Border Pollution Fight Gets New U.S.-Mexico Commitment

Environmental officials from the United States and Mexico signed an agreement Friday to tackle pollution problems along the 2,000-mile border the countries share, a compact that critics said lacks the financial commitment needed to make a real difference.

The agreement, called Border 2012, was approved at a Tijuana ceremony attended by representatives of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and its Mexican counterpart, SEMARNAT, as well as by representatives of 10 states from both sides of the border and a number of Native American tribes.

It is the latest outgrowth of the La Paz Agreement, a pact signed in 1983 by President Reagan and Mexican President Miguel de la Madrid Hurtado to work together on environmental problems along the border.

The goals are to reduce water contamination, air pollution and exposure to pesticides along the border, which stretches from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean and is home to nearly 12 million people.

The agreement, which replaces a similar pact that expired last year, covers an area that extends 62.5 miles on either side of the border.

“The environment does not know boundaries,” said Raul Arriaga, the undersecretary of SEMARNAT. “On the contrary, the geography and resources that we share are the element that validates our friendship and binds our destinies.”

New objectives include protecting the public from terrorism at chemical sites, and focusing on regional problems, such as pollution from Mexican power plants that is dirtying the air in California’s Imperial County. In recent years, Imperial County’s air quality has been among the worst in the nation.

The new plan is also an effort to involve local authorities, including tribal officials, to determine which environmental problems are most pressing, said Laura Yoshii, deputy administrator for the EPA’s Region 9, which includes California.

“Even though the indigenous people in Mexico do not have the same recognition our U.S. tribes have, there is a new commitment by Mexico to include their indigenous people in this process,” Yoshii said.

The 1992 North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, has contributed to a population surge along the border, particularly on the Mexican side. By 2020, the area’s population likely will surpass 19 million, government officials project.

But with increased economic opportunity has come greater environmental degradation, and criticism that trucking traffic and maquiladoras, or U.S.-owned manufacturing plants south of the border, are sullying the environment at unacceptable levels.

Large numbers of border residents live in homes that are not connected to drinkable water or to sewage systems, which contributes to the region’s environmental health problem.

Though the agreement does not come with financial commitments from either country, Yoshii of the EPA said it will serve as a framework that will help government agencies from both countries decide where to spend money.

Environmental groups active in border issues said that although past agreements helped educate the public about health threats, they have done little to diminish the root causes of pollution, in part because of a lack of funding.

“As far as the fundamental problems facing the region, these binational programs have had very little effect,” said Connie Garcia of the Environmental Health Coalition, a San Diego group.

“The people of the border region have really borne the brunt of this industrial development, particularly on the Mexican side.”