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Published in Winter 2000-2001
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Toward pollutant reporting in Mexico
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CEC workshop reveals progress
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Mexico is working towards the creation of a Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (PRTR) like those in Canada and the United States. Talli Nauman reports on a CEC workshop where she witnessed governments, NGOs and industries exchange views on the benefits and challenges of pollutant reporting.
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By Talli Nauman
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I met Carlos Gaitán in a stalled elevator in Tijuana, Mexico. As we took to the stairs, I learned that he is the Safety, Health and Environment manager for the chemical firm DuPont México. Since I am a member of the steering committee for the Aguascalientes, Mexico, chapter of the voluntary Mexican Environmental Waste Management Network and one of our tasks is to encourage private waste generators to report their pollutants, I was naturally interested to know how his company tracks its discharges. I was pleased when Mr. Gaitán told me his company reports its pollution discharges to the federal government on an annual basis, although this is not required by law.
Only about five percent of industries are reporting their pollution releases under Mexico’s voluntary registry system, however. Mr. Gaitán’s company sets a good example for other industries, and gives hope for further cooperation among government, industry and the public in the effort to achieve an effective reporting system in Mexico.
Sharing the PRTR experience: Exploring the value of reporting
More than a stalled elevator, what brought us together was a meeting in Tijuana on November 6 and 7 under CEC auspices. The forum, Forging Alliances to Prevent Industrial Pollution, was cosponsored by Mexico’s Instituto Nacional de Ecología (INE) and the Dirección General de Ecología of the state of Baja California.
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Photo: Talli Nauman
Session 1 panelists discuss public access to information and industry-community collaboration.
From left to right: Beth Behloff, Luis Sánchez and Laura Durazo.
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Its purpose was precisely to bring people such as Mr. Gaitán and myself together in a setting in which we could share and compare experiences. While breaking down the barriers between different sectors, the forum also revealed that reporting on pollutant releases provides opportunities for industries to increase their profits. "What gets measured gets managed," we learned. And this can lead to savings through reduced costs of raw materials, the sale of recycled residues, and water and energy conservation. Also, when companies transparently report on and improve how they manage their wastes, they avoid negative impacts on employees’ and community members’ health and morale as well as related fines, legal fees and the like.
Eighty-eight percent of Mexican industries that voluntarily report in the federal Clean Production Program showed economic benefits through a 18.7 percent reduction in water use and lower insurance premiums, according to government survey results presented by Jaime García Sepúlveda of the Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection (Procuraduría Federal de Protección al Ambiente—Profepa).
Progress toward a Mexican PRTR
The workshop also created chances for tracking progress toward establishing an effective pollutant release and transfer register (PRTR) in Mexico. PRTRs are made to be publicly available compilations of data that facilities periodically file with the government. They show exactly how much and what kind of polluting substances their individual facilities release to the air, water and soil. The United States created its Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) in 1986 and Canada enacted its National Pollutant Release Inventory in 1993.
Mexico began the development of its PRTR in 1994. Recognizing that pollution crosses national borders, it joined the other CEC countries in agreeing to establish a North American pollutant release inventory in 1995. In June this year, the three governments’ environment ministers, who make up the CEC Council, reiterated their commitment to mandatory reporting of discharges.
Mr. Gaitán told me that he is in favor of a mandatory register of industrial emissions for Mexico. "I personally find a lot of benefit in reporting everything together, in having a database and an inventory," he said.
Building confidence in PRTRs in Mexico
But Mexico is just beginning the process of building industry confidence in a mandatory reporting system. Industries are reticent to report for manifold reasons expressed during the trinational exchange. Small and medium-size businesses often lack the training to recognize that PRTRs improve efficiency, said Miguel Ángel Mosqueda of the Puebla state government’s Urban Development, Ecology and Public Works Secretariat. Evidently there is still a lot of corporate unfamiliarity with the advantages of the registry.
Industry is also afraid to open its files because it is "worried that the information will get beyond its control" explains Gildardo Acosta, of the Agua Prieta, Sonora, NGO Enlace Ecológico A.C., which has been working with businesses to promote pollution reporting in Mexico since the 1980s. At the meeting, claims that registering data discloses trade secrets were countered by an EPA report, showing that less than 0.07 percent of the more than 21,000 facilities reporting under TRI filed trade-secret claims in the 1987 to 1995 period.
One encouraging sign is the fact that 11 of Mexico’s 33 state governments, whose environmental representatives attended the workshop, have enrolled in INE’s federal Institutional Environmental Development Program, which requires states to put in place mandatory reporting of discharges in order to receive federal funding. Mandatory state-level PRTRs could help propel similar progress at the federal level.
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Erica Phipps, Manager of CEC's North American Pollutant Release and Transfer Register Program.
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The growing interest among the states to develop PRTRs is a welcome development, commented CEC’s PRTR Program Manager, Erica Phipps. Having comparable state and federal systems in place will mean better and more comprehensive data for Mexico, and indeed for North America, she said. Each year CEC compiles a report called Taking Stock, based on publicly available PRTR data from the three North American countries. (The next edition, based on 1998 data, is expected in spring 2001). To date, the report covers only the United States and Canada, pending the availability of data under the Mexican program.
Citizens groups promote PRTRs
Also at the meeting, representatives of NGOs supported by grants from the North American Fund for Environmental Cooperation (NAFEC) explained efforts to rise above difficulties they have encountered in years of trying to convince businesses in their communities to report contaminants. (See the article entitled The power of pollutant information in the hands of the public in Trio, fall 2000.)
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Photo : Talli Nauman
César Luna, director of the Border Environmental Justice Program of the Environmental Health Coalition in Tijuana, said the group is working with others on efficient and economical alternatives to end-of-pipe cleanup solutions.
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César Luna, director of the Border Environmental Justice Program of the Environmental Health Coalition in Tijuana, said the group is working with others to identify opportunities for pollution prevention that are less expensive than end-of-pipe pollution control.
Much confidence building is still necessary to increase reporting under the voluntary registry and make progress towards a mandatory system. "This won’t happen overnight," said conference speaker Alejandro Lorea of the Mexican National Chemical Industry Association. But this workshop showed that positive steps are being taken.
Just as we had agreed to take the stairs to our destination, so the different sectors that came together during the forum are taking the necessary steps to build confidence in pollutant reporting and on preparing the common ground for a successful Mexican PRTR. Eventually, these efforts should bear fruit in yielding comparable information on pollutants for all of North America.
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Talli Nauman 