[DRAFT] Standards for Healthy Atmosphere Quality

[Makdon]

Standards for Healthy Atmosphere Quality
Category: Environmental | Industries: All Business - Strong

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The General Assembly,

Concerned by air pollutants, which can lead to damage to health, property, and environment, and understanding the inherent danger in leaving them unchecked, given that they can and often are spread across international borders by wind,

Recognizing previous attempts to promote sustainable atmospheric environments, but aware they do not address many pollutants that pose serious risk,

Believing that such air pollutants should be monitored and controlled, as they constitute an immense menace to the international community through their damage to people's health, property, wildlife, and environmental sustainability, and that the previously existing Atmospheric Chemistry Establishment (ACE) should responsible for them,

Hereby,

§ 1. Mandates that the Atmospheric Chemistry Establishment (ACE) regulates member states by:

1. Setting annual caps, which shall be determined to be both reasonable to achieve and maximally healthy for both the residents of the state and its environment, for each member state’s and each non-member state’s anthropogenic emissions of the following pollutants:
   
   1. Particle Pollution
   2. Ground Level Ozone
   3. All Persistent Bioaccumulative Toxins
   4. All Volatile Organic Compounds
   5. Nitrogen Oxides
   6. Sulfur Dioxide
2. Fining member states in proportion to any emissions in excess of their emission caps; all funds produced by these fines will be used by ACE to fulfill its duties, and any excess shall be given as grants for research and technology to combat the previously listed air pollutants,
3. Instituting tariffs against those non-member states which do not meet the emission caps set by ACE, as well as member states which refuse to pay their own fines; the funds from these tariffs shall be used in the same manner as the fines,

§ 2. Tasks member states with:

1. Monitoring the levels of the listed pollutants, through testing and observation, the results of which they will provide to ACE,
2. Abiding by the fees tariffs mandated by ACE,
3. An urging to promote acts which lead to a clean atmosphere among their populace, and to implement emissions trading schemes within their own economies, so as to help achieve the emissions caps set by ACE,
4. An encouragement to attempt to peacefully persuade non-member states to follow emissions caps set specifically for them, and to act in international goodwill on the subject of air pollutants.

§ 3. Articulates that natural emissions will not be treated as emissions by ACE, in the case of this resolution.

The General Assembly,

Concerned by air pollutants, which can lead to damage to health, property, and environment, and understanding the inherent danger in leaving them unchecked, given that they can and often are spread across international borders by wind,

Recognizing previous attempts to promote sustainable atmospheric environments, but aware they do not address many pollutants that pose serious risk,

Believing that such air pollutants should be monitored and controlled, as they constitute an immense menace to the international community through their damage to people's health, property, wildlife, and environmental sustainability, and that the previously existing Atmospheric Chemistry Establishment (ACE) should responsible for them,

Hereby,

§ 1. Defines, for the purpose of this legislation, “listed pollutants” as constituting any and all of the following substances which are anthropogenic:

1. Particle Pollution
2. Ground Level Ozone
3. All Persistent Bioaccumulative Toxins, except those that classify as toxic heavy metals
4. All Volatile Organic Compounds
5. Nitrogen Oxides
6. Sulfur Dioxide

§ 2. Mandates that the Atmospheric Chemistry Establishment creates limits for each member nation on the amount each listed pollutants that can be emitted in a year, which shall be determined to be both reasonable to achieve and maximally healthy for both the residents of the member state and its environment,

§ 3. Tasks member states with monitoring the levels of the listed pollutants, through testing and observation, the results of which they will provide to ACE,

§ 4. Requires that all member states adhere to the emissions limits set by ACE, except if the member state can prove that to do so was infeasible,

§ 5. Creates pollution licenses, to be sold and maintained by ACE, which allow member states to exceed the emissions limits set by ACE by the specific amount listed on the license, and allows the trade of these licenses between member states,

§ 6. Urges member states to promote acts which lead to a clean atmosphere among their populace, and to implement emissions trading schemes within their own economies, so as to help achieve the emissions limits set by ACE,

§ 7. Encourages member states to attempt to peacefully persuade non-member states to follow emissions limits set specifically for them, which ACE will provide upon request, and to act in international goodwill on the subject of air pollutants.

The General Assembly,

Concerned by air pollutants, which can lead to damage to health, property, and environment, and understanding the inherent danger in leaving them unchecked, given that they can and often are spread across international borders by wind,

Recognizing previous attempts to promote sustainable atmospheric environments, but aware they do not address many pollutants that pose serious risk,

Believing that such air pollutants should be monitored and controlled, as they constitute an immense menace to the international community through their damage to people's health, property, wildlife, and environmental sustainability, and that the previously existing Atmospheric Chemistry Establishment (ACE) should responsible for them,

Hereby,

§ 1. Defines, for the purpose of this legislation, “listed pollutants” as constituting any and all of the following substances:

1. Particle Pollution
2. Ground Level Ozone
3. All Persistent Bioaccumulative Toxins
4. All Volatile Organic Compounds
5. Nitrogen Oxides
6. Sulfur Dioxide

§ 2. Mandates that the Atmospheric Chemistry Establishment creates limits for each member nation on the amount of listed pollutants that can be emitted in a year,

§ 3. Tasks member states with monitoring the levels of the listed pollutants, through testing and observation, the results of which they will provide to ACE,

§ 4. Requires that all member states adhere to the emissions limits set by ACE, except in the following cases:

1. the member state can prove that to do so was impossible,
2. the higher levels have solely been caused by the spread of conditions from neighboring states,

§ 5. Creates pollution licenses, to be sold and maintained by ACE, which allow member states to exceed the emissions limits set by ACE by the specific amount listed on the license, and allows the trade of these licenses between member states,

§ 6. Urges member states to promote acts which lead to a clean atmosphere among their populace, and to implement emissions trading schemes within their own economies, so as to help achieve the emissions limits set by ACE,

§ 7. Encourages member states to attempt to peacefully persuade non-member states to follow emissions limits set specifically for them, which ACE will provide upon request, and to act in international goodwill on the subject of air pollutants.

The General Assembly,

Aware of General Assembly Resolution #421, Ozone Layer Protection (OLP), which seeks to prevent the deterioration of the ozone layer for the purposes of public health and environmental sustainability, a worthwhile cause, and the effects it causes to manufacturing,

Applauding the existence of the Atmospheric Chemistry Establishment (ACE) which works to monitor the ozone layer and provide nations assistance in protecting it,

Recognizing that OLP does nothing to provide regulations for any other atmospheric issues, and that ACE fails to focus on all atmospheric chemistry issues under OLP,

Believing that such atmospheric issues should be addressed, as they constitute an immense menace to the international community through their damage to people's health, property, wildlife, and environmental sustainability, and that ACE should responsible for them,

Noting the following air pollutants, which can lead to damage to health, property, wildlife, and fauna, and understanding the inherent danger in leaving them unchecked, as well as that they can and often are spread across international borders by wind:

• Particle Pollution - Particle pollution is defined as smoke, dust, and droplets produced by chemical reactions, or produced through the burning of oil, wood, or coal,
• Ozone- Ozone (triatomic oxygen particles) is protected in General Assembly Resolution #421, and is important to the environmental health of any nation, but can cause serious health problems if not high enough in the atmosphere, the chemicals that most often lead to ground level ozone are volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and nitrogen oxides (NO_x)
• Acid Rain - Acid precipitation is created when some air pollutants interact with moisture present in the air, and may then fall to the earth in many different forms, it is primarily formed by sulfur dioxide (SO₂) and NO_x,
• Lead- Lead is an incredibly dangerous chemical that can lead to behavior disorders, anemia, and permanent nerve damage; it’s provides a much more potent risk to children, as their nervous systems are especially susceptible to nerve damage, and can lead to significantly lower IQs and learning disorders,
• Persistent Bioaccumulative Toxins (PBTs) - PBTs, like mercury, DDT, or polychlorinated biphenyls, can last for incredibly long times, meaning their effects can be immeasurable, they can damage people’s health, wildlife, plant life, and the environment in innumerable ways, and provide a constant risk,

Hereby,

§ 1. Defines, for the purpose of this legislation, listed pollutants as constituting any and all of the following substances:

• Particle Pollution,
• Ground Level Ozone
• Acid Rain
• Lead
• All PBTs
• All VOCs
• NO_x
• SO₂

§ 2. Instates Outdoor Atmosphere Health Standards (OAHS) for the listed pollutants, to be defined and updated by ACE, which will:

• set caps on the amount of the pollutants that may be present in member states atmospheres for purpose of public health,
• provide guidelines to stay within such caps, based off of research on the health effects of the listed pollutants, which are to be tested through substantiated scientific techniques,
• be adaptable to different environments, such as spacecraft and extraterrestrial nations,

§ 3. Tasks ACE with monitoring the levels of the listed pollutants, through testing and observation, as well as informing member states of the levels, providing useful analysis of the data for the purposes of helping member states remain within the limits, and providing assistance and oversight in the pollutants control,

§ 4. Requires that all member states adhere to OAHS by 9 months after the passing of this legislation, and that heavy fines determined by ACE be levied against member states which fail to meet all standards and deadlines set by ACE, except in the following cases, where ACE may choose to instead mandate that the member state reach another standard of air quality set on a case-by-case basis and deemed feasible by ACE:

• the member state can prove that to do so was impossible,
• the higher levels have solely been caused by the spread of conditions from non-member states,
• the chemicals will be unable to affect other nations through their spread,

§ 5. Creates pollution licenses, to be sold and maintained by ACE, which allow member states to exceed the limits of OAHS by the specific amount listed on the license, and allows the trade of these licenses between member states,

§ 6. Urges member states to promote acts which lead to a clean atmosphere among their populace, to monitor their atmosphere by their own means, and to implement emissions trading schemes within their own economies, so as to bolster ACE’s work,

§ 7. Encourages member states to attempt to peacefully persuade non-member states to follow OAHS, and to act in international goodwill on the subject of air pollutants.

The General Assembly,

Aware of General Assembly Resolution #421, Ozone Layer Protection (OLP), which seeks to prevent the deterioration of the ozone layer for the purposes of public health and environmental sustainability, a worthwhile cause, and the effects it causes to manufacturing,

Applauding the existence of the Atmospheric Chemistry Establishment (ACE), which works to monitor the ozone layer and provide nations assistance in protecting it,

Recognizing that OLP does nothing to provide regulations for any other atmospheric issues, and that ACE fails to focus on all atmospheric chemistry issues under OLP,

Believing that such atmospheric issues should be addressed, as they constitute an immense menace to the international community through their damage to people's health, property, wildlife, and environmental sustainability, and that ACE should responsible for them,

Noting the following air pollutants, which can lead to damage to health, property, wildlife, and fauna, and understanding the inherent danger in leaving them unchecked, as well as that they can and often are spread across international borders by wind:

1. Particle Pollution - Particle pollution is defined as smoke, dust, and droplets produced by chemical reactions, or produced through the burning of oil, wood, or coal,
2. Ozone- Ozone (triatomic oxygen particles) is protected in General Assembly Resolution #421, and is important to the environmental health of any nation, but can cause serious health problems if not high enough in the atmosphere, the chemicals that most often lead to ground level ozone are volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and nitrogen oxides (NO_x)
3. Acid Rain - Acid precipitation is created when some air pollutants interact with moisture present in the air, and may then fall to the earth in many different forms, it is primarily formed by sulfur dioxide (SO₂) and NO_x,
4. Lead- Lead is an incredibly dangerous chemical that can lead to behavior disorders, anemia, and permanent nerve damage; it’s provides a much more potent risk to children, as their nervous systems are especially susceptible to nerve damage, and can lead to significantly lower IQs and learning disorders,
5. Persistent Bioaccumulative Toxins (PBTs) - PBTs, such as mercury, DDT, or polychlorinated biphenyls, can last for incredibly long times, meaning there effects can become massive, they can damage people’s health, wildlife, plant life, and the environment in innumerable ways, and provide a constant risk,

Hereby,

§ 1. Defines, for the purpose of this legislation, listed pollutants as constituting any and all of the following substances:

1. Particle Pollution,
2. Ground Level Ozone
3. Acid Rain
4. Lead
5. All PBTs
6. All VOCs
7. NO_x
8. SO₂

§ 2. Instates Outdoor Atmosphere Health Standards (OAHS) for the listed pollutants, to be defined and updated by ACE, which will meet the following criteria:

1. sets caps on the amount of the pollutants that may be present in member states atmospheres for purpose of public health,
2. provides guidelines to stay within such caps, based off of research on the health effects of the listed pollutants, which are to be tested through substantiated scientific techniques,
3. is able to be adapted to different environments, such as spacecraft and extraterrestrial nations,

and requires that all member states adhere to such standards by 9 months after the passing of this legislation,

§ 3. Tasks ACE with monitoring the levels of the listed pollutants, through testing and observation, as well as informing member states of the levels, providing useful analysis of the data for the purposes of helping member states remain within the limits, and providing assistance and oversight in the pollutants control,

§ 4. Requires all member states to meet all standards and deadlines set by ACE, except in the following cases, whereACE may choose to instead mandate that the member state reach another standard of air quality set on a case-by-case basis and deemed feasible by ACE:

1. the member state can prove that to do so was impossible,
2. the higher levels have solely been caused by the spread of conditions from non-member states,
3. the chemicals will be unable to affect other nations through their spread,

§ 5. Urges member states to promote acts which lead to a clean atmosphere among their populace, and to monitor their atmosphere by their own means, so as to bolster ACE’s work,

§ 6. Encourages member states to attempt to peacefully persuade non-member states to follow OAHS, and to act in international goodwill on the subject of air pollutants.

The General Assembly,

Aware of General Assembly Resolution #421, Ozone Layer Protection (OLP), which seeks to prevent the deterioration of the ozone layer for the purposes of public health and environmental sustainability, a worthwhile cause, and the effects it causes to manufacturing,

Applauding the existence of the Atmospheric Chemistry Establishment (ACE), which works to monitor the ozone layer and provide nations assistance in protecting it,

Recognizing that OLP does nothing to provide regulations for any other atmospheric issues, and that ACE fails to focus on all atmospheric chemistry issues under OLP,

Believing that such atmospheric issues should be addressed, as they constitute an immense menace to the international community through their damage to human health, property, wildlife, and environmental sustainability, and that ACE should responsible for them,

Noting the following air pollutants, which can lead to damage to health, property, wildlife, and fauna, and understanding the inherent danger in leaving them unchecked, as well as that they can and often are spread across international borders by wind:

1. Particle Pollution - Particle pollution is defined as smoke, dust, and droplets produced by chemical reactions, or produced through the burning of oil, wood, or coal,
2. Ozone- Ozone (triatomic oxygen particles) is protected in General Assembly Resolution #421, and is important to the environmental health of any nation, but can cause serious health problems if not high enough in the atmosphere, the chemicals that most often lead to ground level ozone are volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and nitrogen oxides (NO_x)
3. Acid Rain - Acid precipitation is created when some air pollutants interact with moisture present in the air, and may then fall to the earth in many different forms, it is primarily formed by sulfur dioxide (SO₂) and NO_x,
4. Lead- Lead is an incredibly dangerous chemical that can lead to behavior disorders, anemia, and permanent nerve damage; it’s provides a much more potent risk to children, as their nervous systems are especially susceptible to nerve damage, and can lead to significantly lower IQs and learning disorders,
5. Persistent Bioaccumulative Toxins (PBTs) - PBTs, such as mercury, DDT, or polychlorinated biphenyls, can last for incredibly long times, meaning there effects can become massive, they can damage human health, wildlife, plant life, and the environment in innumerable ways, and provide a constant risk,

Hereby,

§ 1. Defines, for the purpose of this legislation, listed pollutants as constituting any and all of the following substances:

1. Particle Pollution,
2. Ground Level Ozone
3. Acid Rain
4. Lead
5. All PBTs
6. All VOCs
7. NO_x
8. SO₂

§ 2. Instates Outdoor Atmosphere Health Standards (OAHS) for the listed pollutants, to be defined and updated by ACE, which sets caps on the amount of the pollutants that may be present in member states atmospheres for purpose of public health, as well as provides guidelines to stay within such caps, based off of research on the health effects of the listed pollutants, which are to be tested through substantiated scientific techniques, and requires that all member states adhere to such standards by 9 months after the passing of this legislation,

§ 3. Tasks ACE with monitoring the levels of the listed pollutants, through testing and observation, as well as informing member states of the levels, providing useful analysis of the data for the purposes of helping member states remain within the limits, and providing assistance and oversight in the pollutants control,

§ 4. Requires all member states to meet all standards and deadlines set by ACE, except where they can prove that to do so was impossible, that the higher levels have solely been caused by the spread of conditions from non-member states, or that the chemicals will be unable to affect other nations through their spread, in which case ACE may choose to allow an exception, mandating instead that the member state reach another standard of air quality set on a case-by-case basis and deemed feasible by ACE,

§ 5. Recommends that member states employ the following techniques to reduce the listed pollutants:

1. Require automobiles to use reformulated or low-sulfur fuels,
2. Create air quality goals, and mandate that no state projects may be performed that are not consistent with those goals,
3. Employ plant specific limits on the levels of pollutants produced, and enforce monetary penalties for plants found to producing excess amounts of pollutants,

§ 6. Urges member states to promote acts which lead to a clean atmosphere among their populace, and to monitor their atmosphere by their own means, so as to bolster ACE’s work,

§ 7. Encourages member states to attempt to persuade non-member states to follow OAHS, and to act in international goodwill on the subject of air pollutants.

OOC: I've never written, or attempted to write, any GA stuff before, so hopefully my lurking has prepared me well enough for this. When thinking about writing this, I looked into RL legislation about air quality and such, most heavily investigating the US's Clean Air Act. If you're curious to learn to more about this topic, and that act, these links are pretty useful:

• https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2015-08/documents/peg.pdf
• https://www.epa.gov/clean-air-act-overview
• https://www.epa.gov/clean-air-act-overview/clean-air-act-requirements-and-history

Some quick info about some of the chemicals talked about here:

• Particle pollution- these can enter the lungs and lead to respiratory problems, such as aggravating asthma,acute respiratory symptoms like coughing, reduction of lung functionality, and chronic bronchitis, they can also cause haze, resulting in reduced visibility, which can be problematic in some areas, such as nature reserves and national parks, finally, particle pollution dirties outside areas and buildings, leading to reduced cleanliness,
• Ozone- it aggravates asthma, causes lung inflammation, and damages forests and crops; the chemicals that most often lead to ground level ozone are volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and nitrogen oxides (NOx), which are released by cars and many industrial plants
• Acid rain- causing damage to human health, property damage, environmental harm, and murky skies;

This is a pretty important issue, I'm surprised it hasn't been comprehensively addressed before.
Also, I've never done any RP before, so please forgive me if I mess up with that somehow

[Stellonia]

"We look forward to seeing how this draft is refined over the next few weeks."

[Maowi]

"Ambassador, who sets the OAHS? Is it a WA committee? If so, you should explicitly assign the task to one.

"In §4, I'd recommend not making it a binary "meets target/doesn't meet target", but instead that if it is impossible for a particular nation to meet the target, it must endeavour to get as close to it as is feasible."

[Tinhampton]

Category: Environmental | Industries: All Business - Significant

It's either Mild or Strong there - no AllBiz/Significant strength yet, unless I've missed something...

[Makdon]

"Ambassador, who sets the OAHS? Is it a WA committee? If so, you should explicitly assign the task to one.

"In §4, I'd recommend not making it a binary "meets target/doesn't meet target", but instead that if it is impossible for a particular nation to meet the target, it must endeavour to get as close to it as is feasible."

"I intended for ACE to set the standards, as they would be managing the rest of the responsibilities, I just forgot to put it in. I also concur on the subject of §4. Thanks for your advice, ambassador"

Edit: Also, thanks Tin for the thing about strength - I should've checked up on that more before hand. I will out strong for now

[Picairn]

Clause ii of §5:

Create air quality goals, and mandate that no state projects may be performed that are not consistent with those goals,

"I'm assuming that no state projects, which harms the atmosphere or does not comply with the clean air standards, shall be allowed?"

[Makdon]

"I'm assuming that no state projects, which harms the atmosphere or does not comply with the clean air standards, shall be allowed?"

"The proposal doesn't mandate specific methods with which to achieve the standards. As long as the levels of the listed pollutants in the atmosphere meet with the standards, there need be no regulation on the methods used to reach that goal. Clause 5 only recommends possible routes through which to meet the goals, but how the goals are achieved are completely left up to the member states"

[Picairn]

"I'm assuming that no state projects, which harms the atmosphere or does not comply with the clean air standards, shall be allowed?"

"The proposal doesn't mandate specific methods with which to achieve the standards. As long as the levels of the listed pollutants in the atmosphere meet with the standards, there need be no regulation on the methods used to reach that goal. Clause 5 only recommends possible routes through which to meet the goals, but how the goals are achieved are completely left up to the member states"

"Excellent, Ambassador. You have our support."

[Pope Saint Peter the Apostle]

What an excellent Proposal. We must not forget our duty to our children, our neighbours and the Lord to protect this Holy planet. We will most definitely support this Proposal when it comes to a vote.

--Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, patron of the environment
Consuasor ad Sancti Imperii

[Araraukar]

OOC: Giving committees unlimited powers to make decisions that member nations must then follow, is never a good idea.

Also, were you aware of GA #301,Ban on Leaded Fuel, GA #357, Promotion of Clean Energy and GA #371, Toxic Heavy Metals Act?

And WA nations are not populated only by humans, so rather than "human health", I'd use something like "people's health".

Oh and are you trying to mandate that a nation residing on a planet that has a non-Earth-like atmosphere - think Venus for example - with the people living in sealed habitats in domes or underground, is required to try and change the entire planetary atmosphere to match the committee's limits?

Many of your clauses (2 and 4 especially) have so much going on that they should likely be opened up a bit more (either subclause list or separate clauses or just rewritten to be clearer).

5.ii. is in danger of halting ALL construction (since producing materials usually means air pollution), including projects that would in the long run improve air quality (like, say, building a hydroelectric dam to get rid of coal plants). Alternatively it doesn't do jack shit, because the main clause 5 is only a recommendation.

Clause 7 absolutely needs addition of "peacefully" to added to "persuade", and how exactly would that work anyway, given that the committee makes the thingies for every nation on a case-by-case basis, but can't do so in non-member nations to begin with?

I also find it weird that you're mandating member nations to clean their atmospheres of pollutants after a preamble where you specifically point out that winds carry pollutants across borders. If the member nation has Russia a large "doesn't give a fuck about environment" industrialized non-WA nation as its neighbour, and air pollutants waft in from over the border, is the WA nation mandated to run down all its industry and STILL get sanctioned by the WA for failing to clean its air? As a RL example (and why I used Russia in the strikeout), pollutants causing acid rain? Finland gets about 39% of them from elsewhere in Europe, 44% from Russia, and produces about 17% of them itself.

[Makdon]

OOC: Giving committees unlimited powers to make decisions that member nations must then follow, is never a good idea.

How would you recommend placing limits on its ability?

Also, were you aware of GA #301,Ban on Leaded Fuel, GA #357, Promotion of Clean Energy and GA #371, Toxic Heavy Metals Act?

I will check them out

And WA nations are not populated only by humans, so rather than "human health", I'd use something like "people's health".

Ok, I'll change this

Oh and are you trying to mandate that a nation residing on a planet that has a non-Earth-like atmosphere - think Venus for example - with the people living in sealed habitats in domes or underground, is required to try and change the entire planetary atmosphere to match the committee's limits?

Hmm. My gut instinct is to include a caveat in any clauses that would cause a problem so as to not mess up in this situation

Many of your clauses (2 and 4 especially) have so much going on that they should likely be opened up a bit more (either subclause list or separate clauses or just rewritten to be clearer).

I think clauses 2 and 4 both address distinct, singular issues, and as such, I'm not incline to split them up into separate clauses. I will, however, try to break them up into subclauses, I just think that the nature of this topic that it requires many technicalities, and I would be remiss not to include them.

5.ii. is in danger of halting ALL construction (since producing materials usually means air pollution), including projects that would in the long run improve air quality (like, say, building a hydroelectric dam to get rid of coal plants). Alternatively it doesn't do jack shit, because the main clause 5 is only a recommendation.

As you say, clause 5 is a recommendation. It doesn't need to do anything, In my opinion, because the nations have to follow the standards anyways, so I don't think I need to specify methods. I just though it would be useful to put in some information in methods to avoid pollution, but if it seems extraneous, it certainly isn't necessary to the proposal, so I wouldn't be opposed to removing or heavily modifying it. I don't have a problem with it as is, however.

Clause 7 absolutely needs addition of "peacefully" to added to "persuade", and how exactly would that work anyway, given that the committee makes the thingies for every nation on a case-by-case basis, but can't do so in non-member nations to begin with?

The committee doesn't make the standards on a case-by-case basis, it only does so in specific instance where its general standards cannot be met

I also find it weird that you're mandating member nations to clean their atmospheres of pollutants after a preamble where you specifically point out that winds carry pollutants across borders. If the member nation has Russia a large "doesn't give a fuck about environment" industrialized non-WA nation as its neighbour, and air pollutants waft in from over the border, is the WA nation mandated to run down all its industry and STILL get sanctioned by the WA for failing to clean its air? As a RL example (and why I used Russia in the strikeout), pollutants causing acid rain? Finland gets about 39% of them from elsewhere in Europe, 44% from Russia, and produces about 17% of them itself.

I think this is addressed in clause 4

[Araraukar]

The committee doesn't make the standards on a case-by-case basis, it only does so in specific instance where its general standards cannot be met

OOC: Then this thing is fucked-up from the get-go, because like I said, not all nations are populated by humans, not all inhabited planets are the same - imagine if the WA gnomes decided that the atmosphere of Venus is the perfect model, and required all WA nations to modify theirs to match that? And a nation that consists of people in spaceships is going to have much more control over their breathing air than a tiny island nation in the WA on a planet full of non-WA nations.

I think this is addressed in clause 4

Given that that's one of the clauses that's hard to parse, I suggest rewriting it to make it a helluva lot of clearer.

[Makdon]

Sorry it's taken so long to get back to this, unfortunately RL stuff intervened and I was unable to work on it. I've put up a new draft, in which I've broken up clauses 2 and 4 to make them more clear and attempted to allow for non-earthlike environments within the legislation. I had to cut out clause 5 because of the character limit, but it was a recommendation, so I think the purpose of the resolution remains completely intact without it.

OOC: Then this thing is fucked-up from the get-go, because like I said, not all nations are populated by humans, not all inhabited planets are the same - imagine if the WA gnomes decided that the atmosphere of Venus is the perfect model, and required all WA nations to modify theirs to match that? And a nation that consists of people in spaceships is going to have much more control over their breathing air than a tiny island nation in the WA on a planet full of non-WA nations.

As I said, I tried to accommodate for different scenarios by adding a subclause in clause 2, and I think it simply deals with different situations such as spacecraft. Also, the requirements for the standards listed in clause 2 would clearly prevent any situations like selecting the atmosphere of venus from occurring. Finally, and once again, the fact that it may be hard or impossible to meet the standards has been addressed in clause 4, which I've broken up, so it will hopefully be clear now.

[Bormiar]

and requires that all member states adhere to such standards by 9 months after the passing of this legislation,

This could be its own clause.

[Imperium Anglorum]

Sounds like a ETS problem and an ETS solution.

[Makdon]

This could be its own clause.

Thanks for the advice, I decided to combine this with clause 4.

Sounds like a ETS problem and an ETS solution.

I didn't know what this is, and for any else who didn't, here's some info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emissions_trading. This seemed like something worth modeling this around, so I put fines into clause 4, and added clause 5, which creates the pollution licenses that seems core to this system. I'm not sure if I was able to accurately or successfully implement the ideas of ETS, so I'd really appreciate feedback on it, but I feel that there doesn't need to be a whole lot more than this to allow for situations like those found irl.
Edit:
These additions put my just on the edge of the character limit, so I had to take out some punctuation and think like a thesaurus to pull it down to exactly 5000 . Any ideas about what could be removed or shortened would also be really helpful

[WA Kitty Kops]

OOC: GA #445, Greenhouse Gas Cap And Trade Program might be relevant.

[Makdon]

OOC: GA #445, Greenhouse Gas Cap And Trade Program might be relevant.

While that proposals intention is also to do with the environment, its goal is completely different. It seeks to prevent climate change, where as this proposals purpose is to protect the health and well-being of citizens and wildlife. I could mention that proposal in the same may I mention GA #421, but I'm right on the edge of the character limit, and I don't think it really matters

[Makdon]

I'm taking the general lack of response as a sign that this is completely perfect and uncontroversial, and needs no further editing
Seriously though, I will likely submit this in a week since no one seems to have much to say about it, unless something changes.

[Maowi]

OOC:

§ 1. Defines, for the purpose of this legislation, listed pollutants as constituting any and all of the following substances:

• Particle Pollution,
• Ground Level Ozone
• Acid Rain
• Lead
• All PBTs
• All VOCs
• NO_x
• SO₂

I think it would probably be better practice for you to spell out the acronyms here in the active clauses - relying on the preamble for that might not be the best.

§ 2. Instates Outdoor Atmosphere Health Standards (OAHS) for the listed pollutants, to be defined and updated by ACE, which willmeet the following criteria:

• sets caps on the amount of the pollutants that may be present in member states atmospheres for purpose of public health,
• provides guidelines to stay within such caps, based off of research on the health effects of the listed pollutants, which are to be tested through substantiated scientific techniques,
• is able to be adaptable adapted to different environments, such as spacecraft and extraterrestrial nations,

I've suggested a very slightly modified phrasing there that might read better.

[Makdon]

OOC:
I think it would probably be better practice for you to spell out the acronyms here in the active clauses - relying on the preamble for that might not be the best.

§ 2. Instates Outdoor Atmosphere Health Standards (OAHS) for the listed pollutants, to be defined and updated by ACE, which willmeet the following criteria:

• sets caps on the amount of the pollutants that may be present in member states atmospheres for purpose of public health,
• provides guidelines to stay within such caps, based off of research on the health effects of the listed pollutants, which are to be tested through substantiated scientific techniques,
• is able to be adaptable adapted to different environments, such as spacecraft and extraterrestrial nations,

I've suggested a very slightly modified phrasing there that might read better.

The rephrasing is much appreciated, it's definitely a smoother and shorter way of doing it. Unfortunately, I don't have the space to spell them out in the active clause, just cause of the character limit. Does this have the potential to become a problem?

[Maowi]

The rephrasing is much appreciated, it's definitely a smoother and shorter way of doing it. Unfortunately, I don't have the space to spell them out in the active clause, just cause of the character limit. Does this have the potential to become a problem?

OOC: I don't think it would really cause any problem in practice - if I were you I'd consider just using the abbreviations in the preamble and spelling them out in the active clause, as the active clause is what really matters, but I'd guess it would work either way.

[Araraukar]

OOC: Help at reducing size and comments.

Aware of General Assembly Resolution #421, Ozone Layer Protection (OLP), which seeks to prevent the deterioration of the ozone layer for the purposes of public health and environmental sustainability, a worthwhile cause, and the effects it causes to manufacturing,

OOC: This doesn't have any relevance. If you wanted some nod, then "Aware of the previous resolutions aimed to curb air pollution", which would be more accurate than focusing on the ozone one, anyway.

Applauding the existence of the Atmospheric Chemistry Establishment (ACE) which works to monitor the ozone layer and provide nations assistance in protecting it,

Recognizing that OLP does nothing to provide regulations for any other atmospheric issues, and that ACE fails to focus on all atmospheric chemistry issues under OLP,

This does not help your proposal. If anything, it makes it sound like you were trying to amend the existing resolution. Make your own stand on its own legs, from the first sentence onward. Leaning on previous resolutions in the preamble is not a rules violation, but it does make one wonder if yours would be any good without the previous ones.

Believing that such atmospheric issues should be addressed, as they constitute an immense menace to the international community through their damage to people's health, property, wildlife, and environmental sustainability, and that ACE should responsible for them,

Here, too. If you just rewrote your preamble to say something generic about how there have been previous attempts to tackle air pollution, but that they don't go far enough, then throw in something general about why clean air matters, you'd be much better off than throwing a tantrum at a previous resolution not doing enough.

Noting the following Concerned about air pollutants, which can lead to damage to health, property, wildlife, and fauna and the environment, and understanding the inherent danger in leaving them unchecked, as well as given that they can and often are spread across international borders by wind:

This you should start with (with the edits, naturally), actually, as it is the basic WHY of your proposal.

• Particle Pollution - Particle pollution is defined as smoke, dust, and droplets produced by chemical reactions, or produced through the burning of oil, wood, or coal,
• Ozone- Ozone (triatomic oxygen particles) is protected in General Assembly Resolution #421, and is important to the environmental health of any nation, but can cause serious health problems if not high enough in the atmosphere, the chemicals that most often lead to ground level ozone are volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and nitrogen oxides (NO_x)
• Acid Rain - Acid precipitation is created when some air pollutants interact with moisture present in the air, and may then fall to the earth in many different forms, it is primarily formed by sulfur dioxide (SO₂) and NO_x,
• Lead- Lead is an incredibly dangerous chemical that can lead to behavior disorders, anemia, and permanent nerve damage; it’s provides a much more potent risk to children, as their nervous systems are especially susceptible to nerve damage, and can lead to significantly lower IQs and learning disorders,
• Persistent Bioaccumulative Toxins (PBTs) - PBTs, like mercury, DDT, or polychlorinated biphenyls, can last for incredibly long times, meaning their effects can be immeasurable, they can damage people’s health, wildlife, plant life, and the environment in innumerable ways, and provide a constant risk,

These are unnecessary/should not be in the preamble/don't need definitions because they're direct dictionary definitions.

§ 1. Defines, for the purpose of this legislation, listed pollutants as constituting any and all of the following substances:

What are you defining here? "Listed pollutants"? If so, put quote marks around the words you define. Though, why? Why are you going for ultra-specific list of these and these alone? Also, acid rain is not a pollutant, it's a phenomenon caused by pollutants.

• Particle Pollution,
• Ground Level Ozone
• Acid Rain
• Lead
• All PBTs
• All VOCs
• NO_x
• SO₂

And like you were already told, you should write these out, here. Except you should remove lead, because it is already addressed by previous resolutions.

§ 2. Instates Outdoor Atmosphere Health Standards (OAHS) for the listed pollutants, to be defined and updated by ACE, which will:

When you use the committee's name for the first time (in the mandates), write out its name. And for fuck's sake, make the committee operate on a case-by-case basis, because otherwise it makes no sense whatsoever. Also, when you say "which will", are you referring to the health standards or the committee?

set caps on the amount of the pollutants that may be present in member states atmospheres for purpose of public health,

This alone makes it necessary to go on a case-by-case basis, because if you're using "public health" as the standard, that's going to vary based on species and bio-status (a nation with non-organic population is going to have very different health standards compared to one populated by rabbits).

provide guidelines to stay within such caps, based off of research on the health effects of the listed pollutants, which are to be tested through substantiated scientific techniques,

...are you wanting to mandate the tests to be made? Or relying on on info of already made tests? And are the tests about the pollutants or the health effects (where pollutants might be contributing, but not the whole story, because we organic creatures are really complex)? And if they're just guidelines, are the caps actual caps or just wishful thinking?

be adaptable to different environments, such as spacecraft and extraterrestrial nations,

If you made it be case-by-case to begin with, you wouldn't need this clause, especially as this clause means the "standards" must be so vague as to be useless to begin with. Case-by-case basis would give you the precision you want (for some inexplicable reason), without causing issues with RP.

§ 3. Tasks ACE with monitoring the levels of the listed pollutants, through testing and observation, as well as informing member states of the levels, providing useful analysis of the data for the purposes of helping member states remain within the limits, and providing assistance and oversight in the pollutants control,

Wouldn't it make more sense for the member nations to monitor the pollutant levels? They could then in turn inform the committee. Now you're climbing up the tree arse-first for no reason whatsoever. And what does this mean, exactly?

§ 4. Requires that all member states adhere to OAHS by 9 months after the passing of this legislation,

You're not honestly mandating that nations clean up entire planetary atmospheres in just 9 months? Given that you're basing the vague standards on "what's in the air" rather than "what you're putting in the air", even a nation without any industry of its own (think hunter-gatherers in stone age) could be in violation, because it's sandwiched between two super-polluter non-member nations. You should in general make this whole thing more about what the WA nations are emitting, rather than what they're suffering from.

and that heavy fines determined by ACE be levied against member states which fail to meet all standards and deadlines set by ACE,

This will get you opposition on a knee-jerk reaction alone. You could leave it out entirely, because the Wine And Crouton Conference already has that job.

except in the following cases, where ACE may choose to instead mandate that the member state reach another standard of air quality set on a case-by-case basis and deemed feasible by ACE:

Just make the bloody thing case-by-case basis TO BEGIN WITH, and you can replace this blubber with "unless".

• the member state can prove that to do so was impossible,
• the higher levels have solely been caused by the spread of conditions from non-member states,
• the chemicals will be unable to affect other nations through their spread,

Wait wait wait, that last one? You've just made this optional to any nation that actually owns its entire planet. Given that your stated concern and reason for the vague standards to begin with, was public health, then how does that suddenly no longer apply just because it doesn't affect another nation's people?

And for the second one, (by the way, if you add "=a" after "list" in the code, it gives the subclauses letters instead of dots, and is preferable), ONLY non-member states? So if there are two neighbouring WA nations, one that tries to keep its industry super clean to avoid air pollution, and one that doesn't give a flying shit about the paperwork and "fines" the WA sends it, you're punishing them both? Could just say "been caused by pollution carried over from other nations" or something like that.

§ 5. Creates pollution licenses, to be sold and maintained by ACE, which allow member states to exceed the limits of OAHS by the specific amount listed on the license, and allows the trade of these licenses between member states,

...and these are good because...? Again, your stated reasoning is public health. How does that suddenly not apply anymore? Are you intentionally lying about caring about public health at all, just to get fluffies' votes?

§ 6. Urges member states to promote acts which lead to a clean atmosphere among their populace, to monitor their atmosphere by their own means, and to implement emissions trading schemes within their own economies, so as to bolster ACE’s work,

Again, climbing the tree arse up. The nations should be doing most of the work (otherwise no fucking way is this anything like All Businesses: Strong), NOT the committee. So make the nations do all the monitoring (and testing and such), and only involve the committee in that work only if the nation can't (like, say, not got the tech level, or they're currently coping with some natural disaster or whatever) and asks it for help.

§ 7. Encourages member states to attempt to peacefully persuade non-member states to follow OAHS, and to act in international goodwill on the subject of air pollutants.

Given that you should make the vague standards be case-by-case things for any of this to make any sense in the setting of the WA, instead of this, you might go for some fluff (like the bits about international goodwill here) instead. Or just leaving this out entirely, as would be the saner option. Though, see existing resolutions, there are precedents on allowing non-member nations to opt in on some WA stuff - you could instead allow non-member nations to request the committee to make vague standards for them too.

All in all...
1. If your main concern is public health, then the cap extension trading program and the exception on pollution not crossing national borders make no sense.
2. You're punishing nations that clean up their act just because their neighbour doesn't.
3. The guidelines and caps absolutely must be set on case-by-case basis, or else they must be so vague that they're ineffective.
4. Reduce committee activity and give the nations more to do.
5. Rewrite the preamble to actually address your proposal, not the faults of previous resolutions.

[Makdon]

Based off the advice from Araraukar, I've seriously revised this. Overall, the following changes have been made to the proposal:

1. changed from amounts to emissions
2. made always case by case
3. trimmed and rewrote preamble
4. changed from non-member states to neighboring states in clause 4
5. moved responsibilities from ACE to member states when possible

...and these are good because...? Again, your stated reasoning is public health. How does that suddenly not apply anymore? Are you intentionally lying about caring about public health at all, just to get fluffies' votes?

I'm not an economist, so I won't attempt to give a comprehensive argument for why ETS are good, but as I understand it, rl evidence shows they do reduce emissions significantly, and are far my economical than straight-up restrictions. In short, they seem a good bit more pragmatic. I don't think this makes a large sacrifice in public health for the benefits it provides. Here are some things by people who actually know what they're talking about:
https://icapcarbonaction.com/en/?option=com_attach&task=download&id=575
https://www.ieta.org/resources/Resources/101s/ieta-emissions-trading-101-library-april2015.pdf

Thanks so much for the advice!

[Makdon]

I haven't received any feedback on this, so I'll plan to submit it in a week.