History

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the

Portuguese Ministry of Environment

Joint Statement

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Portuguese Ministry of Environment in their concern for the quality of the natural environment have agreed jointly to explore ways to prevent environmental pollution.

John N. Palmer, U.S. Ambassador to Portugal on behalf of NASA and Isaltino Afonso de Morais, Portuguese Minister of Environment, signed a joint statement regarding cooperation in the field of environmental pollution prevention (P2) on 18 September 2002 in Lisbon, Portugal.

The following outlines specific areas of P2 interests in the joint cooperation between NASA and the Portuguese Ministry of Environment.

• Integrating environment, safety, and occupational health considerations in acquisition, manufacturing, and maintenance processes/procedures;

• Information sharing on integrating environment, safety, and occupational health considerations into life cycle analysis;

• Relationship between environment ("environmental risk assessment");

• Use of existing information networks for environmental purposes;

• Information sharing programs on United States and European regulations and their potential impact on manufacturing and maintenance processes and their impacts on operational capability/supportability, and

• Integrating safety and occupational health considerations into environmental programs.

The NASA Technology Evaluation for Environmental Risk Mitigation (TEERM) Principal Center, operated under the Applied Technology Directorate (KT) at Kennedy Space Center, Florida will act as facilitator while the Center for Pollution Prevention (C3P), in Lisbon, Portugal will establish the infrastructure and develop strategic plans.

The joint effort is also associated with members of Instituto de Soldadura e Qualidade (ISQ).