Binational effort to promote environmental health of the border region moves forward ... and you can take part
by Carolyn Chase
he United States Environmental Protection Agency, Department
of the Interior, Department of Health and Human Services and its Mexican
counterparts have announced that the Draft Border XXI Framework document
is now available for public comment through July 27.
The Border XXI program is a binational interagency program
aimed at protecting and improving the environment and environmental health
while fostering sustainable development in the U.S./Mexico border region.
Strategies that are central to the Border XXI Program include public involvement,
decentralization of border decision making and increased cooperation between
the different governmental agencies operating in the border region.
The main feature of Border XXI will be the coordination
of many federal, state and local government agencies to deal with the themes
of sustainable development, public participation, decentralization and local
empowerment, regionally- based approaches and interagency cooperation.
Border XXI is not an institution itself, and Border
XXI will not be replacing any existing institutions; it will just try to
make them work better by integrating their operations into a long-term plan.
Border environmental cooperation between the United
States and Mexico formally began with the 1983 La Paz agreement (formally
called the "Agreement between the United States of America and the
United Mexican States on Cooperation for the Protection and Improvement
of the Environment in the Border Area.")
This agreement led to the creation of six working groups
that take on joint projects: the Air Work Group, the Water Work Group, the
Hazardous Waste Work Group, the Cooperative Enforcement Work Group, the
Pollution Prevention Work Group and the Contingency Planning and Emergency
Response Work Group. Each group has an Annual Work Plan that focuses their
energies and direction. Through these work groups, the United States and
Mexico are able to fund or administer projects on both sides of the border
that enhance the environment of the border area and increase understanding
and cooperation.
Border XXI's scope broadly includes natural resources,
environment and environmental health issues. The process of refining Border
XXI will include a number of domestic meetings, followed by binational meetings
from which a number of documents will be created. These documents will undergo
further public scrutiny and will be distributed for public comment.
The result will be the Final Border XXI Program Framework
document, to be released this fall. This document that will identify the
environmental priorities of the border, divided geographically, with implementation
plans. These priorities will then be integrated with the annual work plans
of the La Paz Work Groups for coordinated action.
This later stage will allow further public participation
so that the Framework is not a stagnant document. This will be driven, in
part, by the production of biannual progress reports and biannual public
comment reports.
To back this all up, EPA's budget request for 1996 included
$177 million for border activities (this apparently has not been directly
attacked by the Republican budget ax that has been wielded so strongly against
much of the EPA's enforcement budget). In addition, it can be expected that
the other cooperating government agencies will contribute resources as well.
A series of domestic and binational public meetings
were held from September through November 1995 to inform the public of the
objectives of the program and the process adopted for its implementation.
At that time, the public also was given an opportunity to comment on the
work group objectives for the program. These comments were taken into consideration
by the binational workgroups in the development of the Border XXI draft
document.
To provide additional opportunity for input, the public
will have 45 days from the date of release (June 13 - July 27) to comment
on the Draft Border XXI Framework Document, which is the first of related
documents that will be released under Border XXI.
Four additional public meetings for receiving verbal
comments on the draft will be held: July 7, 6-9 pm at Southwest High School,
SD; July 11, 2-5 pm at the World Trade Center, SD; July 15, 5-8 pm at Protrero
(near Tecate, start time on this meeting may be changed to 6 pm); and July
19, 9 am -12 pm in Calexico. For the exact locations and more information
please contact Kaare Kjos at (619) 285-1725.
The draft document is available on the EPA's home
page on the WorldWide Web at www.epa.gov/region09/cross_pr/border21/chpt1.html
It is also available through the local EPA office:
US EPA
San Diego Border Liaison Office
610 West Ash St.
Suite 703
San Diego, CA 92101
Facsimile (619) 235-4771
Telephone (619) 235-4769
email: smith.collenepamail.epa.gov
To get more information on Border XXI, to learn
about meetings or request documents, call the 800 number that the EPA has
established for its two border offices in El Paso and San Diego. The number
is (800) 334-0741.
Information for this report was provided by Mark Spalding, Chair,
International Environmental Law Committee, Environmental Law Section, State
Bar of California, and Adjunct Professor, Graduate School of International
Relations and Pacific Studies, UCSD.
