The Joint Coordinating Committee for Environmental Systems (JCCES) was established to manage the activities conducted under the auspices of the DOE/IETU agreement. The JCCES meets annually to review and approve proposals, assess program progress, and evaluate potential future activities. The JCCES is currently co-chaired by Dr. Jacek Laczny, Institute for Ecology of Industrial Areas (IETU), Director, and Mr. Gerald Boyd, DOE Deputy Assistant Secretary for Science and Technology, Office of Environmental Management. JCCES membership consists of specialists from both countries who represent each technical area of cooperation.

OST participation in the JCCES ensures that the areas of technical cooperation address the most critical needs of the EM Focus Areas. JCCES projects are reviewed and evaluated by focus area technical staff for scientific merit, applicability to key DOE site needs, and relevance to DOE users.

Why Central and Eastern Europe?

During 40 years of Soviet occupation, the countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) focused on fulfilling Soviet-directed economic plans with little regard for the natural environment. The governments of those countries emphasized high levels of production, often involving heavy manufacturing industries and mining, at the expense of the environment. These industrial activities generated large amounts of contamination affecting the air, soils, and waters of the region. In addition, reliance on coal as an energy source, combined with a lack of market forces, provided little incentive for industrial or residential users either to conserve energy or to find alternative methods of generating or using energy that would have resulted in lower levels of pollution. Furthermore, prior to the end of the Cold War, the politics of CEE resulted in a lack of public information on the state of the natural environment and limited public input into environmental decision-making.

Today, as a result, the region faces severe environmental damage from pollution. The major sources of pollutants in the region are industry, energy production, hazardous and municipal waste management, agricultural production, and former Soviet military installations and activities. Industry accounts for the majority of the air pollution, solid waste, and water pollution in the region. Energy production generates significant amounts of air pollution because coal combustion is used to meet much of the region ’s electric and heat energy needs. The region’s “brown coal”,which is less efficient and much dirtier than hard coal, served as a common energy source throughout the region. Municipal waste storage and wastewater treatment facilities are underdeveloped and contribute to the ground and surface water pollution. The disposal of hazardous waste is also a pressing problem. Significant amounts of hazardous waste are stored in temporary storage facilities, as there are few modern, commercial facilities for the efficient and safe management of hazardous waste. Agriculture also contributes significantly to water pollution in the form of “non-point sources ”of pesticide, fertilizer, and animal waste runoff.

The Soviet Military, which occupied 59 sites in Poland from 1945 to 1993, left an unfortunate environmental legacy. These former military sites were located primarily in the western and northwestern parts of Poland and previously were occupied by German troops during World War II. Between 1990 and 1993, the Polish State Environmental Inspectorate evaluated 21 of the most polluted bases. They discovered severe environmental damage and estimated the cost of remediation at over $100 million U.S. A common finding was evidence of petroleum derivatives in soils and waste dumps. The report indicated no evidence of radioactive substances or poisonous warfare agents. As the countries of CEE prepare for European Union (EU) membership, the market for environmental technologies and services will grow in these countries. In fact, it is estimated that the ten accession countries will need environmental investments totaling $100 billion to $150 billion over the next several years in order to comply with EU environmental requirements. Cost-effective technologies, strong environmental management skills and international cooperation will be needed for this enormous undertaking.

IETU’s historical experience with environmental problems has led to the development of a well-equipped, experienced, and knowledgeable organization, with expertise in numerous areas of environmental science. Additionally, the extensive environmental contamination problems in Poland provide an excellent large-scale test bed for the assessment of newly-developed technologies designed to address environmental contamination. These demonstrations allow the rapid development of cost and performance data that can be used for sites throughout the DOE complex. With these data, successful technologies can be introduced and deployed at DOE sites, thus accelerating the clean up process.