San Diego

A hearing seeking reduced bail for a Mexicali trucker charged with dumping oily wastes on U.S. government land in Imperial County was canceled Wednesday as a federal prosecutor and the Mexican man’s lawyer moved closer to resolving the case.

Francisco Macias Lujan, an employee of Pemex, the Mexican national oil company, is being held in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in San Diego in lieu of $10,000 bond on a misdemeanor charge of draining petroleum wastes on public lands.

Five other Pemex truckers fled into Mexico last week after U.S. authorities confronted them as they drained the contents of two 5,000-gallon tanker trucks in the desert, 200 yards north of the border.

Imperial County officials say the incident posed significant environmental risks and that the Mexicans had purposely crossed the border. But the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says the risks were minimal and that the Mexicans appeared to have entered the U.S. by mistake.

Defense attorney Pierre Pfeffer said the charge against Macias Lujan will be disposed of within 10 days and that he could be released as early as Monday.