Frontera NorteSur September 2000

Toxic Waste Facility Recommended For State Of Chihuahua

The Environment, Natural Resources and Fishing Department of the state of Chihuahua (Semarnap)
is proposing the construction of a toxic waste site to be located in the desert between Ciudad Juárez
and Chihuahua City. According to Semarnap, the state annually produces 27,000 tons of hazardous
waste. 17,500 tons of the waste are from foreign maquilas and this is all returned for processing and
disposal to the countries which own the maquilas. Of the remaining 9,500 tons of waste produced by
Mexican sources, 5,000 tons are sent out of state to the Rimsa (Residuos Industriales Multiquim,
S.A.) containment facility in La Mina, Nuevo León. Some 2,000 tons of hazardous oil lubricants are
sent to cement factories to be used in the production of cement and 1,800 tons of waste per year are
dumped down the drain in urban areas or are poured directly into streams or rivers. The rest of the
waste is stored in private homes--things like paint thinner and pesticides--or on-site at industrial
facilities.

Currently, only four percent of Chihuahua state's hazardous waste is treated before final disposal.
This is all infectious and contagious waste from medical facilities. The company Atherton, which has
been operating in Chihuahua City for the last five years, imports biohazardous waste from all over the
state, treats it so that it is no longer dangerous and then disposes of it in a local landfill.

Luis Raúl Córdoba Chávez, a representative of the environment department of Semarnap, says that
there is national and foreign money waiting to invest in a toxic waste facility in the state that would be
placed in the desert somewhere between Ciudad Juárez and Chihuahua City. He said that investors
know that the toxic waste facility would be profitable especially because within a few years the
maquila industry will be able to leave some of its waste in Mexico instead of having to return it to the
country of origin. Mexico has yet to decide what chemicals it will allow to be buried in the country.

Currently, the state of Chihuahua has no toxic waste facility and must export its waste to the Nuevo
León if it wishes to properly dispose of hazardous waste. This transportation is quite expensive and
some smaller companies are not be able to afford it.

In Chihuahua City there are only three companies which can transport waste to the Rimsa facility in
Nuevo León. One of these companies is Servicios Ambientales del Norte. Antonio Soria Gómez, a
co-owner of the company, said that he transports 50 tons of waste a month to Rimsa. He also
disposes of 76 tons per month of used oil which is taken to a Cementos Apasco plant in Ramos
Arizpe, Coahuila. For these two services he bills his customers almost $36,000 a month. He
estimates that the two other disposal companies in Chihuahua City do about the same amount of
business.

Consuelo Dueñas, an investigator at the Monterrey Technological University and part of a Mexican
organization dedicated to waste handling (Red Mexicana para el Manejo de Residuos), said that
Chihuahua should have its own waste facility nearby so that it can more safely and inexpensively
handle its waste. Dueñas has been meeting with business people, academics, and environmentalists to
try and convince them that Chihuahua needs its own toxic waste facility. She expects that there will
be strong reactions to the plan but said that everyone is responsible for creating waste and properly
disposing of it. One thing Red Mexicana will be doing in the near future is publishing a pamphlet that
explains why a facility is important. However, as recent failed efforts to install toxic waste sites in
Coahuila and San Luis Potosí have shown, a site for Chihuahua is not guaranteed.

José Luis Rodulfo, the director of the Chihuahua Maquila Association (Asociación de Maquiladoras
de Chihuahua), said that his group will soon look at the possibility of foreign maquilas disposing of
waste within the state. However, Rodulfo also stated that foreign-owned maquilas have no problem
continuing to send their waste out of the country and will continue to do so unless the conditions in
Chihuahua were one-hundred percent safe. Rodulfo believes that the creation of the site depends
upon how safe it will be and how much public support it has.

Source: El Diario

The Exploitation Of The Samalayuca Sand Dunes Near Ciudad Juárez Creates A Storm Of
Debate

The battle over who controls and may commercially exploit the sand dunes of Samalayuca takes a
new turn as representatives of the Chihuahua Department of Urban Development and Ecology
(CDUDE) say that permits to remove sand expired at the end of December, 1999. CDUDE also
claims that renewing such permission would violate the state's ownership of the natural resource.
Earlier this week three trucks were stopped from removing sand from the area and the drivers were
arrested. The drivers were later release on bond.

Jaime Andujo Chávez, president of the Committee for Common Land of Samalayuca, recently met
with the Public Ministry of Chihuahua to discuss recent allegations by CDUDE that he had illegally
removed several acres of sand. Andujo denied any wrong doing claiming that he had been granted
permission as of September 28, 1998 by José Trevizo Fernández, former chief of CDUDE. Andujo
sells the land on behalf of the people living on the ejido (common land) and says that profits from the
sale are divided up among the families at year end. He sells to the mining company La Escuadra who
sells to Mexicana de Cobre. The 1998 permit he has allows for 5,000 cubic meters per month to be
extracted from a 20 hectare (49.4 acre) area. He receives $4 per ton of sand.

Patricio Martínez, the governor of Chihuahua, said that the Samalayuca sand dunes pose a double
problem to the state as they are beautiful and deserve to be preserved but they could also form an
integral part of Chihuahua's move into high-technology manufacturing. The silicon in the sand is
valuable, for example, in the production of semiconductors and other commercial goods. Martínez
stated that it is very important for CDUDE, the Chihuahua Government Department, and another
organization, Semarnap, to conduct further investigations in order to find a solution.

Gloria Domínguez, the current director of CDUDE, said that the recent sand removal is illegal since
no environmental impact evaluation of the site has been completed. However, one is due in fifteen
days. Domínguez added that permission must be granted by two additional environmental agencies
before sand can be removed for commercial use.

Francisco Sáenz, sand-removal project director for the company Nafta Center SA de CV, said that
the silicate in the sand is a ingredient sought after by companies throughout Chihuahua to help them in
the production of technological goods. Nafta Center wants to exploit the sand that it was given right
to on August 31, 1998. The permit Nafta Center received was for extracting 19,500 cubic meters of
sand per month over a period of 36 months in a 10 hectare (24.7 acres) area, out of a total area of
100 hectares. His company wants to put a silicon production plant near the dunes.

Source: El Diario

New Study Says Ciudad Juárez Will Run Out Of Water In Ten Years At Present Rate Of
Consumption

Previous estimates stating that Cd. Juárez could withdraw water out of the Hueco Aquifer (Bolsón
del Hueco) for at least the next twenty years are now said to be incorrect according to Felipe
Siqueiros, director of the Municipal Investigating and Planning Institute (IMIP) in Cd. Juárez. IMIP
participated in a new hydrological study and on Wednesday, July 26, Siqueiros informed Cd. Juárez
mayor Gustavo Elizondo that the aquifer could run dry within the next ten years at the current rate of
use. Because of this troubling, new time table, Siqueiros expressed to the mayor the urgency with
which the city must begin to exploit other sources of water.

One new source of water for Cd. Juárez is the Río Grande (known in Spanish as the Río Bravo).
Water would be taken from the river and treated in water plants before being used by the
community. Water could also be extracted from the Mesilla Aquifer (known in Mexico as the
Conejos-Médano) which currently supplies Las Cruces, Mesilla and other southwest New Mexico
towns with their water. The Mesilla Aquifer extends perhaps twenty to thirty miles into Mexico.
Mexico has done some test drilling of the aquifer but it is not currently exploited by Cd. Juárez. If
Cd. Juárez were to begin using the water it would shorten the life span of the aquifer for US users.
Finally, Cd. Juárez could bring in water via the Casas Grandes highway from the Minas Bismarck
aquifer which is about 150 kilometers (90 miles) away.

Siqueiros told Elizondo that the best course of immediate action for the city is to start treating Río
Grande water for Cd. Juárez use. This would help slow the rate at which the Hueco Aquifer is being
spent.

Source: El Norte

Acequia Madre Cleared of Garbage and Mud

The Madre canal is currently being cleared of accumulated mud and garbage because these deposits
are prohibiting sufficient Rio Grande water from reaching Juárez Valley irrigation canals. From last
Saturday through this past Tuesday workers and heavy machinery have been clearing out the acequia
Madre near where it enters Anapra. The work is being done by the National Water Commission
(Comisión Nacional de Agua, Conagua).

Previously, on a number of different ocasions, the Juárez Valley Irrigation Users Association
(Asociación de Usuarios de Riego del Valle de Juárez) has indicated that people are using the canal
as a place to throw garbage, tires, dead animals and toxic waste. Only less than a month ago a
garage dumped 10,000 liters of used oil in the acequia and no one cleaned up the waste. According
to Conagua, responsibility for cleaning and maintaining the irrigation system belongs to Conagua, city
government and local users.

Source: El Diario, August 23, 2000. Article by Rosario Reyes.

Environmental Inspection of Cars Taken Seriously by Juárez Government

According to Miguel Hernández, treasurer for the Verification and Diagnostic Centers, 346,000 of
Cd. Juárez's 450,000 vehicles have not yet had their cars' emissions systems inspected and therefore
lack their year 2000 environmental stickers. The inspection and sticker costs 110 pesos (about
US$12). To help people of limited means get the inspection and sticker for free, the government is
announcing an assistance program at the centers and over the radio. People who do not get the
stickers this year will be fined 1200 pesos next year (about US$130) when they go to get their new
stickers.

Hernández says that each verification center currently does about three inspections per day and is
asking Cd. Juárez vehicle owners not to wait until the end of the year to get their cars inspected. This
would overwhelm the centers and cause for long waits.

So far this year traffic police (Dirección de Vialidad) have fined over 6,000 drivers that do not have
their environmental stickers. People are fined about 270 pesos for driving without a valid
environmental sticker and are fined an additional 648 pesos if they are driving a car that is causing
visible pollution. Vehicles that are fined both amounts can get out of paying the penalty if they have
their cars repaired and inspected within one month.

Sources: El Norte, August 13 &14, 2000. Articles by Juan de Dios Olivas.

Health and Environmental News from Matamoros and Ciudad Juárez

The general secretary of the Regional Federation of Workers in Matamoros (FRTM), Alfredo Bazán
Serrata stated that workers were suffering repetitive motion injuries and were being made ill by
working with toxic substances in the Autotrim SA de CV plant in Matamoros. This situation was
detected two years ago by the Maquila Industry Workers Union (Sindicato de Jornaleros y Obreros
Industriales de la Industria Maquiladora) and almost all of the cases have been resolved. The
repetitive motion injuries were caused by workers putting covers on automobile steering wheels. The
workers suffered damage to their wrists, necks and shoulders. Workers have also been sickened by
exposure to toxic materials at the plant. Bazán said that not all of the company's workers were
injured and that there are only 35 cases of injured workers left to resolve. These cases were made
after an investigation by the health department. It should also be noted that while Mexico has many
very good worker safety laws on its books, similar to those of the USA, the laws are often not
enforced.

Source: El Mañana, August 2000. Article by Efraín Martínez.

In another story from Matamoros, the newspaper El Mañana writes about the clean up of a toxic
spill by Cleanmex, a Mexican company that they describe as the only company in the country able to
handle toxic waste. Found in a colonia (neighborhood) near the city dump, the spill is being attributed
to the company Grupo Bioquímico of Saltillo, Coahuila. Six small tanks or containers carrying
undescribed toxic waste or wastes from the company were spilled in Colonia El Alto. Grupo
Bioquímico Saltillo contracted with Cleanmex to clean up the contaminated soil and dispose of the
containers at a toxic-waste site. According to Sonia Chacón, director of environment for the city
(Control Ambiental), the damage caused by the company's lack of responsibility was minor as only
one square meter of soil was contaminated. The Federal Attorney General's Environment Office
(Procuraduría Federal de Protección al Ambiente) will determine the fine in the case. The attorney
general is also investigating clandestine dumping by unauthorized companies or persons.

Source: El Mañana, August 2000. Article by Juan Pablo Sánchez.

There are nearly 350 illegal garbage dumps in Cd. Juárez where industrial and medical waste are
disposed of improperly. Margarita Rodríguez González, the coordinator of inspectors for the City
Services Department (Dirección de Servicios Urbanos), says that many illegal dumps are larger than
200 square meters and that there exist within the city at least 50 dumps larger than 1000 square
meters. The majority of these areas are on the city's edge, near the entrances to colonias or on
vacant land throughout the city. The largest illegal dumps are those in Zaragoza, El Sauzal, Puerto
Anapra, Fronteriza Alta y Granjas Unidas de la Frontera. The smaller dumps are found at the
entrances to colonias like Municipio Libre, Tierra Nueva and Guadalajara.

Cd. Juárez generates 2,400 tons of garbage daily, 55% of it is of domestic origin and the rest is from
businesses or industry. Cd. Juárez has 80 trucks with which to pick up the waste generated in private
homes. Industry and business must contract with private agencies to have their garbage removed. In
February of this year Cd. Juárez mandated that industry and business must use officially approved
and recognized groups to remove their waste. Rodríguez said that this has made a large difference in
the amount of illegally handled waste. While the number of clandestine dumps has not been reduced,
the amount of waste thrown in them has diminished. At the same time the city landfill has seen an
increase in the amount of trash it has received since February.

The city has 23 waste disposal companies that have been authorized to handle non-toxic, solid waste
from business and industry. In the months ahead Rodríguez's inspectors will be fining companies that
are using illegal waste haulers.

Source: El Diario, August 2000. Article by Tania Fernández.

Billion Dollar Solutions for BC's Water Shortage

By the year 2008 Tijuana and other parts of western Baja California will begin to experience water
shortages due to regional growth and the overuse of aquifers. Water shortages would not only be an
inconvenience to the state's population but would also put the area at a relative economic
disadvantage to other maquiladora-drawing cities like Méxicali, Ciudad Juárez, Reynosa and
Matamoros. To counter this future lack of water the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California
(UABC) has proposed two different programs each valued at one billion dollars.

One UABC proposal is to build a desalinization plant on the coast near Tijuana. The other idea is to
build a pipeline to Méxicali and draw water from the river there. Méxicali currently has an abundant,
dependable water supply for the foreseeable future. Víctor Beltrán Corona, the rector of UABC,
said that the university used US$150,000 from foreign sources to study these alternatives. UABC is
also spending 400,000 pesos (approximately US$44,400) of its own money to elaborate ten
scientific programs in support of public sector programs.

Baja California's Senior Population Grows

The Baja California State Population Council (Consejo Estatal de Población, Conepo) estimates that
in the year 2020 there will be more than 282,000 people over the age of 60 in Baja California.
Conepo's technical secretary Mario Plata Castaños also stated that in the next ten years in Mexico
the number of people over the age of 60 will increase from 5.7 million people to 10 million.

Over the next fifteen years Mexico's senior population will grow by 73% compared to 22% for the
entire population of the nation. To solve problems related to this growth new organizational forms will
be required. Towards those ends, August 28 has been declared National Senior Day throughout
Mexico and forums will be held to discuss problems related to the aging of Mexico's population.
Plata Castaños also stated that seniors offer indisputable social benefits as they are the carriers and
transmitters of social values, history and culture.

Tree Survey of El Chamizal Park

One hundred high school and Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez students completed the first
ever census of trees in the city's El Chamizal park. El Chamizal is Cd. Juárez's largest green space at
241 hectares. The census, which was carried out in June of this year, found 17,750 trees of 22
species in the park. Among the species were pine, oak, mesquite, juniper, eucalyptus, acacia, maple,
cypress, and palm according to the director of Ecology (Ecología), Luis Carlos Guerrero Salmerón.
Guerrero also stated that the most common species were oak and pine.

On average the park has one tree for every 30 square meters of space. Guerrero added that now
that it is known what trees exist in the park it will be possible to define specific conservation
programs. The oak population will also have to be controlled, he said.

Besides the 17,750 trees counted in the census, there are also 45,000 more trees developing in El
Chamizal's nurseries according to the director of Servicios Públicos Municipales, Ricardo Martínez
García.

Source: El Diario, August 26, 2000. Article by Araly Castañon.