Chapter 29 of Agenda 21 provides a clear mandate for our participation in this proceeding in section 29.5, which states that “Governments … should promote the active participation of workers and their trade unions in decisions on the design, implementation and evaluation of national and international policies and programs on environment and development …”
2.
A Cost Benefit Analysis of Government Investment in Post-Secondary Education Under the World War II GI Bill, Subcommittee on Education and Health of the Joint Economic Committee (JEC), December 14, 1988.
3.
“For most forms of government investment, a project may be undertaken only if the benefits exceed the costs; this is, the ratio of benefits to costs must exceed 1 to 1. As shown in the JEC analysis, the government's investment in education under the GI Bill had an estimated ratio of benefits to costs of a minimum of 5 to 1 and as much as 12.5 to 1. If intangible benefits were taken into account, the ratio would probably be significantly higher. In addition, the additional federal income taxes paid by those who benefitted from the GI bill apparently more than paid for the program.”Ibid.
4.
There are existing international precedents for addressing economic transitions, where nations collectively address the impacts of their joint policies that affect the economy. These precedents provide guidance on acceptable means to implement multi-national (or bi-national) programs that adversely impact employment. For instance, European coal- and steel-producing nations formed the “European Coal and Steel Community” (ECSC) as part of the Treaty of Paris in April 1951, with the objective of creating a common market in coal and steel, and continues in effect today. A multi-nation institution, the “High Authority of the Coal and Steel Community,” administers a common market economic policy which includes a levy on each member nation, based on the quantity of steel and coal that they produce. This levy is deposited in a fund, controlled by the ECSC to grant non-reimbursable assistance for economic relief, retraining, and relocation expenses of workers. The High Authority can also issue or facilitate loans to new coal or steel enterprises or even to other industries to benefit unemployed workers. In the last decade, one billion ecu (European currency units, roughly a billion dollars) has been collected and spent under this program. The terms of the treaty allow up to 50 percent of support to come from the ECSC, with the other portion to come from member states. With some important exceptions, the ECSC share of support has typically been substantially less than half. The ECSC has very actively utilized these provisions to assist workers in both the steel and coal industries as market restructuring has occurred, most recently in increasing the level of assistance available to 60,000 workers expected to lose their jobs between 1993 and 1995. Commission of the European Communities,“Information note concerning the implementation of the social measures for the restructuration of the steel industry (1993–1995),” COM(93) 178 final. While the Maastricht Treaty adopted in 1993 has amended the ECSC treaty's administrative structures, Article 56, which addresses worker and industry transition mechanisms, remains intact. Other international law frameworks are also relevant to the question of industry restructuring even though they have not effectively addressed work force transition issues. For example, the Montreal Protocol established a Multilateral Fund to help developing countries meet the obligations of the treaty. The UN scale of assessments determines the amount of obligatory contributions to the fund by each state that is party to the protocol. Among other things the fund established in Article 10 of the Protocol finances a clearinghouse to: (i) Assist parties … through country-specific studies and other technical cooperation, to identify their needs for cooperation; (ii) Facilitate technical cooperation to meet these identified needs; (iii) Distribute … information and relevant materials, and hold workshops, training sessions, and other related activities, for the benefit of parties that are developing countries; and (iv) Facilitate and monitor other multilateral, regional, and bilateral cooperation available to parties that are developing countries. The Montreal Protocol also provides in Article 10A that each party shall take every practicable step, consistent with the programs supported by the financial mechanism, to ensure. (a) That the best available, environmentally safe substitutes and related technologies are expeditiously transferred to parties … and (b) That such transfers referred to in subparagraph (a) occur under fair and most favorable conditions. Unfortunately, the approach of the Montreal Protocol has been noteworthy from our perspective for its failure to address work force and facility transitions in developed countries, and thus is generating the inequitable hardships noted earlier in these comments.
5.
There are numerous precedents for international funds to address aspects of environmental protection as well as industrial transitions. Examples of such funds include: • The European Coal and Steel Community fund provides under Article 56 of the ECSC treaty for readaptation aid for workers and firms in coal and steel industries who are affected by technological and market changes in the industry. This fund was established by billing member nations based on the amount of steel and coal produced in each nation. • The Convention for the Establishment of an International Fund for Compensation for Oil Pollution Damage bills firms in party nations directly according to the amount of oil each firm produces. • The Global Environmental Facility, which is providing funding for technology transfer for developing nations in regard to climate-changing and ozone-depleting technologies. • The International Tropical Timber Agreement, under which funds from member countries are used to finance research and development to promote environmentally sound transitions.
6.
Throughout, we refer to the share paid by individual firms as “contributions.” We use this term for consistency with the International Oil Liability Fund. Here a “contribution” is analogous to a “tax” in the domestic context, but the approach under international law retains the taxation sovereignty of individual signatory nations.
7.
This aspect of the proposal combines concepts from two treaties: (1) The Inter-governmental Maritime Consultative Organization, Convention for the Establishment of an International Fund for Compensation for Oil Pollution Damage, (1971) (Supplementary to the International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage, 1969). In this treaty, individual firms in party nations are billed directly according to the amount of oil each firm produces. As under the oil compensation fund, we suggest that enforcement of fund collections from individual firms could be the responsibility of signatory states, that is, of the U.S. and Canadian governments. (2) U.S. provisions regarding taxes on ozone-depleting compounds. 26 U.S.C. 4682. Although, unfortunately, the fees collected have not been put toward the needed transitions of workers and facilities in the U.S., the U.S. law does provide a reasonable model for the use of escalating taxes as an incentive tool in conjunction with chemical sunsetting.
8.
Throughout this discussion, we do not attempt to address in detail the complex question of the geographic production markets to be regulated in any Great Lakes sunsetting program. We expect that this will prove a complex task for policy-makers, and have developed our framework so that it may be suited to meshing with any binational agreement.
9.
26 U.S.C. 4682.
10.
This aspect of the proposal places the agency in a similar role to that of the High Authority of the ECSC. That agency is required to grant assistance relative to workers and firms only where certain criteria of economic dislocation have been met.
11.
This element of the proposal is modelled after Article 56 (2)(b) of the ECSC Treaty which provides for non-repayable aid towards the payment of tideover allowances to workers; the payment of allowances to undertakings to enable them to continue paying such of their workers as may have to be temporarily laid off as a result of the undertakings' change of activity; the payment of resettlement allowances to workers; and the financing of vocational retraining for workers having to change their employment.
12.
The conditions proposed for reimbursement to firms here are similar to those established for investment assistance by the ECSC under Article 56 (2) para. (a) which authorizes the ECSC High Authority to “(a) … facilitate [loans or loan guarantees] … either in the industries within its jurisdiction, or … any other industry, the financing of such programs as it may approve for the creation of new and economically sound activities or for the conversion of existing undertakings capable of reabsorbing the redundant workers into productive employment …” The ECSC has established conditions and criteria for similar investments. For example, under the ECSC program, firms receiving loans are required to provide notice to relevant employment offices and the ECSC as the new jobs become available. ECSC policy requires evaluation of worker health, environmental emissions and waste impacts of an investment as well as environmental advantages of the new investment. Guideline on “Reconversion loans granted at reduced interest rates …”, Official Journal of the European Communities, No. 77/C 178/3. The ECSC program regulations require a full environmental impact assessment of investments to the extent this is required by national or community legislation. Guideline on “Procedures and conditions for the granting of conversion loans under Article 56 of the ECSC Treaty …”Official Journal of the European Communities, No. 87/C 173/3 par. 11.
13.
This loan program might be modelled after the ECSC program, under which the amount of a loan may not exceed 50 percent of the fixed investment (excluding working capital) needed to implement the project. Moreover, the program established priority areas where less than 50 percent of displaced workers have not yet been re-employed through conversion operations. Guideline on “Procedures and conditions for the granting of conversion loans under Article 56 of the ECSC Treaty…” Official Journal of the European Communities, No. 87/C 173/02. The maximum amount of loan eligibility is 20,000 European Currency Units (ecu) per job created. Separate categories of loans are provided by the ECSC for direct loans to large enterprises, indirect “global” loans to smaller firms, and non-industrial projects which otherwise meet the criteria of Article 56 for re-employment of displaced workers. Smaller firms subject to global loans include firms with total employment of less than 500 people, and net fixed assets of less than 30 million ecu, and in whose capital structure large enterprises other than regional economic development agencies, hold no more than one-third participation. The non-industrial loans may be provided specifically for re-use of industrial facilities in new activities, and for investment in service industries if they provide suitable employment for former ECSC workers. Guideline on “Reconversion loans granted at reduced interest rates …”:, Official Journal of the European Communities, No. 77/C 178/3.
14.
Some of the relevant international precedents for this program include the United Nations International Cleaner Production Information Clearinghouse, which makes available information on technologies for pollution prevention, and the Montreal Protocol Multilateral Fund and Global Environmental Facility, both funding technology transfer assistance for developing countries. A different precedent that is also relevant to internationally sponsored research is the International Tropical Timber Agreement (1983), which funds research and development projects in (a) Wood utilization, including the utilization of lesser-known and lesser-used species; (b) Natural forest development; (c) Reforestation development; (d) Harvesting, logging infrastructure, training of technical personnel; and (e) Institutional framework, national planning, (f) Projects on research and development approved by the council are required to be consistent with certain criteria, including that “They shall make maximum use of existing research institutions and, to the greatest extent possible, avoid duplication of efforts.” There are numerous institutions in the United States and Canada which provide a potential home for such research and technical support. Examples of university-based programs in the United States within the Great Lakes Basin include the Ohio Technology Transfer Organization, a group of 28 technical colleges in Ohio which provide pollution prevention technical assistance to small and medium-sized industries; New York State Center for Waste Management, which works with universities and colleges in New York State to help promote technology transfer for waste reduction; Michigan State University, which has a program for waste reduction assessment training for business, government, and non-profit organizations. Some noteworthy programs outside of the Great Lakes Basin that focus more specifically on toxics use reduction rather than waste minimization are the Toxics Use Reduction Institute at University of Massachusetts Lowell, which conducts research and provides technical and research assistance to firms. The institute recently received a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to conduct research regarding alternatives to chlorinated solvents in metals degreasing.
