Environmental Management on the Mexico-United States Border: NAFTA and the Emerging Bilateral Regime
Author(s)
Mumme, Stephen P.
Abstract
Widespread concern for the environment in political boundary areas has surfaced only since the 1980s; one such case is the border between the United States and Mexico. During the period from 1930 to 1979, policymakers for this area lacked discrete methods for managing air quality and hazardous wastes; reliance was on local ordinances and agencies. From 1979 to 1990, the US Environmental Protection Agency assumed a leadership role in ratifying several agreements domestically and with Mexico. During the early 1990s, the North American Free Trade Agreement became the primary vehicle to address environmental concerns. A positive step was the organization of several bilateral commissions. There remains, however, a bulky bureaucracy with poor internal communication and little power of enforcement. The most serious environmental problems of the region remain.
