Virginia Department of Health
Agreed to by the Senate, February 9, 1993
Agreed to by the House of Delegates, February 17, 1993
WHEREAS, Senate Joint Resolution No. 126 (1985) requested the State Corporation Commission (SCC) and the Department of Health (DOH) to monitor ongoing health and safety research relating to high-voltage electric transmission lines and requested DOH, after consultation with the SCC, to report its findings annually to the General Assembly; and
WHEREAS, the General Assembly has received six such annual reports reviewing the extensive research related to the subject; and
WHEREAS, public interest in this subject has continued; and
WHEREAS, the Federal Energy Policy Act of 1992 requires the Secretary of Energy to undertake a comprehensive five-year study to determine whether electric and magnetic fields produced by the generation, transmission and use of electric energy affect human health and authorizes an appropriation of $65 million, to be supplemented by nonfederal sources, for that purpose during the years 1993-1997 so that action, if any, to be taken by the federal government can be based upon scientifically valid research; and
WHEREAS, the Department of Energy, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Defense, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Department of Transportation, the Rural Electrification Administration and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will participate in the study, and the National Academy of Sciences will periodically evaluate the progress of the study; and
WHEREAS, that Act provides for the establishment of the National Electric and Magnetic Fields Advisory Committee to advise the Secretary of Energy with respect to the design and implementation of the study; the committee shall be composed of ten members including representatives of state health agencies and state regulatory agencies as well as other experts in the field; and
WHEREAS, the results of the study, as well as information compiled during the course of the study, may be useful to the General Assembly; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED by the Senate, the House of Delegates concurring, That the SCC and DOH, with assistance from the Medical College of Virginia, be requested to continue to monitor relevant on-going research as described in SJR 126 and to submit annual reports thereon; and, be it
RESOLVED FURTHER, That as part of the foregoing activity, the SCC and DOH be requested to monitor and, if feasible, participate in the study of electric and magnetic fields pursuant to the Energy Policy Act of 1992.