| Montreal, 23/01/1997 – The Secretariat of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) -- created by a side accord to NAFTA -- today requested the Government of the United States of America to respond to a citizen submission filed by The Southwest Center for Biological Diversity and Dr. Robin Silver. The submission alleges that the Government of the United States of America is failing to effectively enforce provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) with respect to the U.S. Army’s operation of Fort Huachuca, Arizona.
Under Articles 14 and 15 of the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC), any non governmental organization or person may file a submission with the Secretariat of the CEC asserting that one of the NAFTA countries is failing to effectively enforce its environmental law.
The request for a response does not imply that the Secretariat has arrived at any decision or determination on the merits of the allegations in the submission. Under the NAAEC, the U.S. Government has 30 days -- 60 in exceptional circumstances -- to respond to the CEC Secretariat’s request.
After the U.S. Government has responded, the Secretariat will inform the Council whether or not, in its view, an inquiry to gather factual information -- known as a “factual record” -- is warranted. If the Secretariat is in favor of a factual record, the CEC Council, composed of the Environment Ministers, or their equivalent, of the three NAFTA countries, then votes on whether to proceed with such an inquiry.
The CEC, which is equally funded by Canada, Mexico and the United States, is based in Montreal, Canada.
The registry of submissions, as well as more information on the submission process, is available on the Internet at the following address: http://www.cec.org |
