In the opinion of some researchers, adequate financing for continued monitoring of gray whales in the Sakhalin region is in doubt. The Committee urges all parties engaged in this effort to resolve their differences in time for field studies of the gray whales to be resumed this summer, when oil production is expected to begin from a platform off the northeastern coast of Sakhalin. On a related point, the Committee endorses plans for a joint workshop to explore technical aspects of monitoring environmental impacts from offshore fossil energy development and associated questions of public information and ecological risk communication. This workshop is tentatively planned to take place in June 1999 in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. To engage nation-wide participation in the project, six regional ROLL centers have been established throughout Russia.
Transparency remains a key feature of the proposal review process.
Environmental Finance National mechanisms and approaches to increase investment in the environmental sector constitute a topic of considerable promise within the work of the Committee. Accordingly, the two sides plan to convene a workshop on environmental financing within the next several months. The Committee also looks forward to close cooperation with other components of the Joint Commission, notably the Capital Markets Forum. The Committee commends the initiative on mobile-source air pollution being developed by U.S. EPA in conjunction with the World Bank's proposed transportation loan to the city of Moscow. This effort has been furthered by the long-standing ban in Moscow city of production and sale of leaded gasoline.