The Mexican Environmental Revolution
As I began this column in the Mexico City airport, I glanced at the TV a couple of times. Within a half hour, I saw a cartoon depicting dumping of hazardous wastes and a fairly detailed report of ozone readings within the Federal District of Mexico City. The morning newspaper indicated that Phase I1 of Mexico City’s emergency procedures would go into effect. Under Phase 11. 25 critical industries have to reduce activity by 7 5 % , and the remaining firms have to cut activity in half. Environmental action is occurring rapidly in Mexico. Mexico’s environment has been neglected since the Spanish conquest. Air quality in major cities is extremely poor-particularly in Mexico City where children are urged to stay indoors during serious inversions, and “air pollution” masks can be purchased from curbside vendors. Treatment of waterborne wastes has heen rare, and even when systems were built they were operated poorly. There has been virtually no system to cope with hazardous wastes. And municipal wastes have been handled with minimum care. The government of Carlos Salinas de Gortari wants to reverse environmental degradation for a variety of reasons. Without substantial movement toward environmeotal improvement, Mexico cannot gain the stature of a first world nation, and such failure could endanger U S . ac664 Environ
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ceptance of the North America Free Trade agreement. Environmental quality is a real domestic political issue in parts of Mexico. particularly smog-choked Mexico City. The Mexican environmental strategy is innovative in many respects. It ties enforcement and other regulatory approaches used heavily in the United States to economic incentives such as pollution taxes and higher water fees. Funds are available for some high-priority projects, including S460 million slated for cleanup of border problems. How well is Mexico’s program working? There is little tangible evidence of environmental change, but then the General Law of Ecological Equilibrium a n d Environmental Protection went into effect only on March 1,1988. Unlike its U S . counterpart, the Mexican General Law is a compact document that could fit into a suit breast pocket. (The U.S. laws could not fit into the pocket of anyone smaller than the Jolly Green Giant.) In my judgment, the Mexican program is generally on the right track. Gross air and water pollution from industrial facilities will he easiest to tackle. Because technologies are generally available in the United States and elsewhere, the only real harriers to a massive reduction of air and water pollutants are lack of a developed scientific and engineering infrastructure and, of course, the impact of costs on economic competitiveness. As long as Mexico creates disincentives to pollute and keeps up the regulatory pressure, there is every reason to believe that an infrastructure will be developed to clean up industrial pollution that initially will rely heavily on the expertise of U S and other foreign firms. Municipal wastewater and solid a n d hazardous wastes present tougher problems for Mexican officials. To preserve scarce govern-
ment funds, officials at the National Water Commission are pursuing privatization of water and waste treatment facilities. They have not, however, confronted the kinds of guarantees that will he necessary to encourage the private sector to finance, build, operate, and collect funds for waste treatment facilities. Similar problems exist for water treatment and solid wastes. The Mexicans are just beginning to focus on hazardous wastes. Only one permitted facility exists i n this country of more than no million people. Cynics can question Mexico’s resolve, ability, and depth of commitment to tackle environmental problems, considering the extent of its economic problems. In many areas, Mexican officials have excellent ideas but have not figured out how to implement them. In all cases, the expertise in both the public and private sec:tors is minimal. But there are reasons for optimism. The Salinas government has demonstrated an ability to cope with problems. Mexico is currently r u n n i n g a budgetary surplussomething that appears hopelessly remote in the United States-and has greatly reduced its hyperinflation. If the Salinas government stays committed to environmental improvement and continues to display its current mix of pragmatism, ingenuity, toughness, and adherence to decentralization and marketplace principles, Mexico has a good chance of making a real dent in some of its environmental prohlems.
Alvin L. Alm is director and senior vice-president forenergyand the e n 6 mnment for Science Applications International Corp., a supplier of hightechnology products a n d services related to the environment, energy, heolth, and national securi@.
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1992 American Chemical Soclely
