Media Advisory

October 11, 2000

IJC Establishes the International St. Croix River Board

On September 26, 2000, the International Joint Commission formally combined its existing International St. Croix River Board of Control and its International Advisory Board on Pollution Control - St. Croix River and established the International St. Croix River Board.

The Commission merged its two St. Croix Boards for two main reasons. First, the Commission has adopted an ecosystem approach under which water quantity and water quality are addressed together as part of the full range of water related issues. Second, the two boards have been working closely together in the past few years. Both boards recently cooperated in an assessment of the need to modify the Commission's St. Croix Orders of Approval, in response to concerns raised by stakeholders, and the two boards regularly hold joint annual public meetings.

The International St. Croix River Board of Control was established in 1915 and monitored compliance with the requirements of the Orders of Approval issued by the Commission for the dams on the St. Croix River at Forest City, Vanceboro, Grand Falls and Milltown. The International Advisory Board on Pollution Control - St. Croix River reported on the water quality of the river and on pollution abatement efforts of industries and municipalities along the river since 1962.

Following the circulation of the draft directive in the basin and the conduct of a public hearing in St. Stephen, New Brunswick, the Commission approved a directive for the new International St. Croix River Board and appointed members of the two former Boards to the new Board. The directive can be seen by visiting the IJC's web site at www.ijc.org. Comments and questions should be directed to the addresses below:

Secretary, Canadian Section 234 Laurier Avenue West 22 nd floor Ottawa, Ontario K1P 6K6 Fax 613.993.5583 Commission@ottawa.ijc.org

Secretary, United States Section 1250 23 rd Street NW Suite 100 Washington, DC 20440 Fax 202.736.9015 Commission@washington.ijc.org

The International Joint Commission was created under the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909 to help prevent and resolve disputes over the use of waters along the Canada-United States boundary.

Contacts:
Frank Bevacqua	Washington, D.C.	(202) 736-9024
Fabien Lengellé	Ottawa, Ontario	(613) 995-0088