| Montreal, 25/09/2002 – The Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) of North America today dismissed a citizen submission asserting that the government of Mexico is failing to effectively enforce its environmental laws with respect to noise emissions from the Mexico City International Airport (Aeropuerto Internacional de la Ciudad de México-AICM), and with respect to citizen complaints filed with the Office of the Federal Attorney General for Environmental Protection (Procuraduría Federal de Protección al Ambiente--Profepa) and the Government of the Federal District regarding noise from the airport.
The submission (SEM-02-002) was filed on 7 February 2002 by Jorge Rafael Martínez Azuela and other residents of the area surrounding the airport. After reviewing Mexico's response of 23 May 2002, the CEC has concluded under Article 15(1) of the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC) that the submission does not warrant the development of a factual record. Today, the CEC notified the Submitters and the CEC Council that the process regarding the submission was being terminated.
In its May 2002 response, Mexico had recognized the problem of airport noise emissions as a major challenge but asserted that the fixed-source noise standard cited in the submission does not apply to the noise emissions generated by aircraft, which are mobile sources subject to a separate mobile-source standard. The response demonstrated that Mexico had taken steps to address noise from commercial aircraft by issuing NOM-036-SCT3-2000, the mobile source standard. As required under the timetable for implementing that standard, 30 percent of the nation's air fleet complied with the standard by 31 December 2001. One hundred percent of the air fleet must comply with the standard by 31 December 2004. Although the Secretariat is not convinced that NOM-081-ECOL-1994, the fixed-source standard, is inapplicable to the AICM, the submission relied on a study of airport noise in August 2001 that failed to account for the effect that implementation of the new mobile-source standard has had on overall noise emissions from AICM. In light of uncertainty as to whether this study shows that the AICM violates NOM-081-ECOL-1994, the Secretariat has concluded a factual record is not warranted regarding enforcement of the fixed-source noise standard. The Secretariat has also concluded that the processing of the citizen complaints referenced in the submission has been sufficiently documented and does not warrant detailed review in a factual record. Accordingly, while acknowledging the Submitters' concerns regarding AICM noise, the Secretariat dismissed the submission in its entirety.
Under Article 14 of the NAAEC, the Secretariat may consider a submission from any person or nongovernmental organization asserting that a Party to NAAEC is failing to effectively enforce its environmental law. Where the Secretariat determines that the NAAEC Article 14(1) criteria are met, it may then proceed with a process that can lead to the development of a factual record on the matter.
The CEC was established under NAAEC to address environmental issues in North America from a continental perspective, with a particular focus on those arising in the context of liberalized trade. The CEC Council, the organization's governing body, is composed of the environment ministers (or equivalent) of Canada, Mexico and the United States.
Please visit the Citizen Submission on Enforcement Matters page for more information.
|
