| Montreal, 20/04/2000 – Two Submissions on Enforcement Matters, filed separately by Methanex Corporation and Neste Canada Inc., have been consolidated into one file by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC), and will be treated as one submission (SEM-99-001) by the Montreal-based organization.
The CEC converged the Neste submission of 21 January 2000 (SEM-00-002) with the Methanex submission of 18 October 1999 (SEM-99-001) because they relate to the same facts and assert failure to effectively enforce environmental laws. They allege that the State of California and/or the United States of America failed to effectively enforce various environmental laws relating to water resource protection and the regulation of underground storage tanks (USTs), including the Underground Storage Tank Regulations and the California Water Code. The CEC Secretariat requested a response from the United States to these assertions on 30 March 2000.
The Neste submission made reference to and endorsed statements at the heart of the Methanex submission, in particular 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, contaminating the soil, air and water.
Under Article 14 of the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC) the CEC 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 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.
The CEC was established under the 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 of Canada, Mexico and the United States.
Click here for further information regarding the submissions, or contact:
Submissions on Enforcement Matters Unit
Commission for Environmental Cooperation
393, rue Saint-Jacques Ouest, Bureau 200
Montréal (Québec) Canada H2Y 1N9
Tel: (514) 350-4300
Fax: (514) 350-4314
E-mail: info@ccemtl.org
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