ES&T Currents. NAFTA and the Environment - Environmental Science

Environmental Science & Technology .... U.S. senators call for national monitoring system to forecast future outbreaks ... a Professor of Bioengine...
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near Gillette, WY. The full-scale plant will make 180,000tons of solid fuel and 150,000bbl of liquid fuel a year. Wisconsin Power and Light will buy about 30,000to11~a year of the solid fuel for its power plants. and TEXPAR Energy will buy up to 135,000bbl a year of the liquid fuel to market to indushies.

JamasM. Mon$omev consd~ Engineers (Pasadena. CA) and Watson H a w h b have joined to form Montgomery Watson (MW).MW will thus become one of the largest environmental engineering consulting firms in the world, with more than $240

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IAFTA is the North American Free Trade Agreement approved by tne governments 01 tne Lniieo States. Canada, ana Mexfco Aug 12. 1992 i t ca, s for a tree trade zone among me tnree comtries. w th rnosf. t l not a I cdsfoms barr ers 10 dosappear by we year 2007

Expressing enthusiasm about the North American Free Trade UAFI‘A). P A admin-

agreement ev&negotiated anywhere” [emphasis hisl. Speaking A w . 13 he continued, “Because it i and enviro menial concerns to an unprecedented degree, it marks a watershed in the history of environmental protection. ln the future, when other nations negotiate with el.”

contained little or no hazardous constituents. In Dec. 1991,a federal appeals court struck down the “derived-from’’ rule. EPA ex-

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CMA’s vice president for regulatory affairs. “But to its credit, EPA has developed a new program

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decrease congestion and improve air quality. Another provision would open markets for “environmentally friendly” products such as natural gas and for environmental service companies. With or without its “green” provisions, NAFTA must clear several hurdles before it goes into effect. First of all, many US.labor groups oppose NAFTA in its current form. If and when the treaty reaches the Senate, it could undergo considerable change before ratification. Then, many interests in Canada oppose the treaty vigorously and will lobby Parliament against ratification. Numerous powerful U S . business interests strongly oppose NAFTA and can be counted on to fight it vigorously when the Senate begins to consider ratification. Reilly warned, “If Congress [the Senate] doesn’t ratify NAFTA, it will be the environmental mistake of the decade.” Among the opposition are those who believe that if the Senate does ratify NAFTA. it will be the economic and environmental mistake of the century. Julian Josephson is an associate editor on the Washington staff of ES%T. Environ. Sci. Technoi., VoI. 26, NO. I O . 1992 1861