CEC Council calls for factual record on Tijuana lead smelter, defers Oldman River and votes down Quebec Hogs

A similar recommendation, relating to the protection of fish habitat in Alberta (Friends of the Oldman River Submission: SEM-97-006), was unanimously deferred, noting that the specific case presented in the submission is the subject of domestic proceedings in Canada, and that the submitter may provide assertions about other relevant cases.

The Secretariat's recommendation to develop a factual record relating to hog farms in Quebec (SEM-97-003) was voted down two to one.

The decisions came yesterday in a meeting of officials representing the federal environment ministers (or equivalent) of Canada, Mexico and the United States, who comprise the CEC Council, the governing body of the Montreal-based organization.

The rationales in support of the Secretariat's earlier notifications to Council that factual records are warranted with respect to these three citizen submissions are available at:

The resolutions reflecting the Council decisions are available at:

The CEC was established under the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC) to address environmental issues from a continental perspective, with a particular focus on those arising in the context of liberalized trade.

Article 14 of NAAEC provides that the CEC Secretariat may consider a submission from any person or nongovernmental organization asserting that a Party to NAAEC is failing to enforce an environmental law effectively. Where the Secretariat determines that NAAEC Article 14(1) criteria are met, it may then proceed with a process that, with the agreement of the CEC Council, can lead to the development of a factual record on the matter.