James Strock

 

Good Morning. It is a distinct pleasure to be here today with so many distinguis­hed colleagues from across the globe, gathered together for the first Internatio­nal Enforcement Workshop.

 

While the representatives of the diverse nations represen­ted here bring varied perspectives and experiences, we have come together because of important issues that bind us.

 

The first is our shared commitment to environmental protection and environmen­tal improvement. The Netherlands has a long tradition of environmental leader­ship, and the United States is proud to be associa­ted with the Dutch in this effort. The United States is also proud of its own commitment to the environ­ment, which President Bush has made a centerpie­ce of his Administration. The Presi­dent has shown leadership in seeking to have the Environmental Protection Agency elevated to full membership in the Cabinet. The President has proposed a strong Clean Air Act reaut­horization, breaking a legislative deadlock of more than a decade in duration. And I am here today because the President, along with Admini­strator William Reilly, has made a strong commitment both to vigorous enforcement of our country's environmental laws, and to a greater emphasis on the international aspects of environ­mental issues that were in the past viewed solely through a domestic prism.

 

Second, all of the nations here today are brought together by a recogniti­on of the centrality of enforcement to all nations­' efforts toward environmental protecti­on. Enforce­ment is not an end in itself, but it stands as the most powerful means we have to achieve environmental improve­ment. Enforcement assures compliance with the laws, which must be achieved in order to meet envi­ronmental goals. In the absence of enfor­cement, environmental statutes would be little more than wish lists; with enforcement, they become action plans. Enforcement rewards good corporate citizens­hip and aims to remove any competitive advantage or economic benefit that might otherwise acrue to those acting outside the law. Enforcement pre­vents pollution, generally through creating incentives to stay outside of the regulatory structure, and in specific cases through the inclusion of source reduction strategies in legal agree­ments sett­ling litigation. And enforce­ment creates and undergirds new markets for environmentally sensitive and bene­ficial products and services.

 

Third, the prosecutorial aspects of enforcement presented by govern­ment vis-a-vis the regulated community must be accompanied by cooperati­on among the go­vern­ments of various nations, and among the various levels of government in any single nation. At one level, this Workshop is demonstrative of the increasing shift of environmental concern from a national to an international emphasis. Pollution knows no boundaries; it respects no differences of ideology or history. It concerns all of us. And, as economic integrati­on across the world accelerates, it is absolu­tely essential that nations act in concert to avoid the creation of a self-defeating chase of capital toward areas which, through ignorance or inadver­tence, do not impose the cost of environmental protection as a cost of doing business.

 

At the next level, enforcement within countries depends upon cooperation among various parts of national govern­ments dealing with distinct parts of the environ­mental challen­ge. This will be a necessity, no matter how much authority is reposed in an environment ministry or department or agency, because the more we learn about the environment, the more we can see that environmental protec­tion must become a part of the mission of many, if not all of the other national programs. For example, in the United States, environ­mental matters are in the portfolios of the Envi­ron­mental Protection Agency, the Department of State, the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy, the Department of Agricultu­re, the Department of Interior, the Department of Commerce, the Peace Corps, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Justice, the Department of Labor, and the Securities and Exchan­ge Commission, to name a few. In turn, there are environmental enforcement implications in most of these relationships.

 

There must also be cooperative effort between national governments and their constituent units, such as state, county, provincial and local governments. These issues are of paramount significance to the United States, as well as to many other countries in Europe and across the world.

 

In order to make best use of our common goals and experien­ces, this Workshop will have four themes: Domestic enforcement program strategies, tools and management systems; Domestic intergovernmental enforcement relations­hips; International transboundary pollution problems, focusing on enforcement of pesti­cide and hazardous waste import and export con­trols; and enforcement of inter­natio­nal agreements, such as those concerning chlorofluorcarbons and ocean dumping.

 

Many of the presentations and much of the discussion ahead will rely upon the great expertise brought together here in the Netherlands this week. But because we are embarking upon new territory -- the applicabili­ty of enforcement in the international context -- we do not seek merely to exchange expertise, as impor­tant as that is. We hope that a greater mutual awareness of our shared commit­ment to environmental protection generally -- and environmental enforcement in particular -- will allow us to see our cultural and legal differences not as impedi­ments to coopera­tion, but as new sources of understanding and, ideally, insight.

 

Now, let's get to work !