Environmental groups outline how U.S. can help Ukraine (10/22/06)

Environmental groups outline how U.S. can help Ukraine

KYIV - In a letter delivered last week to U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine William B. Taylor, representatives of 12 leading Ukrainian environmental groups outlined recommendations for how the U.S. government could help mitigate the energy crisis in Ukraine, as well as develop its energy efficiency and renewable energy sectors. The letter was sent as a follow-up to a meeting the groups had with the Ambassador on September 11.

Among the groups' proposals were the following:

The U.S. Embassy in Ukraine should urge the U.S. Agency for International Development to give much higher priority to funding energy efficiency projects.
Many of the educational and technical materials on energy efficiency produced by the U.S. government should be translated into Ukrainian so they could be replicated and used in Ukraine.
Members of the Renewable Energy/Energy Efficiency Caucuses in the U.S. Congress, who also have an interest in Ukraine, should be encouraged and helped to meet with their counterparts in the Verkhovna Rada; the specific focus of the ensuing dialogue would be strategies for developing and implementing effective energy policy legislation based on the best of American experience.
The U.S. government should encourage its Department of Commerce to give greater emphasis to reaching out to American firms working on energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies and encourage them to invest in Ukraine and/or partner with Ukrainian firms in these fields.
U.S. exchange programs, such as the FSA-FLEX, Muskie and Fulbright programs, should give higher priority to recruiting and placing Ukrainian students, teachers and scholars interested in energy and related environmental issues at U.S. educational institutions.
The U.S. Embassy in Ukraine should facilitate having U.S. officials who work on U.S. government energy efficiency programs, such as the Energy Star program, the Federal Energy Management Program, the federal Weatherization Program, the government energy efficiency procurement program and the federal energy efficiency research and development program, come to Ukraine to provide training for Ukrainian officials (or, alternatively, to have Ukrainian officials come to the U.S. to meet with their American counterparts).

The groups noted in their letter to Ambassador Taylor that they hoped that the September 11 meeting would "lay the foundation for an ongoing dialogue with you and members of the U.S. Embassy on not only energy issues but also a range of other environmental concerns that might be more effectively addressed through Ukraine-U.S. cooperation."

* * *

The Ukrainian American Environmental Association is a private, non-governmental organization founded in 2004 and chartered in both the United States and Ukraine. It is a network of more than 750 Ukrainian and American NGOs, academic researchers, businesses and government officials to facilitate the exchange of information on a broad array of environmental issues including, but not limited to, energy policy, climate change, air and water pollution, toxic wastes, soil conservation, sustainable agriculture, and wildlife and wilderness protection.

| Home Page |