Take the Trade Route to Reduce Smog : Free-trade accord with U.S. could benefit Mexico’s air, too

No one who remembers the terrible smog that Los Angeles suffered through in the 1970s can help but shudder at this month’s reports of the worst smog ever recorded in Mexico City.

For several days starting March 16, the Mexican capital’s smog was so bad that schools were closed, factories had to curtail production and half a million vehicles were ordered off the streets. At various times during that miserable week the ozone content of the air ranged from 0.25 parts per million (more than twice the U.S. federal standard of 0.12) to a record high of 0.42. In Los Angeles, such a reading would result in a second-stage smog alert.

The last time Los Angeles had ozone readings that bad was in 1982, when 0.40 was recorded. The use of unleaded gasoline and improvements in automobiles (more efficient engines and catalytic converters) have helped clean up our air somewhat. Mexico--and especially its landlocked, 7,000-foot-high capital of almost 20 million people--has barely begun a similar effort.

As part of that effort, Mexico City Mayor Manuel Camacho devised a system of auto license stickers that requires motorists to leave their cars at home at least one day a week. (That rule was toughened, to two days a week, during the smog crisis.)

The man who hand-picked Camacho as mayor, President Carlos Salinas de Gortari, says fighting smog is a personal priority. He speaks with anger of Mexico City schoolchildren who grow up thinking the sky is gray rather than blue.

Salinas is determined to change that, but getting Mexico City’s smog under control, like solving so many other environmental problems in underdeveloped countries, will be costly both for the government and for the country’s private sector. Camacho, for example, would like every vehicle in Mexico City (3 million at last count) to have a catalytic converter within a decade. But where will the money to pay for that new equipment come from?

The fastest way to generate such wealth in Mexico is to expand business and trade, especially with the United States. Ironically, some of the most vociferous critics of a proposed U.S.-Mexico free-trade agreement are environmentalists in both countries who fear it could exacerbate pollution problems south of the border. They may be tempted to seize on the March smog siege to further justify their opposition.

But, in point of fact, the growing Mexican businesses and industries that would most benefit from free trade are outside Mexico City--along the U.S. border and in booming northern cities like Monterrey and Hermosillo. Even closer in to the capital, cities such as Aguascalientes and Toluca are luring away at least some of Mexico City’s awesome population with the promise of jobs and a cleaner environment.

Cleaning up the air in Mexico City will be no easier than it has been here in Los Angeles--and, of course, we still have a way to go. But the Mexicans will never even come close to our standards unless they have the financial wherewithal. The best way out of a smog-shrouded Mexico City remains the trade route.