and fuel requirements for ships operating near North American coasts (IMO 2010).


Regulatory approaches in the region aim for incorporation of the highest practical pollution control technologies in new industrial facilities. As cleaner facilities are built, the region’s industrial base becomes cleaner overall and public health is protected as economic growth proceeds. Under the US Clean Air Act, new and modified large plants and factories must apply the best available technology considering cost, and avoid causing significant degradation of air quality or visibility in areas that are already in attainment of the NAAQS. If the area is not attaining the NAAQS, the new or modified source must meet the lowest achievable emission rate, a more stringent standard. To help meet the requirement, facilities can obtain offsetting emission credits from other sources that emit below their allowable limit. Authority to administer these permitting requirements is delegated to state, local, tribal or national authorities, as appropriate.


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