U.S. – MEXICO BORDER ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES: IMPACTS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN FREE TRADE AGREEMENT

摘要

As full implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) Environmental SidernAgreement nears, waste generated by the United States industry’s production and assembly operations in Mexicornalong the U.S. – Mexico border threatens to overwhelm Mexico’s waste management infrastructure and engenderrn“spill over” impacts on both sides of the border. This could further compromise environmental quality, increasernhealth risks, and mute gains in economic growth throughout the border region. The promise of improved publicrnhealth and a cleaner environment for the U.S. - Mexico border is predicated on three basic events: 1) a decrease inrnthe concentration of the maquiladoras, 2) wealthier citizens and state and local governments in the border area, andrn3) strong NAFTA institutions to improve the enforcement of environmental laws including the coordination andrnfunding of environmental clean-up projects.rnBorder industrial activity has increased, thereby increasing the creation of hazardous waste; data indicates arnsharp increase in hazardous waste production since January 1994. Much waste is still washed down the drainrnuntreated. This reality was the driver for a jointly sponsored forum between the City of Carlsbad and the U.S.rnDepartment of Energy (DOE) on August 12 and 13, 1998 in Carlsbad, New Mexico. This forum promoted arndiscussion of public, industry, and government concerns about hazardous waste management in the U.S. – Mexicornborder region, as well as, approaches for reducing associated environmental and health risks. Topical discussionsrnincluded projections of hazardous waste production, strategies by industry to curtail waste production and tornimprove waste management operations, and concepts for government and industry collaborations.rnThe key outcome of this forum was interest in collaboration among the region’s industries, U.S. and Mexicanrnfederal agencies, laboratories and academic institutions, and other solution providers. The goal is to merge existingrntechnologies developed by the U.S. government, which is capable of deploying them to the private sector, thusrnreducing capital investment in research and development (R&D). This allows for more funds to be directly appliedrnto corporate expansion and privatization opportunities. The issues concerning the environmental and human securityrnin the border region can be addressed by first focusing on the economic issues. The strategy is to make technologiesrndeveloped in the United States available for implementation in industries along the U.S. - Mexico border. NAFTArneliminates the home country protection and home firm R&D spending and output models. This brings to light a newrnquestion: How can the United States government, specifically the Department of Energy, provide technologies tornnoncompetitive companies on both sides of the U.S. - Mexico border and expect these companies to succeed in arnnoncompetitive atmosphere?rnThis question is answered by accepting the argument that these companies can greatly reduce R&D cost,rnassuming that the companies are not borrowing the capital market to finance R&D. Therefore, one can deducernhigher output is achieved and greater profits are generated. Marginal cost should go down, while overall R&D costrngenerally remain constant. This would shift the paradigm of the economic model to yield production and projectrncompletion over continued R&D expenditure of federal funds. The government then can focus attention on specificrnenvironmental issues, where it has the most experience. This U.S. investment can be further leveraged byrntransferring these capabilities to U.S. operations in the U.S. – Mexico border region to minimize, or in some cases,rncompletely prevent the generation of industrial hazardous waste by-products. In so doing, threats to human andrnenvironmental security on the border region can be minimized while opportunities for technology commercializationrnby U.S. industry can be maximized.