Binational NGOs Meet with U.S. Congressman

A. Caroline Hotaling
Border Ecology Project
Bisbee, Arizona

Representatives from U.S. and Mexican non-governmental organizations (NGOs) met in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, with U.S. Representative Esteban Torres (D-California), his staff, and representatives of the U.S. Treasury on April 29, 1996, the day prior to the Border Environment Cooperation Commission (BECC) public meeting. Also attending the meeting were BECC Advisory Council members Tom Soto (U.S.) and Maria Josefina Guerrero (Mexico), members of the BECC staff, and several representatives from Mexican and U.S. academic institutions.

Torres gave a brief history of his involvement in the formation of the BECC and the North American Development Bank (NADBank) and expressed his concern that border communities should be involved from the beginning in making decisions about environmental infrastructure projects. Torres also discussed his scheduled presentation before the BECC Board of Directors on creating guidelines for private projects. He stressed the need to maintain the integrity of the BECC project selection criteria and encouraged the BECC to create a policy for private-only projects which would insist that these projects carry a substantial public benefit. He urged that this policy be included in any revisions made by the BECC to the selection criteria this summer.

During the morning session of the NGO meeting (and prior to Rep. Torres's luncheon remarks), some of the NGO representatives asked questions and made comments about what they perceived as the BECC's inadequate communication with NGOs, community groups, and citizens. The over-arching concern seemed to be how the public can most effectively communicate with the BECC: through their "public representatives" on the Board of Directors (Lynda Taylor from the U.S. and Jorge Bustamante from Mexico); through direct, individual contact; or through institutionalized NGO communication.

Representatives from several Mexican NGOs expressed their dissatisfaction with BECC Director Jorge Bustamante, revealing that they were unaware that he was their public representative until very recently and asserting that he had not acted like a public representative (e.g., he had not met with Mexican NGOs). The question of how best to communicate with the BECC remained unanswered, even though the Mexican groups would later that day request a Mexican NGO outreach office within the BECC offices.

After the luncheon, Ismael Cabral of Proydeas in Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas, and Harry Browne of the Interhemispheric Resource Center in Silver City, N.M., served as joint facilitators for the afternoon session.

The agenda included: NGO participation in BECC and NADBank processes, private sector projects, ensuring and recognizing sustainability within projects applying for BECC certification, and procedures and criteria presently being created and reviewed by the BECC.

It was noted that NGO engagement with BECC would be improved by the more active participation of NGOs in the promotion of projects, as well as by continuing to review and critique local proposals. Such was the case with the Naco, Sonora, project that was certified at the April 30 public meeting of the BECC Board of Directors.

Local NGOs, including the Border Ecology Project, Arizona Toxics Information, and others, served as advisors to the Naco project proponents from the very beginning of the BECC application process. It was suggested that helping other project proponents follow the criteria and demanding that they meet the public participation requirements (such as requesting that the proponents develop a local steering committee) are good ways to work with project developers. It was also mentioned that NGOs need capacity building and access to information if they are to fulfill these roles.

The discussion of private sector projects took place mainly during the luncheon meeting with Rep. Torres. The sense of the discussion was that the role of the private sector in encouraging responsible environmental infrastructure development needs to be examined further, especially in relationship to the differences between the Mexican and U.S. sides of the border.

The discussion of sustainable development also underscored the differences between Mexican and U.S. realities. As a generalization, the Mexican NGOs seemed to express more intensely the need for basic public infrastructure development, even if it came up a little short on the sustainability scale. This was tempered by a discussion of the definition of sustainability led by Ismael Cabral, during which both U.S. and Mexican NGO representatives recognized that the definition based on carrying capacity and future generations is not negotiable.

The BECC's Guidelines for Project Submission and Criteria for Project Certification states that sustainable development "is that which meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."

The revisions to the BECC criteria which will be carried out this summer, will afford the opportunity to promote sustainability, if NGO representatives and the public make an effort to comment on them. It was mentioned that NGOs need to look at a ranking system and a way to hold projects and promoters accountable once certified, and that NGOs should continue to work binationally.

The procedures for complaints and those for confidentiality were briefly outlined and discussed, and working groups were formed surrounding these two documents and the issue of sustainability.

U.S. Congressman Calls for Private Sector Project Guidelines

The Honorable Esteban E. Torres
Member, U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C.

Testimony presented at the BECC Board of Directors meeting, 29 April 1996, Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua:

I am pleased to offer testimony to the Border Environment Cooperation Commission (BECC) Board, the BECC Advisory Council, and interested members of the public from both the United States and Mexico.

Many issues critical to the long-term success of the BECC's mission are under review at today's special meeting. I plan to confine the majority of my comments to the treatment of private sector projects by the BECC.

On a more general level, however, I would like first to take a moment to commend the Board for establishing ground-breaking certification criteria for environmental infrastructure projects. The inclusion of equitable and sustainable development objectives represents a fulfillment of the purpose for which the BECC and the NADBank were created.

Having developed this criteria on paper, it is all the more imperative that the Board follow its own guidelines thoroughly and consistently. Attempts to weaken the criteria should be rejected and efforts to amplify them-as we will discuss today-should be undertaken with care and full public input. I will now turn to the question of whether and, if so, by what measure the Board should certify private sector environmental infrastructure projects.

The need to address this issue is clear. In January, the Board approved an application by owners of FINSA Industrial Park in Matamoros for a facility to treat the sewage generated by its employees. The certification was given with the condition that FINSA contribute $50,000 in in-kind services to an unspecified community project.

The vagarity of this conditional acceptance and lingering opposition from many NGOs and some community leaders in Matamoros compel us to develop comprehensive guidelines. I encourage the Board to work diligently in developing a comprehensive interim policy to deal with these "private-only" cases in the near term and to incorporate that policy as part of the BECC criteria when it is reconsidered this summer.

We have arrived at a critical juncture in the maturation of the historic institutions created by NAFTA. It can be said that the BECC itself is the product of the border's long and costly experience with unplanned industrial expansion.

The BECC was founded to deal with the health and environmental consequences of this rampant development and to encourage and assist local planning efforts. The BECC represents our recognition that private sector initiatives in the post-NAFTA era will be well coordinated and effectively regulated. Careful scrutiny of private sector projects-rather than a automatic rejection of them-is therefore fully consistent with the BECC's mandate and the needs of border communities. The BECC/NADBank agreement clearly allows private projects. But how such projects should rank in terms of priority for certification remains to be determined.

In my view, among those projects in this category most worthy of certification are public/private partnerships that benefit the community at large; for instance, Juarez's proposal to contract operation of its planned municipal sewage treatment system to a private company. Also worthy of BECC certification and NADBank financing are private-only projects designed specifically to serve a community's infrastructure needs. An example of this would be a private sector plan to convert hazardous municipal garbage, such as tires, into useful products. Private-only projects like the FINSA project in Matamoros, however, are considerably more problematic in terms of whether they are appropriate candidates for BECC/NADBank assistance.

Many have suggested that given the limited staff and financial resources of the BECC and the NADBank, private sector projects which merely bring an industrial facility or group of industrial facilities into compliance with legal standards should not be favored by BECC/NADBank assistance.

From a sustainable development standpoint, such government subsidization of pollution control directly contradicts the generally accepted principle of requiring polluters to internalize the costs of their pollution. Even if a private-only project promises to create jobs, generate tax revenues, spur investment and stimulate a local economy, these benefits are not central to the BECC's mission and thus even in concert are insufficient justifications for certification.

I agree the purpose of the BECC is not to replace existing policymaking or enforcement agencies. It should not, therefore, be in the business of bringing private sector actors into line with legal minimums, a function already assigned to other agencies in both countries.

However, the BECC has been empowered to assist private sector entities that wish to make net contributions to the border environment, thereby tapping entrepreneurial energy and capital. For this reason, those private sector projects that would elevate environmental conditions significantly above minimum legal standards should be eligible for BECC certification and NADBank financing. Is there a means by which a private-only project could be modified to warrant BECC/NADBank assistance?

I suggest that an acceptable private-only project would have to entail cooperation with municipal authorities and a broad cross-section of community representatives to develop an integrated needs assessment of what specific activities could be designed to provide substantial benefits to the environment of the community. Such an open process should occur before decisions are made and certification considered by the BECC Board.

As to whether a contribution, either direct or in-kind, to the community is sufficient to constitute a "substantial community benefit," that would depend upon the circumstances of the particular case. Again, any proposed "contribution" should be the result of a comprehensive consultation process with the community, should involve a plan to address a public environmental need, should allow for community oversight of any funds in question, and must meet the BECC's own sustainability criteria. In addition to those mentioned above, other principles have been proposed as standards for evaluating solely private projects.

I wish to concur with suggestions that project applicants should also demonstrate a serious need for BECC/NADBank financial assistance and have a good history of compliance with applicable environmental laws at the facility in question. I believe the key is clarity, openness and involvement in the process of developing a proposal for BECC/NADBank consideration. It is heartening that the BECC Executive Committee is gathering public input on this challenging issue. I urge Members of the Board to heed my comments and those of the other interested witnesses in developing a clear set of guidelines on private projects. Further, the BECC must follow those guidelines and integrate them into the BECC criteria to be revised this summer.

Thank you again for this opportunity to contribute to this important process. Working together, we should be able to develop a structure for which we can all be proud.

Internet Info

BECCnet Update

BECCnet is a free Internet service that provides information on BECC/NADBank-related activities and news. It also allows people to exchange comments and information related to the U.S.-Mexico border environment with individuals and groups on both sides of the border.

With more than 360 members, at times the message traffic becomes quite heavy on BECCnet. E-mail systems are best used for short documents: inquiries, discussion, and summaries. Long documents are best placed on Web sites for retrieval. The Udall Center and the BECC both have home pages.

Letters and Comments

Review of Environmental Legislation in Mexico

Catalina Denman
El Colegio de Sonora
Hermosillo, Sonora

During the last few months there have been frequent discussions about the reforms proposed under new environmental legislation in Mexico. The reforms to the General Law for Ecological Balance and Environmental Protection (LGEEPA) have received a variety of criticisms and commentaries from environmental groups around the country. The opinions expressed reflect three themes, among others, of vital importance to the residents of the border region: decentralization; the process of deregulation; and citizen participation and access to information.

With the goal of increasing our depth of understanding, not only of the LGEEPA and the projected reforms and their repercussions, but also to discuss regional implications, a series of meetings has been organized to try and generate proposals for presentation at a national meeting scheduled for the end of the summer.

Anyone interested in participating in one of the meetings can contact Rosa Delia Caudillo with the Red Fronteriza de Salud y Ambiente, A.C. at (62) 12-59-20 in Hermosillo, Sonora, or Martha Ojeda in San Antonio, Texas at (210) 732-8957.

Commentary: Framing Border Environmentalism and Environmental Policies

Basilio Verduzco
Universidad de Guadalajara
Guadalajara, Jalisco

Since many of the environmental policies for the border region are in response to increasing civic participation, the framing efforts of different activists deserve special attention.

The repertoire of actions explored by border environmentalists is related to the contradiction of an international border that separates the production from the reproduction spheres. Activists are linking economic integration with environmental degradation.

Communities are mobilizing against the spread of pollution across the border in far more than an international expression of parochial reactions.

From the policy perspective it is important to bear in mind that border environmentalism is not a movement with a clear identity.

An increase in the level of activism and the number of groups has resulted in a differentiation of the movement.

Border environmentalists have evolved in a similar process to the one observed before in industrialized nations.

They have targeted their actions towards specific environmental problems and a division of labor among environmentalists seems to be emerging.

The notion of a homogeneous movement does not properly depict the forms of activism in the region. Border environmentalism is a flexible framework from whichm, stressing the local dimensions of environmental problems and questioning the disparity in the existing socioeconomic relations associated with the proliferation and distribution of environmental problems.

Environmental activists have succeeded in defining their constituencies by framing the region's problems as a potential tragedy of the commons that deserves special attention and requires international cooperation beyond established notions of sovereignty.

The first task of this effort is to increase environmental awareness among the region's population. This is not easy in a region where a large proportion of people are concerned about how to resolve basic needs.

The next step is to suggest what problems mean for communities, families and individuals. Here is where the major contribution of border environmentalism takes place. It helps to identify problems and suggests actions beyond the existence of national boundaries.

The biggest achievement of border environmentalism is that border environmental problems have been broadly accepted as problems that should be treated along with other parts of the process of regional integration.

From the policy perspective, the fact that there are competing discourses is relevant inasmuch as it leads to different confrontations between activities and governmental authorities.

The experience observed in recent years suggest growing activism on the border has three major policy implications. First it leads to more government intervention. Secondly it leads to a change in the geographical patterns of the industrial production, and third it leads to the adoption of technological solutions that increases the trade linkages in one of the most dynamic industrial sectors-namely the environmental technology.

BECC and Public Approve Naco Project

Cyrus Reed
Texas Center for Policy Studies
El Paso, Texas

The eighth public meeting of the Border Environment Cooperation Commission was held April 30, 1996 in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua. The Board of Directors, as expected, unanimously approved a $654,000 project in Naco, Sonora, to improve water supply and wastewater collection and treatment.

Following the presentation of information on the Small Communities Initiative and a technical assistance program, BECC Board Member Lynda Taylor and other board members discussed two important policies: how to recognize highly sustainable projects and how to certify private sector projects. According to Taylor, the answer to both topics is that policies must form part of the BECC's criteria and guidelines for project certification, which are being rewritten with public input this summer and fall.

The BECC approved the criteria last August and had announced that after a year the criteria would be reworked based on the first year's experience. According to the BECC, after receiving public input, a new draft of the criteria will be released in August for additional public comment. The revised criteria and guidelines will then be considered by the Board of Directors in October.

The BECC has no separate policy on certifying private sector projects, but Taylor, several NGOs, and politicians like U.S. Representative Esteban Torres (D-CA) have called for such a policy. Taylor and others are concerned that private industries will take advantage of low-interest loans to build infrastructure through the BECC process without having a true public benefit.

Controversy arose in January, when the BECC certified a private $1 million wastewater treatment project for an industrial park, Grupo FINSA, in Matamoros, Tamaulipas. As a condition to certification, the BECC attached a requirement that Grupo FINSA provide $50,000 of in-kind services to the surrounding communities.

In a prepared statement, Torres, who addressed both a meeting of NGOs and the BECC Board the day before the public meeting, wrote that the "BECC/NADBank Agreement clearly allows private projects... but how such projects should be ranked of in terms of priority for certifications remains to be determined." (For a complete text of Torres's statement, see article on page 1.)

In other matters, the BECC approved the Naco project, which would benefit the 5,700 residents of the small city in Sonora. The project seeks 70 percent in grants and 30 percent in NADBank loans to build a $160,000 water supply system, a $107,000 wastewater collection system, a $307,000 wastewater treatment system consisting of a series of anaerobic and facultative ponds, and $80,000 for institutional capacity building. According to the project proponents, following financing, these facilities could be built of in eleven months.

The project, which met with almost universal praise, was developed with the assistance of several Mexican and U.S. NGOS, including the hosting of a series of meetings to gather public comments on the project and proposed rates.

"Of all projects presented to the BECC to date, the Naco project not only best meets the BECC criteria, but appears to come closest to achieving the goal of sustainability," said Arizona Toxics Information's Nicola Zeuner in a prepared statement.

The otherwise uneventful BECC public meeting ended in confusion, however, as the meeting was closed before the 18 citizens who had signed up to comment were heard. Many in the public weren't sure if BECC chairman Jorge Bustamante had actually ended the meeting or had called for a break.

A few minutes later, BECC General Manager Roger Frauenfelder announced that they had been made aware that people were signed up to speak but that it would be too difficult to reconvene the meeting.

"The BECC would like to apologize personally to the people who had registered to present their commentaries during the meeting," wrote Frauenfelder on the BECCnet immediately after the meeting. "BECC recognizes and appreciates that most of the participants have dedicated much time and traveled long distances.... and the opinions and recommendations of the community have a relevant weight."*

In addition to issuing a public apology, the BECC staff subsequently posted the prepared statements on BECCnet from the individuals and also published the comments of in a special issue of BECC News. The BECC has agreed to hold a "General Comments" session during each of its public meetings.

Zedillo Announces Nogales Funding

Gonzalo Bravo
Border Environment Cooperation Commission
Ciudad Juaréz, Chihuahua

Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo announced on May 31, 1996, the award of 70 million pesos (10 million dollars) of federal government funds to support the water supply project in Nogales, Sonora.

The first phase of the project was certified by the Board of Directors of the Border Environment Cooperation Commission (BECC) on January 18th, with an estimated capital cost of 302 million pesos (39 million dollars). With these grant funds announced by President Zedillo, and financing to be approved by the North American Development Bank (NADBank) for another 70 million pesos, the City of Nogales will be able to initiate the project this year, as they continue the process of securing the resources to continue and complete the project in 1997.

The infrastructure project for the City of Nogales is intended to provide a solution to the problem of distributing drinking water to the residents of that community. The project will consist of the repair of the existing water distribution network (currently experiencing a 40 percent water loss from leaks), construction of the primary distribution network known as the 33-kilometer aqueduct, and construction of elevated water storage tanks. The project will allow the city to optimize services to the residents of Nogales, with the intent of providing water supply to 100 percent of the population 24 hours a day. The project will also further the registration of water users and the replacement of extraction wells.

Presently, the drinking water system in Nogales pumps too much water from its sources due to inefficiencies in the distribution system. The system lacks water pressure in a number of areas within the city, particularly in the higher parts of the city, where the residents are more unfortunate. It also needs micro and macro metering to register users and to collect user fees.

The certified project complies with the BECC criteria and was evaluated by the community in an open process with public participation. The contribution of additional federal resources from Mexico's National Water Commission, has also strengthened the financial package of the project.

Additionally, the Integral Water and Wastewater Treatment Project for the city has been initiated, which will include new sources of drinking water supply, wastewater treatment, recharge of the aquifer, and the strengthening of the institutional capacity of the system operator.

President Zedillo's announcement during the Integral Border Development Meeting, which took place in Nogales, Sonora, on May 31, 1996, confirmed the commitment of the Mexican government to address the environmental problems in the border region in order to continue providing opportunities and improve the quality of life, in the spirit of cooperation between Mexico and the United States.

During the meeting, President Zedillo was accompanied by the Governor of Sonora as well as Luis Raúl Domínguez, BECC's Deputy General Manager, and Alfredo Phillips, General Manager of the NADBank.

For more information, contact: Gonzalo Bravo at BECC.

Commission for Environmental Cooperation Update

The governments of Canada, Mexico, and the United States will be holding the third regular session of the Council of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) on August 1-2, 1996 in Toronto, Canada. The Council is the governing body of the Commission.

The public is invited to participate in a meeting with the Council to be held in the afternoon of August 1, 1996. The Council has requested the Joint Public Advisory Committee (JPAC) of the CEC to organize a preparatory meeting in the morning of August 1. The JPAC is also holding regional meetings in Montreal on June 21 and in San Diego on July 19. The objective of the public meetings is to"Build a North American Community" around the following environmental issues:

(1) Reducing Human Health Risks of Environmental Contaminants in North America; (2) Conserving North American Biodiversity; (3) Strengthening Environment and Economy Linkages in North America; (4) Defining Public Participation in the Activities of the CEC.

For more information, contact:
Commission for Environmental Cooperation
c/o Council Secretary
393 St-Jacques Street West, Suite 200
Montreal (Quebec) H2Y lN9
Tel: (514) 350-4343
Fax: (514) 350-4345
E-mail: public@ccemtl.org, or homepage at http://www.cec.org.

For assistance in joining BECCNet or receiving BECC/COCEF Perspectivas via regular mail, please contact The Udall Center or call the Udall Center at (520) 621-7189.

Perspectivas informs the public of activities related to the Border Environment Cooperation Commission (BECC) and encourages dialogue among readers.

Editorial Board
Robert G. Varady
The Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy
The University of Arizona
Tucson, Arizona

Francisco Lara Valencia
El Colegio de la Frontera Norte Nogales Branch
Nogales, Sonora

Mary Kelly
Texas Center for Policy Studies
Austin, Texas

Catalina Denman
El Colegio de Sonora
Hermosillo, Sonora

Editors
Robert Merideth and Terry Sprouse,
Udall Center

Layout and Graphics
Clifford Brown, Udall Center

Translationà Diego Valdez, Tucson, Arizona
Francisco Lara, Nogales, Sonora

Articles and letters are solicited, in English or Spanish, presenting pros and cons of various issues and discussions of how individualsand groups in the community might be affected by proposals to or actions by BECC. If possible send material intended for publication on diskette to:

Perspectivas
The Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy
803/811 East First Street
Tucson, AZ 85719
Phone: (520) 621-7189
Fax: (520) 621-9234