Mr. Chair, I just want to make the observation that these terms have been used consistently in multiple federal statutes since the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development in the manner in which they currently appear in CEPA.
One possible consequence of amending CEPA with regard to this definition would be that it would call into question the intention of the other statutes that retain the original Rio terminology. In turn, that could have unintended implications for the intended requirement in those statutes to exercise the precautionary principle in decision-making.
From a government, statutory, consistency perspective, it would be our recommendation to retain the same terminology that has appeared in all federal statutes since 1992, that has not been subject to challenge, and that has enabled officials and decision-makers to exercise the precautionary principle consistently.