Perspectives from the Regional Administrator

UTEP to work with EPA to build culturally diverse workforce

EPA and the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) have signed a formal memorandum of understanding, pledging their intentions to work together to build a more culturally diverse workforce for the agency.

The new partnership is expected to significantly enhance the university’s capacity to develop environmental specialists for potential employment, while also making important contributions to EPA’s overall research and development programs.

EPA Regional Administrator Richard E. Greene and UTEP President Diana Natalicio signed the memorandum in El Paso.

Under the agreement, EPA will work with the university to provide a significant positive impact on the quality of environmental science and technical education, the relevance of UTEP research projects to EPA’s environmental and public health mission, and the number of culturally diverse students electing to pursue graduate study and research careers in areas including science, engineering, and mathematics.

The memorandum is the product of the Beyond Translation initiative launched by EPA Region 6 in 2006.  This effort seeks to provide a comprehensive framework for strengthening the agency’s relationship with the Hispanic community.

More about the Beyond Translation program

Regional Administrator Meets with Border Officials

On April 25, 2005, EPA Regional Administrator Richard Greene meet with Border Environmental Cooperation Commission and North American Development Bank officials to learn first hand of the progress being made along the US/Mexico Border. Both agencies, along with EPA and our state partners, play a key role in improving the environmental conditions for communities. During today’s meeting, BECC General Manager, Fernando Macías and NADBank Deputy General Manager, Jorge Garcès, presented information about on-going environmental projects to address our shared environmental goals. In recent years, federal and state agencies have been expanded beyond the core problems of water supply, wastewater treatment, and solid waste disposal - to related challenges in industrial waste pollution, water conservation, recycling and waste reduction, air quality, and more. In December 2004, 105 environmental infrastructure projects costing $2.41 billion have been certified to build. Over one-half of these projects are located in Texas and New Mexico. Since 1998, NADBank Border Environmental Infrastructure Fund has made available about $157 million in Texas, and $18 million in New Mexico for projects.

Regional Administrator hosts border tour to see accomplishments and discuss plans to meet the challenges remaining

Regional Administrator Richard E. Greene was host to EPA Chief Financial Officer Charlie Johnson, Tad Gallion, representing theHouse Appropriations Committee, and EPA International Affairs Deputy Jerry Clifford on a tour of the U.S. Mexico border. The tour highlighted many successful projects including the Juarez water plants designed to assist 1.5 million people. It also presented an overview of ongoing border challenges, especially water and wastewater infrastructure needs, which EPA is working to address.

The group was joined by Border Environment Cooperation Commission General Manager Fernando Macias and Deputy Javier Cabrera, as the tour started early in the morning with a bird's-eye view of the area from the top of the Franklin Mountains. The Commission is a binational agency that works directly with communities in the 200-kilometer-wide border region. Its action priorities are drinking water, sewage, sanitation and municipal solid-waste management.

The tour also included stops in several communities facing unique environmental challenges, including the largest known collection of used tires in the border area - four million tires and growing. Because they provide a lush breeding ground for disease-spreading mosquitoes, other insects and rodents, the massive tire piles pose a health problem for residents on both sides of the border.

Plans for disposing of these tires were explained as part of several presentations the group heard from local officials. They described their plans to address environmental challenges facing their communities, and the continuing need for government support.

The U.S.-Mexico Border Infrastructure Program

The U.S.-Mexico border runs 2,000 miles from San Diego-Tijuana on the Pacific to Brownsville-Matamoros near the Gulf of Mexico. The border area is commonly considered the territory 100 kilometers north and south of the boundary, and it includes a combined U.S. and Mexican population of over 10.6 million throughout ten U.S. and Mexican states. The area's population is expected to double by 2020 through migration motivated by the expansion of border industrial and urban centers, both domestic and international, and natural increase. This expected population explosion rivals the growth projected for the fastest-growing U.S. states over that same twenty year period.

Environmental conditions on the U.S.-Mexico border are significantly influenced by the rapid growth occurring in the area. Much of that growth is attributed to Mexico's maquiladora program. Maquiladoras are product assembly factories which employ more than 800,000 people in the border region. While the Maquiladoras have been successful at creating jobs, the facilities' wastes and resource demands are considerable. Maquiladoras are not the only stress on the environment; however, the sector tends to act as a magnet for migration within Mexico, as well as a driver of population growth. This population growth results in sprawling development, increase in motor vehicles and traffic congestion, and greater waste, air pollution, and depletion of natural resources. The new Border 2012 Program, a partnership among federal, state, local, and U.S. Tribal governments, strives to protect public health and the environment in the U.S.-Mexico Border region, and represents a framework for cooperation without legislation.

Environmental conditions and human health in the U.S.-Mexico border area are influenced to a significant degree by the quality of available water sources. Many waterways flow across or along the bi-national border. Unfortunately, water and wastewater infrastructure has not kept up with the rapid population growth. This has resulted in a deterioration of the surface water quality and an increase in the incidence of water bourne diseases. Therefore, the Border Program for Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Construction Funding was established to ensure that everyone along the U.S.-Mexico border has access to adequate drinking water and wastewater treatment. To date, Congress has provided over $392 million for use in the development, design, and construction of water and wastewater projects in the border states.

Border Good News Stories -

Air Quality

Air - Transportation

Pollution Prevention - Industry and Compliance

Pollution Prevention - Waste Tires

Emergency Preparedness

Water Infrastructure

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