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Foreword “If an idea’s worth having once, it’s worth having twice.” –Tom Stoppard Ideas need time and space to develop and mature. The first discussions about harnessing the forces of the market to address environmental quality culminated in a report from Harvard University in 1988. Called “Project 88” by its principal authors, Professor Robert Stavins and Senators John Heinz (R-Pennsylvania) and Tim Wirth (D-Colorado), the report contained a number of innovative ideas. Trading of pollution reduction credits was one of the more promising concepts that flourished. It proposed that relatively affordable technologies and strategies to reduce pollution by one source could be credited to that polluter, who might then choose to sell that credit to another source unable to reduce its emissions for the same investment, thus providing a cleaner environment and improved public environmental health conditions at a reduced cost. Cynics first criticized the concept as a permit to pollute. Since then, though, policy specialists throughout academia, in Washington, D.C., in state capitols, and at individual agencies have come to understand and appreciate the overall value and specific benefits of emissions trading, as it is now called. When the idea of emission reduction credit trading was introduced to the U.S.-Mexican border region, people doubted its wisdom, challenged the U.S. origins of the concept, and criticized the mechanics of such trades. But a consortium of universities from both sides of the border—the Southwest Consortium for Environmental Research and Policy (SCERP)—persisted, and through a series of workshops explained the economic, environmental, and health benefits of trades. Today, progress has been significant: • A number of potential sellers and buyers have been informed and are discussing options v
Improving Transboundary Air Quality with Binational Emission Reduction Credit Trading • Several community activists and stakeholders acknowledge the value to their local conditions • Advocates such as Environmental Defense and Resources for the Future are developing actual trading rules and structures • A trade has been accomplished It is SCERP’s role to plant these seeds and allow them to grow in the transboundary context. As academics who can move freely across political, geographic, disciplinary, and societal boundaries, SCERP is able to incubate ideas, address negative perceptions, and provide the long-term funding to facilitate discussions. To say merely that borders have been marginalized is to trivialize the environmental, infrastructure, and health issues found at the frontiers of many nations. Because countries focus efforts to maximize return on their investments and because of all the external influences in border regions, these areas tend to be ignored, suffer unplanned development, have economies that remain unmodernized, and make do with inadequate infrastructure. The U.S.-Mexican border is no exception to marginalization, but it is unusual in that it joins a highly developed nation with a nation in the process of modernization and development. It also has accelerating assembly manufacturing and trade, and has been bolstered in the post-September 11 security setting. Legal and illegal immigration, smuggling, and corruption exist, as does transboundary pollution. Criteria air pollutants, contaminated surface water and groundwater, and hazardous materials and waste find their way across the border. Because of the economic asymmetry across the border, tapping the financial resources of private industry has the potential for immense return. That is, what may be difficult, expensive, arduous, and time-consuming to accomplish on one side may be done more beneficially on the other. This works both ways with pollution. In the past, industries worldwide seeking affordable land and labor, a shorter environmental permitting process, and freedom from ambient air pollution ceilings may have investigated and sought to locate industrial sites in Mexico. vi
Page 1 and 2: THE SCERP MISSION The Southwest Con
Page 3 and 4: Authors SCERP Monograph Series, no.
Page 5 and 6: Published by San Diego State Univer
Page 8: Contents Foreword v Prefacio ix Pre
Page 14 and 15: Prefacio “Si vale la pena tener u
Page 16: Prefacio pudiera ser difícil, cost
Page 19 and 20: Improving Transboundary Air Quality
Page 22 and 23: I Introduction THE VIEW FROM EL PAS
Page 24 and 25: Introduction Resource Conservation
Page 26 and 27: Introduction approaches to correcti
Page 28 and 29: Introduction into the environment.
Page 30 and 31: Introduction maquiladoras, to hire
Page 32 and 33: Introduction (PM 10 and PM 2.5 )—
Page 34 and 35: Introduction installing scrubbers,
Page 36 and 37: Introduction The existence of emiss
Page 38 and 39: Introduction would require an initi
Page 40 and 41: Introduction EPE generated emission
Page 42 and 43: OVERVIEW Introduction This volume i
Page 44 and 45: II A Snapshot of the Border THE MEA
Page 46 and 47: A Snapshot of the Border states—B
Page 48 and 49: A Snapshot of the Border Table 1. U
Page 50 and 51: A Snapshot of the Border Interestin
Page 52 and 53: Table 3. Percentage Change in Borde
Page 54 and 55: A Snapshot of the Border Another so
Page 56 and 57: A Snapshot of the Border plants tha
Page 58 and 59: A Snapshot of the Border Air Qualit
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A Snapshot of the Border quality. T
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A Snapshot of the Border million in
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A Snapshot of the Border THE ENVIRO
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Improving Transboundary Air Quality
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Appendix A Excerpts from the Border
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Environmental Regulation and the Bo
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Environmental Regulation and the Bo
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Nearly 90% think Mexican environmen
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Appendix B Survey Instrument Encues
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Manquiladora Attitudes 13) ¿Tu com
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Manquiladora Attitudes 22)¿Habías
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V Designing a Transborder Trading S
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Designing a Transborder Trading Sch
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abatement activities, 4, 6-7, 16, 1
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automobile and truck, 47 banking, 2
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nitrogen oxide (NO x), 9-10, 16-18,
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