Transatlantic environmental cooperation The European Environment Agency (EEA) and its US counterpart, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), have developed a number of cooperative activities since the signing of the New Transatlantic Agenda in December 1995. The New Transatlantic Agenda is designed to develop E... The European Environment Agency (EEA) and its US counterpart, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), have developed a number of cooperative activities since the signing of the New Transatlantic Agenda in December 1995. The New Transatlantic Agenda is designed to develop EU-US relations overall, and supports cooperative activities in a wide variety of fields. The two environmental agencies aim to develop cooperation based on mutual supporting activities, sharing experiences and knowledge on issues relevant to the recovery, protection and maintenance of environmental quality within the EU and in the USA. The main goal is to develop a common approach in the field of environmental information. The exchanges of information between the two agencies is opening up possibilities to improve information levels through making it public, as well as to improve the implementation of legislation by making it public. Sharing information will, it is hoped, help the two agencies to improve their understanding of how best to provide quality information for both internal and public decision-making simultaneously. In addition, possibilities for the development of common or shared technical tools to support global information will also be opened up. An example of a joint project is the creation of an information locator service and a virtual environmental library on the Internet. This service is due to be established in late 1997, and the EEA and EPA will work together to provide information for the service. Another joint project concerns the transfer of experience from the "Envirofacts Data Warehouse" in the USA to the existing European structures. The Envirofacts Data Warehouse contains information on around 800,000 facilities in the US which are regulated by one or more US laws in the environmental field. Using this information, which is publicly available, is of significant benefit for surveys of activities which have an environmental impact.
