For immediate release

IJC Appoints new Great Lakes Regional Office Director

International Joint Commission (IJC) Chairs Thomas Baldini and Mary Gusella are pleased to announce that Dr. Gail Krantzberg has been selected by the IJC to succeed Mr. Tom Behlen as Director of the IJC's Great Lakes Regional Office in Windsor, Ontario. Dr. Krantzberg will join the Great Lakes Regional Office in early September and will assume her new responsibilities on Mr. Behlen's departure in October.

An ecotoxicologist and an environmentalist, Dr. Krantzberg has had a distinguished scientific public service career with the Ontario Public Service and has played an important role in issues relating to the Great Lakes. She is currently working for the Ministry of the Environment as Senior Policy Advisor on Great Lakes programs. Dr. Krantzberg also played a key role in the development and implementation of the Remedial Action Plan that led to the restoration of Collingwood Harbor, the only area of concern in the Great Lakes that has been cleaned up to the point where it was taken off the list of contaminated areas in the Great Lakes basin.

Dr. Krantzberg's has authored close to 70 scientific articles on issues pertaining to Great Lakes water quality. Under her leadership, the scientific team working at the IJC's Regional Office will continue to play its important role of overseeing progress made under the auspices of the 1978 Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement.

The Great Lakes Regional Office was established to provide administrative support and a public information service to the IJC and its Boards in fulfilling their responsibilities under the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. The position of Director is rotated on a four-year basis between the United States and Canada. Mr. Behlen, an attorney, assumed his current responsibilities in October 1997, moving to the position from service as Chief, Division of Surface Water at Ohio EPA. His contributions over these past four years have aided immeasurably in meeting the goals of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement.

The International Joint Commission is a binational Canada-United States organization established by the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909 to help the two governments prevent and resolve disputes over use of waters along the Canada-U.S. border. Under the 1978 Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, the IJC assesses progress by the two countries to restore and maintain the chemical, physical and biological integrity of the waters of the Great Lakes basin.

Contacts:

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