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Blog Category: Mexico

Assistant Secretary Michael Camuñez Concludes U.S.-Mexico Border Trade Policy and Promotion Week Visit

Submitted on June 8, 2012 - 4:30pm
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Assistant Secretary Camuñez is joined by public and private stakeholders after recognizing the New Mexico Border Authority for their efforts to support the local community.

Guest blog post by Michael C. Camuñez, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Market Access and Compliance, International Trade Administration

During this past week, in my official capacity as Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Market Access and Compliance, I had the privilege of leading a high-level delegation of U.S. and Mexico government officials on a tour of the U.S.-Mexico border region, which, with $460 billion in trade passing across it each year, is one of the most economically significant borders in the world. As a native New Mexican, I was especially proud to highlight the vast commercial benefits that the border region generates for both countries. The trip included stops in San Diego/Tijuana; NM/Santa Teresa; El Paso; Laredo/Nuevo Laredo; and Monterrey, Mexico. 

At each stop, stakeholders repeated the theme that we—government and business—must work together to change the narrative about the border. The goal is not to diminish awareness of the fact that real security challenges exist; rather, we need to increase awareness that there is more to the border story. Both countries are critical to the economy of the other, and one of our goals for this trip was to highlight the fact that new commercial opportunities exist and that the border serves a critical role in facilitating the essential flow of goods and people between Mexico and the U.S.

Our delegation consisted of U.S. and Mexico government officials and members of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. We conducted stakeholder outreach events related to the border trade facilitation efforts under the U.S.-Mexico 21st Century Border Management initiative, which was established by Presidents Obama and Calderon in May 2010 as a vehicle to develop and promote a more secure and seamless border between our two countries. These events provided us with an opportunity to share information with stakeholders about the ongoing work and accomplishments of the initiative and to receive important, on-the-ground feedback from them, which can be incorporated into the 21st Century Border Management work streams.

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NOAA: Deepwater Horizon Incident, Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Update

Submitted on May 5, 2010 - 2:16pm
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Photo of Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill from NASA Satellite

Improving weather today allowed both NOAA overflights and dispersant operations to resume. Today, four aircraft applied dispersants to the surface slick, and dispersant application by vessels is expected to begin tomorrow. Monitoring of the dispersant efforts are ongoing. NOAA overflights were conducted over the source as well as south from Mobile. At present, technical specialists and other personnel from many agencies and organizations are assisting NOAA in providing scientific support for the spill response. (Incident News)

NOAA: Deepwater Incident, Gulf of Mexico Effort

Submitted on April 30, 2010 - 10:00pm
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Trajectory map--PDF.

The Deepwater Horizon incident declared a Spill of National Significance (SONS). A SONS is defined as "a spill that, due to its severity, size, location, actual or potential impact on the public health and welfare or the environment, or the necessary response effort, is so complex that it requires extraordinary coordination of federal, state, local and responsible party resources to contain and clean up the discharge," and allows greater federal involvement. Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is assisting the Unified Command in evaluating a new technique to apply dispersants to oil at the source—5000’ below the surface. If successful, this would keep plumes and sheens from forming. (More) (NOAA-Deepwater) (Trajectory map 1—PDF) (IncidentNews: Deepwater Horizon)

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NOAA's GOES-15 Weather Satellite Captures Its First Image of Earth

Submitted on April 7, 2010 - 11:09am
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View of Eath taken by GOES-15. Click for larger image.

GOES-15, launched on March 4 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, joins three other NOAA operational GOES spacecraft that help the agency's forecasters track life-threatening weather—from tornadoes, floods and hurricanes—and solar activity that can impact the satellite-based electronics and communications industry. The black and white full-disk image shows North and South America with a storm system visible across the United States, indicated by a drape of clouds from New England westward to the central Plains. Further west is a cold front over the Rocky Mountains. Mostly clear skies are seen over the mid-Atlantic, southeastern U.S., Gulf of Mexico, California and Mexico. (More)

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Norfolk, Va.-based NOAA Ship Thomas Jefferson to Map Ocean Floor in Gulf of Mexico

Submitted on April 6, 2010 - 1:45pm
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Thomas Jefferson. Click for larger image.

Commerce’s NOAA Ship Thomas Jefferson, one of the most technologically advanced hydrographic survey vessels in the world, will depart its Norfolk, Va. homeport on April 6 to conduct a five-month long effort to map the seafloor and look for hazards to navigation off the Gulf coast. “The Gulf of Mexico has been affected by a number of large hurricanes in recent years, and our work will pinpoint the resulting hazards and shoals in these busy waters,” said Cmdr. Shepard Smith, Thomas Jefferson’s commanding officer. (More)

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Secretary Locke Announces Recovery Act Grants to the Navajo Nation in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah

Submitted on March 25, 2010 - 3:11pm
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Recovery logo.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke held a press conference call with Sen. Jeff Bingaman (NM), Sen. Tom Udall (NM), Rep. Jim Matheson (UT), Rep. Ben Lujan (NM) and former New Mexico Governor Toney Anaya and announced a $32 million Recovery Act grant to the Navajo Nation in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah that will help bridge the technological divide, boost economic development, create jobs, and improve education and health care. Locke announced a total of 10 grants totaling more than $63 million that will increase broadband access and adoption in more than a dozen states. (More)

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Secretary Locke Announces ARRA Grants to Expand Broadband Internet Access and Expand Economic Growth

Submitted on March 2, 2010 - 3:34pm
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Recovery Act logo. Click to go to Commerce Department Recovery Web site.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke announced 23 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) investments to help bridge the technological divide, boost economic growth, create jobs and improve education and healthcare cross the country. The grants will increase broadband access and adoption in California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, North Carolina, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Puerto Rico, Tennessee, Texas, Wisconsin and West Virginia. (More)

NOAA: Smaller Than Expected, But Severe, Dead Zone in Gulf of Mexico

Submitted on July 27, 2009 - 11:58am
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Image of mouth of Mississippi River showing nutrient run-off. Click for animated vizualization.

Commerce’s NOAA-supported scientists, led by Nancy Rabalais, Ph.D. from the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium, found the size of this year’s Gulf of Mexico dead zone to be smaller than forecasted, measuring 3,000 square miles. However, the dead zone, which is usually limited to water just above the sea floor, was severe where it did occur, extending closer to the water surface than in most years. Earlier this summer, NOAA-sponsored forecast models predicted a larger than normal dead zone area of between 7,450–8,456 square miles. (More) (Graphic of Dead Zone)(NOAA Visualization)

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NOAA Forecasts Predicts large "Dead Zone" for Gulf of Mexico this Summer

Submitted on June 18, 2009 - 8:00pm
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Image of mouth of Mississippi River showing nutrient run-off. Click for data visualization.

A team of NOAA-supported scientists from the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium, Louisiana State University, and the University of Michigan is forecasting that the “dead zone” off the coast of Louisiana and Texas in the Gulf of Mexico this summer could be one of the largest on record. The dead zone is an area in the Gulf of Mexico where seasonal oxygen levels drop too low to support most life in bottom and near-bottom waters. The mouth of the Mississippi River (imaged here) is an example of how nutrient run-off creates plankton blooms. (More) (NOAA Visualization)

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Commerce Secretary Locke Meets with Mexico's Secretary of Economy Mateos

Submitted on June 1, 2009 - 3:47pm
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Secretary Mateos and Secretary Locke seated in front of fireplace talking. Click for larger image.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke hosted a meeting with Mexico’s Secretary of Economy Gerardo Ruiz Mateos at the Commerce Department. This was the first meeting between Secretary Ruiz and Secretary Locke.Secretary Locke and Secretary Ruiz highlighted the importance of our bilateral trade relationship and the need for continued cooperation in strengthening our competitiveness in the region and removing impediments to trade. (More)

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