United States/German Bilateral Agreement on Hazardous Waste Site Clean-up Projects

Abstract

The problem of contamination to land and groundwater from improper disposal of hazardous materials/waste are common to all industrialized countries. Research and the development of technologies to deal with these environmental problems is very costly and requires the highest level of creativity and ingenuity. All countries resources and technical talents are limited. Good researchers do not operate in a vacuum. Sharing technical ideas and the expenses of developing new and innovative technologies for dealing with contaminated land and groundwater appears to be a good idea based on past experience. Cooperation at an international level is an economically cost effective way to access hard-to-get and very worthwhile information. To complicate the situation a wide variety of local and national circumstances/ factors lead to the development of varying standards and techniques used to determine the effectiveness of various technologies to deal with these environmental problems. In order to reduce environmental overload, close international cooperation is indispensable, both in terms of measures implemented and in the field of research and development, including the exchange of information and experiences. Furthermore coordination of environmental demands in different countries lessens the everpresent, potential trade barriers and imbalances in competitiveness.