Entire Book - Southwest Consortium for Environmental Research ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Environmental Regulation and the Border A common problem in the arid border region is PM 10 . All Mexican municipios monitored are in violation of PM 10 standards. All or parts of seven U.S. border counties are nonattainment for this pollutant, including Imperial Valley, all Arizona border counties, Dona Aña County, and El Paso County. The reasons for the border’s problem with PM 10 vary from area to area, but it seems certain that one contributing factor is the desert environment. Certainly deserts are characterized by dry conditions, blowing dust, and unpaved roads. All of these contribute to high PM 10 levels. While data are fragmentary, what is available indicates that Mexican PM sources contribute to PM 10 problems in U.S. border communities, and vice versa. For example, the aforementioned Ambos Nogales study found high concentrations of PM 10 on both sides of the border and identified several sources of PM 10 in Nogales, Sonora, that contributed to PM 10 levels in Arizona (ADEQ 1999). Similarly, Ciudad Juárez is a major source of PM in El Paso (TNRCC 2000). El Paso-Ciudad Juárez, a typically unhealthy border area, is nonattainment for three criteria pollutants—ozone, carbon monoxide, and PM 10 . 9 Transborder pollution is a major cause of the pollution in El Paso. As discussed in Chapter I, Texas has determined that El Paso is in attainment based on domestic sources of pollution, but the continuing status of El Paso as a nonattainment area results from pollution emanating from Ciudad Juárez (TNRCC 2000). This illustrates once again the theme of the impact of economic development on environmental quality. The fact is that Ciudad Juárez is a large, industrialized city located in a relatively poor country. As is typical of such cities, many residents of Ciudad Juárez live in substandard housing where heating is often provided by burning wood or even solid waste. As is also typical, many small and medium enterprises operate outside the formal sector. Not only are these businesses not regulated, they are not even officially recognized as existing businesses. Ciudad Juárez does not have the resources necessary to monitor or enforce all air quality standards. Public funds are allocated to higher priorities, such as providing sanitation services, education, and basic health needs, which are more pressing. The same argument applies to other regions along the border. 67
Improving Transboundary Air Quality with Binational Emission Reduction Credit Trading ENDNOTES 1 The status of Nogales, Sonora, was determined by the authors using data obtained at the U.S.-Mexico Border Information Center on Air Pollution (http://www.epa.gov/ttn/catc/cica). 2 Several detailed summaries of the U.S. CAAA are available (see, for example, EPA 1993). 3 EPA is also required to consider the effect of air pollution on the public welfare by limiting the effect of air pollution on visibility and by limiting damage to agriculture and private property. 4 The La Paz Agreement is formally referred to as the Agreement Between the United States of America and the United States of Mexico on Cooperation for the Protection and Improvement of the Environment in the Border Area. 5 A full discussion of Border 2012 is beyond the scope of this monograph. Excerpts from the Border 2012 Program are included in the appendix to this chapter. Included are the mission statement, guiding principles, and a summary of the goals and objectives. The full Border 2012 document is available at http://www.epa.gov/usmexicoborder/. 6 The vague wording of the goal is made more obvious when compared to the other objectives of Border 2012. Take, for example, the objectives for water quality, which set specific numeric objectives (see Appendix, Goal #1). 7 Nonattainment areas are determined by the extent of the pollution being considered and do not correspond to county borders. Thus, a nonattainment area may be an entire state (i.e., Connecticut for ozone and PM 10 ), several counties located in different states (i.e., New York City-North New Jersey-Long Island for ozone, carbon monoxide, and PM 10 ), or several nonattainment areas could be 68
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 19 and 20:
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
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
Page 67 and 68: Improving Transboundary Air Quality
Page 87: Improving Transboundary Air Quality
Page 92 and 93: Appendix A Excerpts from the Border
Page 94 and 95: Environmental Regulation and the Bo
Page 96: Environmental Regulation and the Bo
Page 103 and 104: Nearly 90% think Mexican environmen
Page 114 and 115: Appendix B Survey Instrument Encues
Page 116 and 117: Manquiladora Attitudes 13) ¿Tu com
Page 118 and 119: Manquiladora Attitudes 22)¿Habías
Page 120 and 121: V Designing a Transborder Trading S
Page 122 and 123: Designing a Transborder Trading Sch
Page 138 and 139:
Designing a Transborder Trading Sch
Page 140 and 141:
Page 142 and 143:
Page 144 and 145:
Page 146 and 147:
Page 148:
Page 151 and 152:
Page 153 and 154:
Page 155 and 156:
Page 157 and 158:
Page 159 and 160:
Page 162 and 163:
abatement activities, 4, 6-7, 16, 1
Page 164 and 165:
automobile and truck, 47 banking, 2
Page 166 and 167:
nitrogen oxide (NO x), 9-10, 16-18,
show all

Entire Book - Southwest Consortium for Environmental Research ...

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?