SAN DIEGO – June 15, 1998 - California Secretary for Environmental Protection, Peter M. Rooney, and Canada's Environment Minister, Christine Stewart, today announced they have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) mutually recognizing their environmental technology certification and verification programs.

Secretary Rooney, speaking at a news conference at the Air and Waste Management Association (AWMA) conference in San Diego, said, "This partnership and effort with Canada will not only enhance the use of environmental technology, but will strengthen markets and our goals to protect public health by preventing pollution and speeding clean-up of contaminated sites."

Minister Stewart said, "New technologies are key to helping Canada and the United States achieve shared environmental goals, especially our greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets. This MOU is important because it allows technologies certified in Canada and California to be available for use quicker and at less cost."

There are numerous state and national barriers that impede the commercialization, market acceptance and implementation of innovative environmental technologies. Both Canada and Cal/EPA have developed programs to independently evaluate the performance claims of environmental technologies to overcome these barriers.

The MOU will strengthen joint research activities and the exchange of information between public and private agencies in Canada and California relating to environmental technology, as well as other environmental matters. Cal/EPA and Environment Canada both share high standards for the protection of the environment and public health, and an interest in supporting initiatives for technological advances and environmental protection methods.

Cal/EPA's technical certification program has evaluated and certified 38 technologies to date, including the Rayovac battery, an oil filter that extends the life of the oil by recycling it in-use, and several soil contamination on-site evaluators.

ETV is a joint initiative of Environment Canada and Industry Canada, developed in partnership with private industry. It is a voluntary program designed to promote the marketability and credibility of Canada's environment industry by providing validation and independent verification of performance claims. ETV Canada Inc., a private sector company, delivers the ETV Program. Fourteen environmental technologies have been verified since the program's launch in 1997.