Resolution: Expansion of Regional Atmospheric Deposition Programs
Adopted on December 5, 2003

Whereas, promoting overall ecosystem health through air quality programs and projects is a long standing priority of the Great Lakes Commission; and

Whereas, the IJC 11th Biennial Report on Great Lakes Water Quality found efforts targeting airborne persistent toxic substances lacking in organization, coordination, information exchange and fundamental breadth; and

Whereas, air regulatory agencies in the eight Great Lakes states and the province of Ontario have agreed to control transboundary air pollution and to carry out coordinated and cooperative scientific and technical activities and information exchange; and

Whereas, the Great Lakes Commission has been delegated responsibility for administering the Great Lakes Air Deposition (GLAD) program; and

Whereas, the Great Lakes Air Deposition (GLAD) Program supports the objectives made by the national, state and provincial governments under the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, the Binational Toxics Strategy, the Great Lakes Toxic Substances Control Agreement, the U.S. EPA's Great Lakes Program and the North American Regional Action Plans; and

Whereas, the GLAD Program supports the U.S. EPA's effort to encourage states, tribes and local programs to continue their efforts to identify emerging air toxics sources, implement accurate and comprehensive emission inventories, monitor air quality and assess the effects of atmospheric toxic pollutants on human health and the ecosystem.

Therefore, Be It Resolved, the Great Lakes Commission is committed to provide legislators and regulatory agencies with consolidated and consistent regional information to enable actions towards reductions or elimination of atmospheric loadings; and

Be it Further Resolved, the Great Lakes Commission invites the Government of Quebec to participate in on-going scientific and technical activities related to air deposition including the regional air toxic emissions inventory project; and

Be it Further Resolved, the Great Lakes Commission will enhance its regional emission inventories by providing, in a comprehensive and comparable form, all possible information required as input for models, impact assessments and policy development; and

Be it Further Resolved, the Great Lakes Commission calls for increased U.S. federal funding to establish basin-wide atmospheric deposition monitoring that includes standardization in sampling and analytical protocols and allows identification of spatial and temporal trends; and

Be It Finally Resolved, the Great Lakes Commission further calls for long-term funding to establish atmospheric and mass-balance modeling programs for each of the Great Lakes to monitor the sources, transport mechanisms and the fate of persistent toxic substances.

Unanimously adopted by the Board of Directors of the Great Lakes Commission at its Dec. 5, 2003, meeting in Ann Arbor, Mich.