Bordering on disaster: the U.S.-Mexico border is an environmental mess, and NAFTA is creating even more challenges for America's Southwestern states.

• Author: Farquhar, Doug
• Position: North American Free Trade Agreement - Includes related article

THE U.S.-MEXICO BORDER IS AN ENVIRONMENTAL MESS, AND NAFTA IS CREATING EVEN MORE CHALLENGES FOR AMERICA'S SOUTHWESTERN STATES.

It has been said that no two bordering countries differ more than the United States and Mexico. The 2,000-mile border that separates the two countries divides two vastly divergent cultures, languages, economic systems, governments and approaches to public policy. Yet for the residents of the border region, the area is a single community.

Environmentally and economically, the region is borderless. Three major desert ecosystems spread over both sides of the border, rivers flow along and across the border, aquifers providing essential water lie under both countries. Major cities of the region share common airsheds and water basins. Residents freely cross the border to work and trade. American executives manage plants on the Mexico side while living in the United States.

"We can't deny that communities along the border are inextricably intertwined," comments Dede Alpert, state representative from San Diego. So are the area's environmental and health problems. "Environmental concerns don't recognize international boundaries," she adds.

Nor do infectious diseases. The highest U.S. rates of tuberculosis, typhoid fever and mumps are found along the border. A measles epidemic in Mexico in 1989-1990 caused deaths in Texas border communities. "We're still concerned about cholera and diphtheria outbreaks along the border," notes Arizona Representative Bob McLendon. "Many communities don't even have adequate sewage treatment."

Industrial pollutants also cross boundaries. Dumped into the New, Alamo and Tijuana rivers in Mexico, they flow downstream into California. El Paso can't meet its federal air quality standards because of pollution emitted from Mexican factories. Big Bend National Park has visibility problems because of coal-burning power plants in Coahuila that were built without pollution-control equipment.

Politically, however, the region is divided. Four U.S. states, six Mexican states and two national governments have jurisdiction over the environment and provide for the health of residents. Regulating the border is nearly impossible. U.S. governments can't regulate pollution from Mexico, and Mexican officials haven't the money to combat disease and air and water pollution.

Texas Representative Pete Gallego, whose district represents two-thirds of the Texas-Mexico border, says environmental problems are more affected by the Mexican peso than the dollar. "Mexico is making a good faith effort," he says, "but with the devaluation of the peso, their environmental and health programs have slowed to a trickle."

...