| Montreal, 21/06/2000 – The Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) has received a response from the United States government to the Methanex/Neste Submission on Enforcement Matters (SEM-99-001). In its response, the US government asserts that the CEC should not request authorization to develop a factual record on this submission because the matter is the subject of a pending international dispute resolution proceeding [see Article 14.3 of the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC)].
Methanex Corporation and Neste Canada Inc. allege that the US government is failing to effectively enforce various environmental laws relating to water resource protection and the regulation of underground storage tanks (USTs). The submitters state that because officials have failed to enforce California's environmental laws respecting water protection and USTs, gasoline has been, and continues to be, released into the environment from leaking USTs, and that California authorities have failed to enforce their environmental laws with the result that gasoline released from USTs has and continues to contaminate the environment, including soil, air and water.
The US government responds that, in this case, Methanex is already challenging California's enforcement of its UST regulations as part of its arbitration claim against the United States under NAFTA Chapter 11... Moreover, it is apparent that Methanex's sole interest is in furthering its NAFTA Chapter 11 arbitration claim, a purpose that is inconsistent with the spirit as well as the letter of Article 14. The Parties did not intend that the Articles 14 and 15 process be used to advance or prejudice parallel proceedings under the NAFTA...
Article 14 of the NAAEC provides that the CEC Secretariat may consider a submission from any person or nongovernmental organization asserting that a Party to the NAAEC is failing to effectively enforce an environmental law.
Where the Secretariat determines that the NAAEC Article 14(1) criteria are met, it shall then determine whether the submission merits requesting a response from the Party named in the submission. If the Secretariat considers that the submission, in light of any response provided by that Party, warrants the development of a factual record, the Secretariat may so inform the Council, in accordance with Article 15. The Secretariat shall prepare a factual record if the Council, by a two-thirds vote, instructs it to do so. Publication of the resulting factual record also requires a two-thirds vote by Council.
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 is composed of the environment ministers or the equivalent of Canada, Mexico and the United States.
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