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Introduction Resource Conservation Commission (TNRCC), now the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), certified that El Paso was in compliance for pollution sources within the city; nevertheless, El Paso continues to be a nonattainment area. The cause of continuing nonattainment, according to TCEQ, should be attributed to sources in Ciudad Juárez, where the burning of old tires, wood, and trash for fuel is common, and monitoring and enforcement at industrial sites is weak or nonexistent. It is not that Juárezenses’ attitudes toward the environment differ from U.S. attitudes (Ghosh and Molina 2002), rather, the problem is a lack of resources to devote to monitoring and enforcing air quality standards. The fact remains, however, that Ciudad Juárez and El Paso share a common airshed and until air pollution is controlled in Ciudad Juárez, El Paso will likely remain a nonattainment area, with the restrictions on economic growth that this implies. Clearly, the solution to El Paso air quality problems lies in developing a coordinated binational policy. And if the policy is to be successful, greater resources will have to be made available to the Mexican side of the border. Figure 1. An Ozone Plume Originating in Ciudad Juárez and Extending into El Paso RIO GRANDE Ciudad Juárez Juárez Mountains Franklin Mountains Source: Los Alamos National Laboratory 3 El Paso RIVER VALLEY Emissions Emissions Plume Plume
Improving Transboundary Air Quality with Binational Emission Reduction Credit Trading POLICY OPTIONS FOR THE CONTROL OF POLLUTION Environmental degradation, like that evident in the Paso del Norte, reduces quality of life and adversely affects public health. Yet at the same time, it is neither possible nor financially plausible to eliminate pollution altogether since doing so would impose onerous restrictions on human activity. An optimal policy will balance benefits gained from improved quality of life and public health against the benefits from pollution-generating human activities. Achieving this balance requires that each potential abatement project be considered individually. In particular, if a potential abatement project results in an environmental benefit that exceeds the cost of the project, the project should be undertaken. Conversely, if the benefit from the abatement project is less valuable than the cost of executing the project, the project should not be undertaken. It follows that abatement activity should continue up to the point at which the benefit from the last or incremental abatement project equals the cost of that project. That is, incremental benefit should equal incremental cost. One possible policy to adopt in response to air pollution is laissez faire, in which the level of emissions is determined by the market. Unfortunately, laissez faire is not optimal; unregulated markets will result in inadequate abatement and excessive pollution. Pollution is created as a byproduct from the production of desired commodities. Because the pollution is released into the collective environment without charge to the emitter, the price of the desired commodity does not reflect the cost of pollution to society. Thus, the price is set too low, consumption of the commodity is too high, and excessive pollution is emitted. Moreover, emitters have an inadequate incentive to undertake abatement activity. Because the environment is the collective property of society, if society fails to limit its use, there will be exploitation and excess pollution. This is an example of the “problem of the commons” (Halvey 2002). Markets inadequately price the environment and the consequence is excessive pollution. Given the failure of markets in providing correct incentives, government intervention through the regulatory process has been appropriate. In this regard, there are three basic regulatory 4
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 11 and 12: Improving Transboundary Air Quality
Page 14 and 15: Prefacio “Si vale la pena tener u
Page 16: Prefacio pudiera ser difícil, cost
Page 22 and 23: I Introduction THE VIEW FROM EL PAS
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
Page 60 and 61: A Snapshot of the Border quality. T
Page 62 and 63: A Snapshot of the Border million in
Page 64: 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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