Government▼Watch
The nations in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) have made such progress in phasing out leaded gasoline that now more than half of all gasoline sold there is unleaded. At the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)-sponsored ministerial meeting of SSA countries in Nairobi in May, Kenyan officials confirmed that by January 1, 2006, the country will use and produce only unleaded gasoline. This news boosted optimism among UNEP representatives that SSA could meet the deadline for a complete lead phaseout by the end of 2005. The meeting reviewed progress since 2001 when 25 countries in SSA signed the Dakar Declaration, which set a voluntary deadline for the complete phaseout of lead-containing gasoline by the end of 2005. In 2001, only the Sudan had fully phased out leaded gasoline. Now, UNEP officials say that seven more countries—Cape Verde, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Ghana, Mauretania, Mauritius, and Nigeria—have
ERNEST CASEY OF STARTRAK TECHNOLOGIES
Leaded gasoline phaseout becoming a reality
Leaded gasoline is still burned in 74 nations, including 40 in Sub-Saharan Africa.
switched entirely to unleaded fuel. Ten other countries with refineries have committed to a lead phaseout: South Africa, Zambia, Madagascar, Kenya, Cameroon, Senegal, CongoBrazza, Côte d’Ivoire, Angola, and Equatorial Guinea. The announcement is important, explains UNEP’s Wendy Jackson, because Kenya supplies many of the countries in the region. Currently, just
4% of fuel sold in Kenya is unleaded. To meet its goal, Kenya will have to upgrade its state-owned refineries. Although more than 100 countries around the world have switched to unleaded gasoline, 74 still use leaded, of which 40 are in SSA, according to Jackson. Other users include former Soviet states such as the Ukraine and some Middle Eastern countries such as Saudi Arabia. Some countries still use leaded because they don’t have the capital to upgrade old refineries; others continue because they import from countries that supply only the modified gasoline, says Jackson. She adds that some governments are unaware of the dangers of lead or how easily they could switch suppliers. “The meeting in May was a super, positive meeting showing that there is a real interest in phasing out lead in Africa,” says Rich Kassel of the environmental group Natural Resources Defense Council. “This is important because Africa is a huge region with a growing car population and future pollution problems.” —MARIA BURKE
U.S. and Mexico tackle border pollution The U.S. EPA is pledging greater cooperation with its Mexican counterpart (SEMARNAT) to combat pollution along the 2000mile border. EPA granted $13 million for the cleanup of a wastewater treatment plant in the Mexican border city Mexicali, and the agency will also open its first foreign office in Monterrey, Mexico, to help coordinate activities between the two nations. The border with Mexico has some of the worst environmental pollution in North America, a problem that is exacerbated by poverty and illiteracy. “The issues are different along the border because you have a developing nation next to a developed country,” says Gina Weber, the U.S./Mexico border coordinator for EPA Region 6. Since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was passed in 1994, economic activity in the border region has increased dramatically, and the population of the area is expected to double from 12 to 24 million within the next 15 years. Agricultural trade alone doubled to $12.8 billion in 2002, and now more than 12,000 maquiladores (American-owned companies) operate in Mexico. This increase in population and business activity has only worsened environmental problems in a region where the
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countries share a common water and airshed. “Most of the pollution may be coming from Mexico, but in many cases it is driven by capital from the U.S., Japan, and Korea,” says Erik Lee, assistant director for U.S.–Mexican Studies at the University of California, San Diego. “We’ve outsourced our jobs and pollution.” A case in point is the New River, which originates in Mexicali and terminates in the Salton Sea, 60 miles north of the border in southern California. Up to 20 million gallons of urban runoff, wastewater, and industrial pollution flow into the river every day. The new wastewater project in Mexicali will treat this water. To date, EPA has provided $475 million for wastewater treatment projects along the border to improve water sanitation and to provide greater access to potable water in this highly arid region. EPA’s Monterrey office opened in May to improve communication between the various government groups involved in environmental law and regulation. “It’s an innovative way to address the needs of all the partners: three Mexican states and part of Texas as well as federal, tribal, and local concerns,” says Weber. —PAUL D. THACKER
© 2004 American Chemical Society
