[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 140 (Thursday, October 8, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H10169-H10180]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING SEWAGE INFRASTRUCTURE FACILITIES IN
TIJUANA, MEXICO
Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the
concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 331) expressing the sense of
Congress concerning the inadequacy of sewage infrastructure facilities
in Tijuana, Mexico.
The Clerk read as follows:
H. Con. Res. 331
ince the 1930's, United States beaches have been severely
impacted by the flow of sewage from Mexico and, in the last 2
decades, this environmental problem has been elevated to a
major health and safety concern; and
Whereas, most recently, the flow of sewage from Tijuana,
Mexico, has forced beach closures and caused other
environmental and economic hardships in the cities of
Imperial Beach, Coronado, and San Diego, California, and
caused severe degradation of the Tijuana National Estuarian
Wildlife Preserve: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate
concurring), That it is the sense of Congress that--
(1) if the Government of Mexico does not take appropriate
actions to recognize and mitigate the inadequacy of sewage
infrastructure facilities in Mexico (including facilities for
the treatment and transport of sewage) and the adverse
environmental and economic impacts of sewage from Mexico on
cities in the United States, the United States should review
its obligations with Mexico under treaties and other
international agreements (including agreements relating to
port access, loan guarantees, and other types of foreign aid)
and take appropriate actions to ensure that the Government of
Mexico shares in the burdens caused by its sewage
infrastructure problems; and
(2) any measurement of the responsiveness of the Government
of Mexico to requests to mitigate its sewage treatment
problems should be based on risk assessment procedures
developed in consultation with the San Diego County Health
Officer.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from New
York (Mr. Gilman) and the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Luther) each
will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New York (Mr. Gilman).
General Leave
Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may
have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks on
this measure.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from New York?
There was no objection.
Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
(Mr. GILMAN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks.)
Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from California (Mr. Bilbray)
introduced this resolution and I was pleased to be able to take it up
before our committee and bring it to the floor today.
This resolution highlights the serious problem of untreated sewage-
tainted water flowing down the Tijuana River which is contaminating
U.S. seashores and the Tijuana National Estuarian Wildlife Preserve. As
recently as August of this year, 12 million gallons of river water
contaminated with sewage was flowing down the Tijuana River to the
Pacific Ocean every day. Ocean currents carried the contaminated water
to the Imperial Beach, Coronado and San Diego area.
This is not a new problem and it has yet to find a permanent
solution. There have been terrible moments of crisis since the May 1994
break in the sewage line in Tijuana which dumped 25 million gallons of
raw, untreated sewage into the Tijuana River a day for three successive
days.
While Mexico has made significant infrastructure investments, our
Nation has assumed a majority of the burden of building new sewage
treatment infrastructure, and since 1989 has appropriated $234 million
for the EPA under Section 510 of the Water Quality Act for ``special
purpose projects'' in San Diego. By December of this year, the United
States will complete our major outstanding agreed-upon infrastructure
improvement, a pipeline to carry treated wastewater some 3\1/2\ miles
offshore. Still, experts estimate that this will only temporarily help
address this binational problem.
It should be underscored that this is a problem that the United
States and Mexico must work together jointly to resolve. Both
governments must shoulder their responsibility. I have recently met
with representatives of the Mexican government along with the gentleman
from California (Mr. Bilbray) to discuss this terrible problem. They
have informed us that they both understand and share the deep concern
of the people of our Nation who are affected. I am hopeful that the
gentleman from California's concerted and tireless efforts have raised
the sense of urgency on both sides of the border so that we can get on
with solving this problem once and for all.
Accordingly, I ask my colleagues to join me in supporting this
resolution.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. LUTHER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I
am aware, Mr. Speaker, that the administration does have concerns about
this particular piece of legislation, and I know that there are many
Members that have concerns as well. Because we have a 2,000-mile border
with Mexico, we face a number of issues that we simply cannot solve
without the cooperation of the government of Mexico. To address these
issues, we have developed an impressive number of joint efforts over
the last decade. Some of these efforts are not adequately funded or
staffed, but we have made progress in encouraging the government of
Mexico to work with us. We all want to see the sewage problem dealt
with faster and better. But we must ask ourselves when we are
considering any piece of legislation such as this whether threatening
unspecified retaliation for insufficient action will hasten cooperation
or will it in fact undermine it. I believe that is exactly why the
administration has concerns, Mr. Speaker, and I believe it would be
helpful to the debate here this evening if we do hear from others that
support the legislation and also others that do have concerns about it.
I know the gentleman from California (Mr. Bilbray) is a supporter and I
welcome his comments.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the
gentleman from California (Mr. Bilbray), the author of this
legislation.
Mr. BILBRAY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman of the House Committee
on International Relations, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Gilman)
for his steadfast support to addressing this concurrent resolution, H.
Con. Res. 331. From the beginning, the chairman has been committed to
addressing this as an outcome-based strategy, as it is related to the
environmental crisis that we have been confronted with in San Diego,
California and Imperial Beach, California and the related surrounding
communities of Tijuana.
Mr. Speaker, this resolution is simply a sense of Congress. It
outlines past problems, and presents the current problems in a clear,
concise aspect of the infrastructure problems that relate to Tijuana,
Mexico. This lack of infrastructure has forced the closure of
[[Page H10170]]
beaches and caused environmental and economic hardships for the San
Diego region, including the degradation of the Tijuana National
Estuarian Wildlife Preserve. This resolution simply states that the
government of Mexico needs to recognize and mitigate the inadequate
sewage infrastructure that is impacting the United States. Frankly, we
need the United States and Mexico recognizing that it is the impact and
outcome of this pollution that matters the most. Let me place an
emphasis on the word ``review'' that is in this bill. It states that if
this problem is not taken care of, then the United States will
``review'' its treaties with Mexico. That is all it says. It does not
say we will repeal them. It does not mean we will be punitive, but it
says we have a relationship with Mexico, we have treaties, and if there
is a continuing environmental and health threat, we as Congress think
that it is important enough for us to review our treaties. I do not
think the word ``review'' is punitive or mean-spirited. I think it is
logical. This is only a sense of Congress. It is not legally binding.
All we are trying to say is that the long-term relations between our
two great countries have many factors that have to be considered.
Frankly one of those major factors is the environment along our
frontier.
Mr. Speaker, this resolution is not punitive against Mexico. It is
not anti-Mexican. It is anti-pollution. Now, there are those who oppose
NAFTA. Some of my close friends opposed NAFTA because they were
concerned that increased trade would equate to increased pollution, and
they wanted an assurance that our trade agreements were not going to
push pollution. This resolution, this sense of Congress just says that
all our treaties or agreements will be considered; are they helping or
hurting a pollution problem? This pollution problem predates NAFTA.
Does that mean that all pollution problems that predate NAFTA now will
not be considered in a treaty relationship? Some of my colleagues
opposed NAFTA because they were concerned about potential pollution
related to NAFTA, but I do not believe anybody who opposed NAFTA on
that basis was anti-Mexican. So I would ask that my colleagues not
think negatively about those of us who supported NAFTA, hoping that
NAFTA would give the inspiration for this Congress and for Mexico to
take care of some environmental problems that long predate NAFTA. My
intention is to use this forum as a means to educate this Congress
specifically on this problem.
Now, seeing the interests and concerns that Members have voiced here
tonight, I feel we have been successful at least at that step. The fact
is children go to the beaches in the United States and have to be told
by their parents, ``Patrick, Briana, you can't go in the water. You
can't go into your beaches, because a foreign country has polluted your
neighborhood.''
{time} 2200
The communities of San Diego and Tijuana have enjoyed a special
relationship. In fact, I was the mayor of the city that was a sister
city to Tijuana long before the City of San Diego even considered a
formal long-term relationship with Tijuana. We have strong cultural and
economic ties that enable us as neighbors to work together. Even now
there are various issues that we are working on to address these
issues. We are talking about the City of Imperial Beach and City of San
Diego sending vector trucks into Mexico to help clear out their sewer
lines. Why would one city send a sewer truck to another neighbor city?
So the sewage of one does not pollute their beaches of another.
My goal tonight, Mr. Speaker, is to raise the awareness of my
colleagues, to say to them they must be familiar with existing
environmental problems if they are going to truly address those that
they say may be created in the future. It is now my hope that this
resolution will sensitize both the Mexican government and the U.S.
Government to understand that this issue needs to be addressed, to
inspire them to work together on outcome-based environmental
strategies.
Now I have worked on this item, Mr. Speaker, for over 20 years. I
have been involved in negotiations that date back to 1978 with the
Carter administration, 1985 in the negotiations and 1990 that actually
put together the proposal for building a plant that has cost over $200
million of taxpayers' funds. And American taxpayers who say, ``What are
you going to get for it? Are our beaches really going to be clean?''
This sense of Congress will be saying we are committed to our beaches
being clean.
I would ask us to look at the fact that we are going to implement
improvements that tie together economic opportunities with
environmental responsibility. I would say to our colleagues--is that so
unfair? I would ask us to recognize that we are building plants today
that people are concerned are not going to clean up the beaches. This
bill is an added assurance by those of us in Congress that, yes, it
will clean up the beaches and we will commit that we will do everything
possible to clean up those beaches.
This August we had a meeting, because we had a situation where the
beaches of Imperial Beach were closed during August, summertime, major
tourist season, and the tourists came to the United States Open Sand
Castle Competition, only to be greeted by red pollution signs. What do
I tell Mike Bixler, the mayor of Imperial Beach, when he calls an
emergency meeting and says, ``Why are my beaches being polluted by a
foreign government?'' What I have told him is that I will do everything
possible to educate Washington and to educate Mexico City to what the
people of Imperial Beach and Coronado and San Diego are going through.
Mr. Speaker, this is only a sense of Congress. We are not asking to
spend money, we are not asking to take on anything except the feeling
that this has to be addressed, and our colleagues will keep an open
mind.
Some may say that threats to Mexico does not work and will never
work. Well, first of all, I would ask my colleagues to read the record.
We are not talking about a threat, we are talking about raising a
legitimate concern, just as Ambassador Gavin in 1985 raised a concern
over a grant for water projects in Tijuana that would result in more
sewage pouring into the United States, and because Gavin at that time
spoke clearly and frankly to Mexico, Mexico agreed that we must make
major improvements.
I think that this is another one of those chances for us to make a
clear statement. The problem has gone on for decades and decades and
decades. My colleagues, there are those who promised to take care of
these environmental problems if NAFTA was passed. Those of my
colleagues who oppose NAFTA raised that issue. Now is their chance to
say everything will be considered to clean up the environment.
Mr. Speaker, I ask that my colleagues approve H. Con. Res. 331, and
let me say sincerely I was raised in a community with raw Mexican
sewage pouring in and polluting our beaches. I was raised in this kind
of health threat. My children are second generation sewage kids growing
up with this pollution. Please let us work together as Members of
Congress, and let us work together between the United States and
Mexico. Let us make a commitment tonight that from the year 2000 on,
from now on, we will stop finding excuses for letting our beaches be
polluted, and that the next generation of children that go to that
beach will have clean beaches, pure beaches and have an environment
that is safe and appropriate. Because let me tell my colleagues flat
out: For those who are concerned about social injustice, that
environmental policies are not enforced equally, let me assure my
colleagues we are talking about a working class neighborhood that
happens to have a high percentage of minorities, and they have not been
represented by this Congress equally and fairly in the past. Let us
start changing that today and tell the children in Imperial Beach and
in Tijuana and San Diego we are committed to doing whatever we can
whenever we can to make sure it does not happen any more.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to begin by thanking the Chairman of
the House Committee on International Relations, Mr. Gilman, for his
steadfast support and effort on House Concurrent Resolution 331. After
returning home to Imperial Beach to close beaches for the second summer
in a row, resulting from Mexican sewage overflowing or leaking from
inadequate and poorly maintained sewage treatment plants across the
border, I asked Chairman Gilman for his assistance in working on this
problem.
[[Page H10171]]
From the beginning, Chairman Gilman has been committed to working
with me on this environmental and public health crisis. In fact,
earlier this afternoon, the Chairman and I had the opportunity to meet
with representatives from the Mexican Embassy to discuss both
countries' mutual interest in resolving these problems. Again, I thank
the Chairman for his leadership and support.
As the Chairman pointed out, H. Con. Res. 331 is simply a ``sense of
Congress'' outlining past and present problems with inadequate sewage
infrastructure and treatment facilities in Tijuana, Mexico. This lack
of infrastructure has forced beach closures and caused other
environmental and economic hardships in the south bay region of San
Diego, including severe degradation of the Tijuana National Estuarian
Wildlife Preserve. The neighborhoods that are directly impacted by this
health threat, such as my hometown of Imperial Beach, consist of
largely working class, predominately minority families.
The Concurrent Resolution goes on to state that if the government of
Mexico does not recognize and mitigate the inadequacy of sewage
infrastructure, then the United States should ``review'' its existing
relationships with Mexico, including existing treaties and other
international agreements to see where the weaknesses may exist. Let me
place an emphasis on the word review. Such a review will open both the
governments of the United States and Mexico to scrutiny on these
agreements.
Let me be perfectly clear, this is ONLY a sense of Congress. It is
not legally binding, nor does it require Congress to Act. This
resolution is not punitive, nor is it anti-Mexico. Frankly, my intent
is to use it as a means of educating Congress on the problems many
border communities confront on a regular basis. Given the number of
Members now showing interest in this issue, I think I've been
successful.
I recognize and applaud the ongoing bilateral efforts and binational
cooperation of the governments of Mexico and the United States in
developing a long-term solution in addressing this problem. The
communities of San Diego and Tijuana enjoy a special relationship.
Their strong cultural and economic ties have enabled these neighbors to
work together, even now, on a variety of issues, including sewage
spills. My ultimate goal is for Washington, DC and Mexico City to reach
this same level of cooperation and to increase their responsiveness to
the local citizens of San Diego and Tijuana.
My intent is to raise the level of awareness on this issue to my
fellow colleagues who may be unfamiliar with some of the unique
environmental problems we have along the border. It is also my hope
that with this resolution, both the Mexican and U.S. governments will
understand just how serious our level of commitment is on this issue,
and will be inspired to continue to work cooperatively in resolving
both the short-term and long-term problems.
Unfortunately, this issue is not new to either the United States or
to Mexico. In my 20 years of public service, I have had numerous
meetings and extensive dialogue with national and local officials from
Mexico, and have raised this issue again on two recent congressional
delegation trips to Mexico, as participant in the Interparliamentary
Conference. The results have been mixed. On the one hand, Mexico
understands the severity of the problem and the need to build a
permanent, stable and safe sewage treatment system. On the other, I
recognize, better than most, the problems Mexico continues to face in
terms of available financial resources.
However, the implementation of these efforts has been less than
satisfactory. There has yet to be established between these communities
a reliable notification system to alert them when a leak or overflow
takes place. All of the communities affected need to realize that this
is a regional crisis, and it will take the entire region to resolve
these issues.
The United States and Mexico have demonstrated that they can work
effectively together, but clearly more attention needs to be devoted to
follow-through. In 1990, the United States and Mexico agreed to build a
sewage treatment plant in the United States to treat sewage waste from
Mexico, because the treatment plant in Mexico was unable to treat the
increased volume of waste. However, leakages and overflows on the
Mexican side of the border have continued to occur. Unfortunately, that
waste continuously ends up on local U.S. beaches. The multi-million
dollar plant can't treat sewage that doesn't get to the pipe, which can
deliver it for treatment.
Frustration on the part of local officials culminated in an August
meeting organized by the mayor of Imperial Beach. Participants included
IBWC Commissioners from both Mexico and the United States, a San Diego
County supervisor, the Counsel General from Tijuana, City of San Diego
officials, and myself. While the attendees were reassured with the
status of the long-term plan, concerns remain about the current
overflow of sewage waste. A dialogue of possible short-term solutions
was initiated at this meeting. As a result of these discussions, the
cities of San Diego and Imperial Beach are attempting to send U.S.
vector trucks across the border into Tijuana, Mexico to clean out the
accumulated debris and cobble stones, which are causing blockages in
the pipes and storm drains, which, in turn, are causing sewage to run
into the Tijuana River and on to our beaches. We're awaiting final
approval from Mexican Customs implementation of this project.
I'd like to raise one last issue. There are some pundits and foreign
policy ``experts'' that will claim that Mexico does not respond well
under pressure or to threats, and that this resolution will harm the
situation more than help it. Again, this is only a ``sense of
Congress''--we're only bringing long overdue attention to a very
serious problem and maintain the level or urgency of this problem until
a solution is in place. I might add that there are also those who will
argue that the threat of pressure on Mexico has been used before as an
excuse to not assert the need for change to the status quo.
More importantly, however, how can we, as a Congress, in good
conscience allow our environment and our public health and safety
continue to be at risk without raising this issue? This problem has
been going on for decades. It's about time both sides come together and
acknowledge the need to comprehensively resolve the sewage crisis along
the border. H. Con. Res. 331 can begin this process.
Again, thank you for your consideration and I urge my colleagues to
support House Concurrent Resolution 331.
I would ask that these materials be placed into the Record following
my statement.
[From The Tribune, Nov. 14, 1989]
Tijuana Sewage is Flowing Faster, Killing Estuary
(By Michael Richmond)
An increasing amount of raw sewage flowing across the
border from Mexico is killing marine life and threatening
birds in the Tijuana River estuary, according to a newly
completed study of the huge saltwater marsh.
The increase is the result of the continued growth of
Tijuana, where many neighborhoods are not hooked up to
sewers. The sewage flow in the river now averages nearly 10
million gallons a day, up from about 7 million gallons a day
two years ago, according to Dion McMicheaux, resident
engineer here for the International Boundary and Water
Commission.
A three-year federally funded study shows that the sewage-
laden water flowing down the river has harmed game fish and
shellfish in the saltwater marsh at the river's mouth. The
marsh is a part of the 2,500-acre Tijuana River National
Estuarine Reserve and the Tijuana Slough National Wildlife
Refuge.
In recent years, the Tijuana River Valley has been beset
with problems.
The beach stretching from the south city limits of Imperial
Beach to the Mexican border, considered by some as one of the
most beautiful in Southern California, is deserted most days,
except for an occasional jogger or horse rider.
Among the area's troubles:
The two-mile beachfront has been under a health quarantine
since 1983 because of sewage pollution from the Tijuana
River. Sewage bacteria levels as much as five times the
health limit have been measured in the ocean waters. Some
surfers regularly ignore the warning, however.
The 390-acre Border Field State Park, nestled against the
international boundary, was closed for four months in 1988
because of renegade sewage flows from Mexico, causing the
closure from June to mid-September this year after it was
overwhelmed with thousands of undocumented migrants and
smugglers who used it as a staging area for their trips
northward. The park was shut down without any public
announcement and has just as quietly reopened, but only on
Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.
Biologists and other researchers studying the Tijuana River
estuary and its ecosystem no longer do field work at night
because of the danger from border bandits.
County health officials are worried about the potential for
an outbreak of malaria or encephalitis from breeding of
mosquitoes in sewage ponds that accumulate at times in
[[Page H10172]]
the river bottom. The water is ``heavily laden'' with
mosquito larvae, says Larry Aker, assistant deputy director
of the county's Environmental Health Services.
Some of the sewage settles out of the water as it makes its
way through a maze of small channels that thread the estuary
en route to the ocean.
``We are essentially killing off that estuary,'' Aker said.
A walk south from Imperial Beach along the beach at the
edge of the estuary can be deceiving.
Ocean waves wash gently upon the sandy beach. A flock of
seagulls with a lone brown pelican among them rest on a
sandbar near the river mouth. To the south, two riders trot
their horses along the beach.
The water flowing from the estuary outlet to the sea
appears fairly clear, diluted by incoming tides.
But a quarter-mile inland from the beach, the scene is much
different. In places, the water is like a pea-green soup,
full of algae, said Chris Nordby, manager of the Pacific
Estuarine Research Laboratory at San Diego State University.
It is also an area where there are no pollution sampling
stations, ``because when I went in there to set up my
samples, there just were no animals. There's absolutely
nothing there,'' Nordby said.
Evidence of the extreme environmental damage to the estuary
is contained in a just-completed study funded by the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which found
significant depletions in some fish and shellfish species,
such as clams. The study is based on water-quality testing
and sampling of fish and shellfish from 1986 through March of
1989.
One small game fish known as Tops Smelt, which formerly
accounted for 52 percent of the fish in the estuary, has
fallen to about 5 percent, said Nordby, a biologist and
principal researcher for the pollution study.
The California jacknife clam, which in years past accounted
for 70 percent to 86 percent of the clam population, ``is now
down to about 27 percent,'' Nordby said.
Another shellfish, the purple clam, is virtually extinct
there.
``People used to clam here in the 1970s and take their
limit, but not anymore,'' said Nordby, who has been studying
the estuary since 1978.
Small sand dollars, once abundant, are rarely found these
days, he said.
``Every now and then you'll find a small tiny one, but they
don't survive like they used to,'' he said. The harm is
caused by the year-round influx of polluted fresh water,
which dilutes the salinity of the estuary, Nordby explained.
When that happens, marine organism are killed or escape
from the estuary.
In addition to marine organisms, the estuary is home to
dozens of bird species, including the endangered least tern
and the light-footed clapper rail. The effects of the sewage
pollution on bird life have not been documented, but Nordby
and others believe there is potential for harm.
They note that a decline in the marine life on which birds
feed will eventually reduce the bird populations.
Paul Jorgensen, manager of the Tijuana River National
Estuarine Reserve, said extensive studies are needed to
confirm the effects on birds. But he added, ``If the
shellfish, crabs and fish are affected, then the birds
probably are affected.''
Nordby and others worried about the wetlands are pinning
their hopes for its recovery on construction of a binational
sewage treatment plant that has been proposed for the border
to treat sewage from Tijuana. The treated effluent would be
discharged directly into the ocean through a big pipe.
But the binational plant is still a long way from being
approved. Mexico and U.S. officials have made only
preliminary commitments. Negotiations on a detailed agreement
between the two countries are under way by the Mexican and
U.S. commissioners of the International Boundary and Water
Commission in El Paso, Texas.
Narendra N. Gunaji, head of the U.S. section of the
international boundary commission, predicted earlier this
year that the new plant could be in operation by 1993. That
estimate, however, was tied to a firm commitment from Mexico
that it would participate in the plant and on funding from
both countries.
Without such a plant, the pollution woes of the Tijuana
River Valley will only grow as Tijuana keeps growing,
officials say.
``I think the federal, state and local governments have a
responsibility to the people in the area to make sure that
dream becomes a reality,'' said County Supervisor Brian
Bilbray, a former Imperial Beach councilman and mayor who has
spent his entire political career trying to resolve the
Tijuana River Valley's troubles.
``The sewage problem has become bad enough that the Federal
Government can't ignore it anymore,'' he said, ``We're going
to find answers . . . because you just can't allow problems
like that to exist.''
In addition to the border sewage plant, Bilbray said,
development of the long-sought Tijuana River Valley Regional
Park will help transform the river valley.
The county park will encompass 2,200 acres along both sides
of the river, extending from the ocean eastward to San
Ysidro. It has received $10 million in state park bond funds
and two weeks ago was given another $1.5 million by the Tia
Juana Valley County Water District, which apparently is about
to shut down after a half-century in existence.
Bilbray has been critical of the Border Patrol and state
and federal park and wildlife managers for past practices
that he says have focused more on wildlife protection and
keeping people out of the area.
He also criticized the Border Patrol for its ``scorched
earth'' practice of clearing underbrush from large areas of
the river channel to help them patrol the region.
``If you and I did that, we'd go to jail,'' Bilbray said.
As for development of the regional park, he said he
believes that wildlife preservation and recreation in the
river valley can be compatible ``if you do it right.''
Bilbray envisions miles of trails, small fishing lakes,
campgrounds and other amenities.
``I'm real optimistic that we're seeing a lot of movement
we haven't seen in 20 years,'' he said of efforts to solve
the river valley's problems.
[From The Tribune, Jan. 26, 1990]
3 Officials Here Pledge To Fight Sewage Project
(By Kathryn Balint)
Meeting the news media in the sewage-polluted Tijuana River
Valley, two San Diego city councilmen and a county supervisor
vowed yesterday to fight to save local sewer users at least
$1 billion on a massive project they say would harm the
environment.
``This is a fight we still can win,'' said Councilman Bruce
Henderson.
Henderson, Councilman Bob Filner and Supervisor Brian
Bilbray called a news conference yesterday to make it clear
that their battle against San Diego city government's nearly
$3 billion upgrade in sewage treatment is continuing.
In a closed-door session this week, the city council agreed
in a 7-2 vote on a settlement of the federal government's
lawsuit accusing the city of discharging inadequately treated
sewage into the ocean. The vote, which was taken secretly
because by law the council is allowed to discuss litigation
in private, will end a two-year legal dispute between the
city and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Henderson and Filner coast the dissenting votes.
Bilbray, Henderson and Filner said the city should not have
caved in to the federal government by agreement to build the
multibillion-dollar sewage facilities by Dec. 31, 2003. The
agreement will be made public Tuesday in the U.S. District
Court of Judge Rudi M. Brewster.
``That's disgraceful that we should make such a deal as
this,'' Filner said. He called the planned sewage project ``a
boondoggie'' that will be bad for the environment and for
residents' pocketbooks. For the 1.6 million people who use
the sewer system, sewer rates are expected to go up
dramatically.
As they have in the past, Henderson, Filner and Bilbray
based their comments on the opinions of noted marine
scientists from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La
Jolla.
The scientists, including Roger Revelle, director emeritus
of the institution, and Edward Goldberg, a chemist known
internationally for his work in fighting ocean pollution,
contend that the nutrients in the waste water now disposed of
in the ocean pose no hazard to sea life. In fact, they say,
the lowest forms of life in the ocean feed on the nutrients
in the sewage, which is treated to a step just below the
federal standards.
The three politicians said they chose the Tijuana River
Valley to illustrate their point that a sewage-treatment
plant there, near a national estuary, where endangered birds
and plants live, would hurt the environment. Anther reason
they chose to meet near Border Field State Park in the river
valley was to point out the raw sewage flowing daily from
Mexico into the United States.
Bilbray said the EPA should be focusing its attention on
cleaning up the raw sewage there rather than trying to force
San Diegans to spend their money on a project that is
unnecessary.
Bilbray also said that the city should be worrying about
``keeping the sewage in the pipes,'' referring to repeated
spills of raw sewage from sewer pipes before it even reaches
the Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant. The raw sewage has
fouled both Mission Bay and San Diego Bay. One of the
provisions of the settlements agreement is aimed at trying to
prevent such spills.
The three politicians said they will lobby for changes in
the Clean Water Act. The act sets a uniform sewage-treatment
standard--called secondary sewage treatment--for all cities
in the nation.
[The San Diego Union, Jan. 26, 1990]
Sewer Project Foes Meet
Three local officials traveled to a proposed South Bay
sewage-treatment plant site yesterday to continue their
campaign to overturn what they called the city's
``bureaucratic boondoogle'' decision for a $2.86 billion
sewage system upgrade.
San Diego City Councilman Bob Filner and County Supervisor
Brian Bilbray, whose districts include the Tijuana estuary
site proposed for the plant, were joined by San Diego City
Councilman Bruce Henderson, an early critic of the massive
sewage-system overhaul.
``This is a fight that we can still win,'' Henderson said
at the site, just north of the entrance to Border Field State
Park, on the coast between the international boundary and
southern Imperial Beach city limits.
[[Page H10173]]
The three argued that the sewage-system upgrade would harm
rather than help the environment. They called for more
detailed scientific studies on the impacts to the Tijuana
River estuary and ocean floor where the treated sewage would
be discharged.
They want to begin efforts for a new waiver of federal
orders for the more advanced treatment system, have
congressional hearings to try to amend the requirements of
the U.S. Clean Water Act, or mount a court challenge to the
federal and state lawsuit filed to force the city into
federal compliance.
____
[The San Diego Union, Tues., Nov. 13, 1990]
Bilbray Diverts Smelly River With Bulldozer; May Have Violated Law
(By Graciela Sevilla, Staff Writer)
San Ysidro--Sitting at the controls of a bulldozer, county
Supervisor Brian Bilbray yesterday redirected the course of
the sewage-infested Tijuana River--possibly violating a
federal law.
Bilbray said he was fulfilling a promise to area residents
to ease the stench and hazard posed by the blocked river,
which had become a mosquito breeding ground.
Previously, the river flowed into a wall of willows that
caused the water to back up and flood, surrounding farm and
commercial properties, Bilbray said.
``When the water backs up and kills the willows, it creates
a massive health problem for surrounding communities,'' he
said.
By rechanneling the river to what he believes was its
original course, Bilbray estimated that he helped reduce the
area previously covered by sewage by as much as 30 percent.
The water now flows into Lake Tijuana, also known as
Shelton Pond, which lies in the midst of the Nelson & Sloan
concrete company's sand-mining operation just north of the
Mexican border.
The river and land immediately banking on it are federal
property, under the control of the International Boundary and
Water Commission (IBWC).
According to Dion McMicheaux, a local project manager for
the commission, Bilbray's action may be in violation of
federal law that requires a permit from the Army Corps of
Engineers when diverting federal waters.
However, Bilbray said he decided to take matters into his
own hands out of frustration after working for two years to
secure a permit to no avail. ``They can blame me if they find
any fault involved in it,'' Bilbray said.
The supervisor asserted that he had the backing of local
environmentalists and the County Health Department; although
he said he acted on his own.
Legal or not, Bilbray's earthmoving was applauded by
several nearby residents who said they could no longer
tolerate the sewage, mosquito and health problems caused by
the blocked river.
Ruben Marshall, owner of a vegetable farm located adjacent
to the polluted river, said: ``The IBWC, in my estimation,
has been very lax in addressing the problems of this area.''
Rosemary Nolan, a resident of Nestor who helped found the
group Citizens Revolting Against Pollution, said she was
grateful for Bilbray's intervention.
Nolan said her family and neighbors had suffered headaches,
nausea, heartburn and other ills as a result of living near
the contaminated river. ``I don't know which is worse, the
mosquitoes or the smell,'' she said.
Last September, some 100 area residents gathered in Nolan's
living room, where they started the group and aired their
complaints before Bilbray.
``He told us that if the bureaucracy didn't do anything by
October, then he'd get on a bulldozer and do something about
it himself,'' she said.
Bilbray said he secured a dozer and began putting his words
into action over the weekend. He refused to say where he
obtained the bulldozer or whether he paid for it.
As a public official, Bilbray has gotten on the business
end of a bulldozer once before in an attempt to do battle
with Tijuana River sewage.
In June 1980, during his tenure as mayor of Imperial Beach,
Bilbray drove an earthmover to create a dirt dam to stop
river sewage from contaminating and closing his seaside
community's beach.
Yesterday, Imperial Beach City Councilman Bud Harbin was
also on hand to support Bilbray's latest effort.
``Every time our beach is quarantined because of pollution
. . . this is where it comes from,'' said Harbin, standing
near the edge of the thick, black waters. ``If this is
deterred, it's going to help us down there. It's definitely a
plus for the people here and the people of IB.''
____
[The San Diego Union, Feb. 16, 1991]
Wardens Quiz Bilbray on Bulldozing of Dike
(By Frank Klimko)
County Supervisor Brain Bilbray was read his rights and
questioned in his office yesterday by a pair of state game
wardens who are investigating his bulldozing last year of an
earthen dike along the Tijuana River channel.
In another development, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
recently notified Bilbray they had finished their
investigation of the Nov. 12 incident and asked him to
consult with them before he takes any similar action in the
future.
In a Feb. 1 letter to Bilbray, Corps officials said he
violated environmental laws by not obtaining the necessary
permits before bulldozing the dike. However, no penalties
were being sought, the letter said.
Bilbray, atop a bulldozer last year, redirected the course
of the sewage-infested Tijuana River, fulfilling a promise he
made to area residents to ease the stench and hazard posed by
the blocked waterway.
The game wardens visited his office yesterday, tape-
recorded their meting after reading him his Miranda Rights,
and then left, Bilbray said. Such a declaration of rights is
normally given to criminal suspects just before they are
arrested.
They told Bilbray they were investigating whether he
violated any state fish and game laws and their findings
would be turned over to the district attorney. It could not
be determined what statutes Bilbray may be suspected of
violating.
``I told them I would talk with them,'' Bilbray said. ``It
does rattle me when someone does read me the Miranda Rights.
I don't have anything to hide here, and I told them the
facts.''
Bilbray said he bulldozed a dam that had been illegally
erected, blocking the river. Two other such dikes are still
in place near the same area, he said.
The river, which had become a breeding ground for
mosquitoes, previously flowed into a wall of willows that
caused the water to back up and flood, surrounding farm and
commercial properties, he said.
By rechanneling the river to what he said was its original
course, Bilbray estimated that he helped reduce the area
previously covered by sewage by as much as 30 percent.
``The biggest problem that existed was because of the
blockage, and my action was to remove an illegal structure
that was constituting a health threat,'' Bilbray said.
The water now flows into Lake Tijuana, also known as
Shelton Pond.
____
[The San Diego Union Jan. 1, 1991]
Emergency Sought on Pollution--Bilbray Seeks Fast Action on Cleanup of
Tijuana River Valley
(By Graciela Sevilla)
The County Board of Supervisors will consider declaring a
state of emergency next Tuesday to allow for the cleanup of
the sewage-infested Tijuana River Valley.
Supervisor Brian Bilbray is recommending that the county
join forces with Assemblyman Steve Peace, D-Chula Vista, to
request that the governor issue an emergency proclamation
releasing state funds and placing the cleanup on a fast
track.
A declaration of emergency would override state regulations
that have prevented the removal of the underbrush that causes
the polluted waters to stagnate in the valley.
``The action really should be taken now to avoid the
situation becoming a chronic problem in the summer,'' Bilbray
said.
Area residents complain that the stench and mosquito swarms
become intolerable during warm weather. The estimated 13
million gallons of contaminated water flowing daily from
Mexico also poses grave health threats.
``Without significant preventive control measures, serious
outbreaks of encephalitis and malaria will occur in this
area,'' J. William Cox, director of the county Health
Department, wrote last year.
Although local health officials have called the sewage-
infestation ``a disaster waiting to happen,'' the county
health officer cannot declare a public health emergency until
someone becomes sick from exposure to the waste.
Timing is crucial because the river valley is home to
several endangered species of birds that nest and migrate in
the area during the spring and summer.
``If we wait, it becomes a choice between endangered
species and public health,'' Bilbray said.
The county has yet to determine how much time or money it
will take to clear out the dense underbrush. According to
Peace, the Regional Water Quality Control Board has indicated
a willingness to fund the project if the emergency is
declared.
For his part, Bilbray is optimistic that San Diego will
fare well with its bid for help from Sacramento once former
San Diego Mayor Pete Wilson is inaugurated as governor.
``We have one big advantage in that the guy filling that
office this month has got a very good background on this,''
Bilbray said.
____
[The San Diego Union, Fri., Jan. 4, 1991]
Emergency Decree Might Unlock Help for Tijuana Sewage Problem
(By Graciela Sevilla)
While county supervisors are poised to declare a state of
emergency on the contaminated Tijuana River next week, just
what would follow such an unprecedented action is being
heavily debated.
County, state and federal officials are at loggerheads over
who is to blame for the delay in attacking the chronic
mosquito problem that a health official has called a
``disaster waiting to happen.''
``I think something should be done before you have sick
people,'' said County Health Officer Donald Ramras. ``Sooner
or later, if something isn't done we're going to have
encephalitis or malaria down there transmitted by
mosquitoes.''
About 13 million gallons of sewage a day flows from the
eastern hills of Tijuana into the Tijuana River Valley. For
years, the
[[Page H10174]]
South Bay residents have complained that the stench and
mosquito swarms become intolerable during warm weather.
In recent months, the residents formed a group called
Citizens Revolting Against Pollution to demand action from
public officials.
Representatives from all involved agencies agree action is
needed to solve the serious health threat to the estimated
400 families who live beside the sewage-plagued waters, but
say there are significant hurdles to clear even if an
emergency is declared.
First, a declaration of emergency is needed to release
state funds to finance the clearing of the heavy vegetation
that causes water to stagnate, enabling mosquitoes to breed.
At the urging of Assemblyman Steve Peace, D-Chula Vista,
county Supervisor Brian Bilbray will ask his colleagues
Tuesday to declare a state of emergency and to seek a similar
declaration from the governor.
Until recently, the supervisors believed Ramras was the
only county official with the authority to declare a public
health emergency, something Ramras said he cannot legally do
in this case.
A situation that has the potential for making people ill is
not enough, he explained. ``Basically you've go to show that
no only you have mosquitoes there but that they've actually
given someone encephalitis.''
But Peace insists that Ramras can declare an emergency
under state code, but has resisted doing so. ``It's been an
emerging reality on my part that somewhere there's been a
reluctance to work on the problem,'' Peace said.
Unsatisifed with Ramras' posture, Peace asked attorneys for
the state Legislature to search for a way around the impasse.
In November, he was informed that the California Emergency
Services Act allows boards of supervisors to declare a local
emergency.
If that's done, Peace said funds would be made available by
the State Water Resources Control Board for removing the
underbrush clogging the river and hampering its flow. A
spokeswoman for the agency said the board would first have to
vote to spend the money.
According to Peace, a governor's proclamation would suspend
state statutes and state agency regulations that have
hindered work efforts. However, federal agencies might still
invoke environmental concerns to limit the project.
Depending on the scope of the proposal, which has yet to be
defined, the project could require a permit from the Army
Corps of Engineers, which must authorize any project that
involves filling of wetlands.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would also evaluate the
project to determine if it would irreparably harm the
environmentally important area.
``Several state and federally listed endangered species
inhabit the river valley,'' said Martin Kinney, a Fish and
Wildlife biologist.
Streamside vegetation along the Tijuana River provides one
of the rarest wildlife habitats in the state, Kenney said. In
San Diego County, about two-thirds of such streamside areas
were destroyed between 1970 and 1987, he said.
Thus far, Kenney said the county has not presented a
proposal for removing brush. ``There's been constant talk
about doing things, but no one wants to put anything on
paper,'' he said.
``We get real defensive if they say there's an emergency
when county health and everyone has known about this for a
long time,'' the biologist said. ``Why do you wait till
January 1991 and suddenly say there's an emergency when
you've known about this for years?''
Despite the agency's concerns, Kenney said, joint planning
of such a project could make the work possible while
preventing serious harm to the environment. ``We're not
trying to say no to everything.''
Last year, cattail plants were cleared by hand from a river
valley pond after the agency revised health department plans
to burn all the vegetation in the area, Kenney said.
Peace is quick to caution that even if the underbrush is
removed, that will not permanently solve the problems of the
contaminated river area.
``There are no cheap solutions,'' Peace said. ``The
ultimate solution,'' in his estimation, will be the building
of a new $195 million sewage treatment plant, still several
years off.
In the interim, the International Boundary and Water
Commission is working with the governments of the U.S. and
Mexico to construct a pipeline that will divert errant
Tijuana sewage into Sand Diego's sewer system for treatment.
That project, now being planned and built in Mexico, is due
to be ready in February, according to Jose Valdez, the
project's principal engineer.
[From the San Diego Tribune, June 4, 1991]
County May Act to Ease Effects of Mexico Sewage
(By Ruth L. McKinnie)
A permanent solution to the Mexican sewage problem in the
Tijuana River Valley may be years away, but a reduction in
mosquito infestation and foul odor may be in sight.
County Supervisor Brian Bilbray and state Assemblyman Steve
Peace, D-Rancho San Diego, are optimistic the county can use
emergency powers to clear dense vegetation that causes sewage
stagnation in the border-area valley.
The county Board of Supervisors will consider calling a
local emergency when it meets Tuesday afternoon.
An estimated 13 million gallons of sewage flows daily
through the valley, but a complex series of state and federal
restrictions intended to protect the environment prevent the
county from tearing out willows and cattails that dam the
flow and further damage the environment.
The brush is habitat for several endangered birds,
including the least Bell's vireo and least tern.
A local emergency declaration would clear the way for Gov.-
elect Pete Wilson to call a state-level emergency and suspend
the environmental strictures, Bilbray said.
Bilbray and Peace said Wilson, who is familiar with the
sewage problem from his years as mayor of San Diego, would
likely sign an emergency proclamation.
In the meantime, disease-carrying mosquitoes known to bear
encephalitis, malaria and hepatitis continue to plague
residents of Nestor and other parts of the valley.
And the wildlife and vegetation that the environmental laws
are supposed to protect are being destroyed, Peace said.
``If you continue to do nothing, we're going to have a hot
crisis,'' he said.
Bilbray said the county cannot afford to wait months to
secure clearing permits. The removal must be done now, before
the birds return form their winter migration.
[From the San Diego Union, Jan. 9, 1991]
County to Ask Wilson's Help on Tijuana Sewage
(By Graciela Sevilla)
The county Board of Supervisors will look to the new
governor for help in abating the ``extreme peril'' posed by
the contamination of the Tijuana River Valley with raw sewage
from Mexico.
In a unanimous vote yesterday, the board declared a state
of emergency to exist in the South San Diego area, which is
flooded with an estimated 13 million gallons in raw waste
daily from across the border.
The declaration will be forwarded to Gov. Wilson with a
request that he issue a similar proclamation and seek a
presidential declaration of emergency.
Supervisor Brian Bilbray said he offered the resolution in
response to pleas for relief from some of the area's 400
residents who have lived with a terrible stench and mosquito
swarms as a result of the polluted waters.
``It's been reaching a crisis level in the last few
years,'' Bilbray said.
Valley resident Rosemary Nolan, praising the action, said:
``We hope that by declaring an emergency we can start on the
road to recovery for the South Bay community.''
Last week, County Health Officer Donald Ramras
characterized the problem as ``a disaster waiting to happen''
and warned that residents were at risk of being infected with
malaria and encephalitis by mosquitoes.
Following the vote yesterday, Bilbray said he is optimistic
about winning Wilson's support because of the former mayor's
familiarity with the situation.
``I have worked with Pete Wilson on this program since
1979,'' Bilbray said. A gubernatorial declaration would
release needed state funds and suspend state regulations that
have stymied plans to remove the heavy underbrush that causes
the contaminated waters to stagnate.
The state water board has approximately $3.5 million in its
cleanup abatement fund, some of which could be spent on the
Tijuana River Valley, according to a spokeswoman for Assembly
Steve Peace, D-Chula Vista.
A letter petitioning Wilson will be mailed by the end of
the week, Bilbray said, adding, ``We could expect an answer
by the end of the month.''
Thus far, the cost of the weed removal has not been
calculated, nor has a decision been reached on which agency
would be responsible for the work.
In lobbying for the declaration, Bilbray cautioned the
audience not to look at the proposed cleanup as a final
solution. ``This will not cure the problem, but it is one
more thing we can do here at the country,'' Bilbray said.
At the federal level, agreement has been reached between
the governments of Mexico and the United States to build a
new $195 million sewage treatment plant. That facility is not
expected to be in operation until 1995.
In the interim, the International Boundary and Water
Commission is working on a binational plan to construct a
pipeline to intercept the errant Tijuana sewage and transfer
it into the San Diego sewer system for treatment.
[From the Star News, Jan. 9, 1991]
Bilbray Says State of Emergency Needed to Deal With Raw Sewage
Supervisor Brian Bilbray wants the governor to declare a
local state of emergency to deal with raw sewage in the
Tijuana River Valley, his office recently announced.
Bilbray is trying to convince the County Board of
Supervisors to ask the governor to declare the emergency
suspending certain laws, and regulations in the emergency
area.
Suspended along with those laws would be ``presumably,
those which prohibit or delay the removal of dense underbrush
in the valley,'' Bilbray said in a letter to fellow
supervisors. That underbrush hinders efforts to control
mosquitoes that pose not only an annoyance but also a health
hazard because they carry encephalitis and malaria.
Bilbray is seeking action this winter to control the
mosquitoes breeding in the
[[Page H10175]]
spring and summer and to protect environmentally sensitive
conditions in the valley.
[From the San Diego Tribune, Jan. 9, 1991]
Health Crisis Declared Over South Bay Sewage
(By Ruth L. McKinnie)
Optimistic county officials say they hope that relief from
pesky mosquitoes and foul odors in the sewage-plagued Tijuana
River Valley is a month away.
The Board of Supervisors yesterday unanimously proclaimed a
local health emergency in the border-area valley in hopes of
getting emergency powers from the state to immediately clear
away dense vegetation that causes sewage stagnation.
Supervisor Brian Bilbray, who represents the South Bay,
said that this week the county would ask Gov. Wilson to call
a state-level emergency and suspend environmental
restrictions preventing the county from tearing out willows
and cattails that dam the sewage flow.
An estimated 13 million gallons of Mexican sewage flows
daily through the valley. Residents have long complained
about the problem, but a permanent solution is years away.
Last summer, the mosquito infestation became so acute that
residents could not go outside without being attacked by the
insects, which can transmit encephalitis, malaria and
hepatitis.
``It is reaching a crisis level,'' Bilbray said.
The supervisor and Assemblyman Steve Peace, D-Rancho San
Diego, who have been pushing for emergency measures, say
money is available from the state Regional Water Quality
Control Board to pay cleanup costs.
The county, Bilbray said, cannot wait months to get permits
to clear away the plants. He said the removal must begin
soon, before endangered birds that nest in the valley return
from their winter migration.
Wilson May Declare Crisis in South Bay
(By Ron Roach)
Sacramento--The state Assembly yesterday voted to urge Gov.
Wilson to declare a state of emergency in the Tijuana River
Valley to eradicate mosquitoes and deal with sewage-polluted
water.
A spokesman said Wilson, who is a former San Diego mayor,
is considering the request.
Minutes before Wilson's State of the State address to the
Legislature yesterday afternoon, Assemblyman Steve Peace, D-
Rancho San Diego, and Assemblywoman Dede Alpert, D-Del Mar,
won approval of the Assembly resolution, which follows
Tuesday's San Diego County supervisors' declaration of a
local health emergency in the border-area valley.
Peace represents the border area and Alpert's coastal
district includes Imperial Beach.
Peace said he discussed the resolution with Bob White,
Wilson's chief of staff, and ``was very encouraged by his
response. he said it would be great to start off with
something for San Diego'' in the first week of Wilson's
administration.
James Lee, Wilson's deputy press secretary, said Wilson
would ``take a look'' at the problem but said ``there was no
positive go-ahead signal.''
A state declaration would make funds available from the
state Regional Water Quality Control Board to bulldoze a
buffer area, kill mosquitoes and clear away dense willows and
cattails that cause sewage-polluted water to pool in the
riverbed, Peace said.
It is important, said Peace, that work start while the
weather is cool, before the insects can multiply. Otherwise,
there could be threats of malaria, encephalitis and
hepatitis, he said.
Peace said he and Supervisor Brian Bilbray and pushed the
county to act for almost a year. Normally, a county's board
of supervisors must make an official request documenting the
problem before a governor makes a disaster or emergency
declaration.
[From the Los Angeles Times, Jan. 1991]
Tijuana River Valley May Get Emergency Status on Sewage
(By Bernice Hirabayashi)
Gov. Pete Wilson was considering Thursday whether to
declare a state of emergency for the sewage-plagued Tijuana
River Valley in south San Diego County, state officials said.
The declaration would make state funds available to clean
up the border valley, through which 13 million gallons of raw
sewage from Mexico flow daily. It would also speed the permit
process that would allow removal of cattails and willows
restricting the flow of sewage to the ocean.
Assemblyman Steve Peace (D-Rancho San Diego) released a
statement saying he spoke with Bob White, Wilson's chief of
staff, Wednesday morning and ``was very encouraged by his
response.''
The Assembly threw its support behind the cleanup effort
Wednesday by passing a house resolution urging Wilson to call
a state of emergency for the area.
The action was the first to be taken by the Legislature
this year, and came a day after the County Board of
Supervisors declared a local emergency for the area, prompted
by concerns that the summer would bring a repeat of last
year's unusually large swarms of mosquitoes, which thrive in
stagnant pools of sewage in the valley. The mosquitoes from
the foul-smelling sewage can transmit encephalitis, malaria
and hepatitis to humans.
Money for the cleanup is available from the state Regional
Water Quality Control Board, said David Takashima, Peace's
chief of staff. The governor's discretionary funds, set aside
for economic uncertainty, could also be used for an emergency
cleanup.
The county hopes to construct a channel that would keep the
sewage moving out to sea instead of forming stagnant pools,
said John Woodard, chief of staff for county Supervisor Brian
Bilbray, who represents the area and has been pushing for
emergency status along with Peace for a year.
A bird on the federal endangered species list, the least,
Bell's vireo, nests in several of the valley's marshes
between fall and spring, so any work done in the valley
requires permission from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
and should be kept to the winter months, Woodward said.
[From the Tribune, Mar. 5, 1991]
Illegals Cross Sewage River--and Feds Ignore Both Problems
In a near-disaster filled with symbolism and irony for San
Diego, a group of undocumented immigrants crossing the border
illegally got caught in the sewage-laden floodwaters of the
Tijuana River during last week's storm.
Two floods met--a flood of immigrants and the flood of
sewage. Fortunately, San Diego firefighters and lifeguards
rescued the stranded immigrants.
San Diego did its job even though both issues are federal
responsibility. But because there is little interest or
understanding in Washington, D.C., about the nation's
southwestern border, San Diego is left alone to try to cope.
The federal government has agreed to help build a sewage
plant in the Tijuana River Valley to help clean up that fetid
estuary fed by millions of gallons of raw sewage every day.
But the plant won't be ready for at least five or six years.
Until then, the feds have no plans to help clean up the
sewage, which could breed encephalitis-carrying mosquitoes.
The county Board of Supervisors has asked Gov. Wilson for
emergency funds to clean up the Tijuana River, but there has
been no response from Sacramento.
As for illegal immigration, inaction by the federal
government has kept pace with the rising migration from
Mexico. Congress passed an immigration reform package last
year, and everyone in Washington cheered. Unfortunately, the
bill did absolutely nothing to solve the anarchy on our
border.
The county and city get no federal or state money to help
pay for the burden of illegal immigration. And we've received
only a pittance to defray costs of services for hundreds of
thousands of legal immigrants here who received amnesty under
the 1986 Immigration Reform Act.
San Diego is simply stuck with two serious problems not of
our making and far beyond our limited resources to handle. Is
anyone out there listening?
____
[From the San Diego Union, Mar. 15, 1991]
State to Pay to Treat TJ Sewage
(By Daniel C. Carson and Graciela Sevilla)
Sacramento--Gov. Wilson today will announce he has signed a
declaration of emergency for San Diego County and is taking
other actions to help the border region cope with raw sewage
contaminating the Tijuana River, sources say.
Wilson will be directing the state Water Resources Control
Board to release $860,000 to pay the first-year cost of
treating the Tijuana River sewage at San Diego's Point Loma
sewage plant, sources say.
This sets an important precedent, because the cost of
treating border on sewer-system ratepayers in the city of San
Diego, sources say.
Wilson's moves come in response to a resolution passed
unanimously by the San Diego County Board of Supervisors on
Jan. 8 requesting the emergency decree and financial
assistance in stemming the sewage flows from Mexico.
In winter months, an estimated 13 million gallons in raw
waste from the eastern hills of Tijuana pours into the river
each day.
The U.S. and Mexican governments, in cooperation with the
city of San Diego and the state, are building a new $195
million sewage treatment plant in the South Bay that would
capture and clean up the sewage flows. However, that plant is
not expected to begin operation before 1995.
In the interim, the U.S. International Boundary and Water
Commission is working on a plan to construct a pipeline to
intercept the flows and transfer them to the Point Loma plant
for treatment.
The gubernatorial proclamation of a state of emergency
finds that ``conditions of extreme peril to the safety of
persons and property exist within the county of San Diego.''
Word of the decree cheered Ruben D. Marshall, a farmer who
has worked the land near the river for 15 years.
``We've been through so much hell down here. It has just
been one nightmare,'' Marshall said.
County Supervisor Brian Bilbray, who as mayor of Imperial
Beach during the 1970s worked on the Tijuana sewage problem
with Wilson--then San Diego's mayor, said Wilson's actions
signal a new state commitment to solving a long-standing
public health threat.
____
[From the San Diego Tribune, Mar. 15, 1991]
Wilson Declares Sewage Emergency
(By Ron Roach)
Responding to the environmental crisis posed by sewage
flowing north from Tijuana,
[[Page H10176]]
Gov. Wilson today declared a state of emergency in San Diego
County and urged a state board to provide $860,000 to help
clean up the mess.
``The raw sewage flowing across the border creates an
extreme peril to people living and working in the area of the
Tijuana River estuary,'' said Wilson, who also called for
help from federal agencies.
The Republican governor, a former mayor of San Diego and
former U.S. senator from California, was scheduled to discuss
his action at a news conference today at Imperial Beach City
Hall.
The San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted Jan. 10 to
declare the county a disaster area and seek a state
declaration of emergency.
The United States and Mexico have agreed to build a
treatment plant north of the border to deal with the daily
problem of millions of gallons of Tijuana sewage, but the
plant will not be completed until 1995.
San Diego city government has agreed to divert the sewage
to its Point Loma plant, Wilson said, because of the need to
move quickly and resolve a public health threat caused by an
estimated 13 million gallons of sewage daily. The diversion
project, costing $860,000 a year, is expected to start in
April, the governor said.
In a letter to Don Maughan, chairman of the State Water
Resources Control Board, the governor urged the board to, at
its March 21 meeting, approve $860,000 from the state Cleanup
and Abatement Fund as first-year costs of sewage treatment.
Although it is a state agency, the board is independent from
the governor's authority.
Wilson also wrote to U.S. Secretary of State James Baker,
seeking help with his request that the International Boundary
and Water Commission provide treatment funds for the city for
the interim years, 1992 to 1995, or until the international
facility is operating.
Writing to Baker, Wilson said: ``The City of San Diego is
unable nor should it be expected to bear these costs.
Commission or federal government funds should be provided to
San Diego to cover costs for interim treatment after the
first year.''
The governor wrote a third letter, to U.S. Interior
Secretary Manuel Lujan, urging Lujan to direct the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service to help San Diego County divert sewage
flows by clearing brush along the Tijuana River to allow for
more effective use of insecticide to kill mosquitoes.
Wilson said diverting sewage will reduce dry weather flows
in the channel, but mosquito problems will remain during wet
weather and possibly in standing pools at various times.
``To fully alleviate the mosquito and sewage problems, the
city and county of San Diego believe it will be necessary to
perform minor channeling and brush clearing in specific
areas,'' Wilson told Lujan.
While there is a government duty to protect the nation's
wetlands, Wilson said in the letter to Lujan:
``We must not lose sight of the fact . . . that the
wetlands in question exist today because of raw-sewage flows.
Even raising the question of mitigations and offsets in this
case--as has been done by Fish and Wildlife Service--goes
well beyond the concept of sound environmental management.
Our focus clearly must be on protecting the public's health
and safety, by removing their exposure to raw sewage and the
attendant mosquito problem it has created.''
____
[From the San Diego Union, Mar. 16, 1991]
Border Breathes Sigh of Relief as Wilson Acts on Tijuana Sewage
(By Dwight C. Daniels)
Imperial Beach--Jeanie Gomez breathed a sign of relief
yesterday as Gov. Wilson announced his move to combat the 13
million gallons of Mexican sewage that flow daily into the
dank and brackish Tijuana River estuary near here.
Wilson's declaration of a state of emergency will serve as
a tool to get around international entanglements and federal
and state regulations to solve the effluent problem.
The governor's action directs the Water Resources Control
Board to release $860,000 to finance first-year costs of
treating the diverted effluent at the Point Loma sewage-
treatment plant.
``We've got people who have been unable to act, it seems,
because they were restrained by regulations and even by
law,'' the governor said, calling the raw sewage ``an extreme
peril to people living and working in the area.''
He said he also sent a letter to Interior Secretary Manual
Lujan to ask for his intervention with U.S. Fish and Game
authorities to ``allow early action by the county . . . to
deal with this problem.''
The governor's action was good news to Gomez and the
families who live in more than 400 homes that border the
estuary, which Wilson toured before his midmorning news
conference. The sewage has long caused county health
officials to voice concerns about possible water-borne
diseases.
State and local officials echoed that relief after the
announcement, with county Supervisor Brian Bilbray and
Assemblyman Steve Peace, D-Chula Vista, leading the chorus.
Bilbray--who repeatedly has risked breaking state laws by
using a bulldozer to rechannel or block effluent in the
estuary--said the governor ``has the guts to take this issue
head-on when others would only talk.''
Peace pointed out that Wilson overruled advice of key
staffers to take the move, which is seen as a precedent
because the full cost of sewage treatment has previously
fallen on San Diego ratepayers.
The actions came after a unanimous vote by county
supervisors Jan. 8 requesting an emergency decree and
financial assistance.
The governor's actions included a letter to U.S. Secretary
of State James A. Baker that urges the State Department to
intercede with the International Boundary and Water
Commission to fund the remaining years of work to build the
$195 million U.S./Mexican sewage-treatment facility set to be
completed in 1995.
Rosemary Nolan, president of the Citizens Revolting Against
Pollution, a grass-roots coalition long involved in
advocating a solution to solve the sewage quandary, stood at
Wilson's side as he made the announcement.
____
Congressman Bilbray's Statement for the Opening of the South Bay
International Wastewater Treatment Plant
San Diego, CA--The following is a text of Congressman Brian
Bilbray's (R-CA) remarks during the opening ceremony of the
South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant:
``It gives me great satisfaction to be here to participate
in this event today. A great deal of blood, sweat, and tears
has been invested in the engineering showpiece we are here to
celebrate, and I'm not even talking about the actual
construction of the project. All of you who have been and
remain closely involved with the implementation of this
process, and there are too many to mention by name, know what
I'm talking about. You all have earned a great pat on the
back, and you're all to be commended for helping to get us
this far. It is my great hope that we can continue to set
aside what policy differences some of us may have, and focus
on the bottom line that we all share--that is putting our
money where our mouths are, walking the walk and not just
talking the talk, and working together to establish
functioning public health strategies that will keep our
children healthy and our beaches open.''
``It is a testimony to the magnitude of this project that
we have such a strong and diverse alliance here today to mark
its opening. Mayor Golding and I have been working on the
border pollution problem for longer than either of us care to
remember. Bob Filner and I have, with one or two notable
exceptions, been able to work together so well on the
pollution issue that we've managed to earn the scorn of our
more strident and partisan colleagues in both parties. And
all the dignitaries with us up here today have done so much
of the heavy lifting that I will leave the telling of it to
them.''
``With EPA, well, most of you know that I've done battle
with EPA in the past on other issues. But I've said from day
one, when EPA is right, I'll be in their corner; when they
aren't, then they'll hear from me. I think EPA, like the
other groups and individuals here today who care about the
South Bay, has during this process learned the value of
soliciting public input, listening to people's concerns,
and incorporating them into the final analysis. Without
these basic building blocks, without talking to the man
and woman on the street, all the finest Agency planning in
the world counts for nothing. This goes both ways--those
who choose to roll up their sleeves and participate in a
constructive manner in the planning and implementation
process will earn the credibility of their neighbors and
their peers, whether or not they agree 100%. Those who
prefer to set up obstacles to progress risk losing their
own credibility, if the greater good suffers as a
result.''
``And this treatment plant is clearly devoted to serving
the public good.''
``And so it goes forward from today--we must be guided both
by the people and by the science as it applies to the South
Bay. We must all be prepared--President Clinton, his
departments and agencies, Congress, and the communities--to
move forward with the next step. In order to provide the
needed level of protection to the public health, the
environment, and our ocean resources, we must especially be
led by sound science.''
``I have put my colleagues in the House of Representatives
on notice from Day One, and will be working in the months to
come to educate them to the threat which this facility, and
its future components, will help allay. The Administration is
well aware of the lengths to which I'm prepared to go--I will
do whatever is necessary to provide the appropriate and
required level of treatment at this facility. As it now
stands, the Clean Water Act requires certain standards be met
to protect the public health, and I expect nothing less than
a full commitment to this from the federal government--it has
entered into a pact with the people which must be kept.''
``For too long, it was easy to make excuses and hold these
border issues at arms length; there were other priorities,
other needs, and the border was far away--someone else's
problem. Now, we've thrown a rock through the proverbial
window, and served out notice that the time for excuses has
long passed. We have accomplished a great deal with the
official opening of this facility today, but we aren't done
yet. I look forward to continued cooperation and productivity
in ensuring that we can have another ceremony, not too long
from now, to celebrate the fact that this plant is operating
at the level it needs to be to protect our communities and
our oceans.''
``Thank you.''
[[Page H10177]]
Mr. LUTHER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from
California (Mr. Filner).
Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding this time
to me, and I rise reluctantly to oppose this measure this evening. I
thank the chairman of the committee for his outline of the situation.
He is correct. The situation is as he described, as someone who
represents the adjacent district to the gentleman from California (Mr.
Bilbray) and whose district has that sewage flowing through it to Mr.
Bilbray's. And I thank him for his attention to it, and what I heard
was his commitment to resolve it.
And when I say reluctantly, I say that to my friend, the gentleman
from California (Mr. Bilbray) because my colleagues should know that
there have not been probably two people who have worked more closely
or, I think, more effectively to resolve this issue over the last
decade than the gentleman from California (Mr. Bilbray) and myself. He
was a county supervisor before he became a Member of Congress. I was a
city councilman. Our districts completely interlocked, and we worked
hand in hand to address this issue, and we had success. Nobody has made
more progress over the last decade than we were able to do working
together, working together in local government, working together in the
Congress, working together with Mexico.
We have seen the building of the international wastewater treatment
plant which, when the out fall is completed by the end of November, we
will open and go a long way toward resolving that problem. And that
treatment plant was built in San Diego with the cooperation of Mexico
and the City of Tijuana and the State of Baja. So the gentleman knows
that we have worked hand in hand on these issues.
I agree with the gentleman from California (Mr. Bilbray) when he says
he wants a forum to educate Congress and he wants to raise awareness,
and we are doing that, but this is the wrong way to complete that job.
It is only a sense of Congress, as the gentleman pointed out. It is not
legally binding. So there is not much effect if it does pass.
The language that the gentleman from California (Mr. Bilbray) uses
threatens sanctions with Mexico. It implies that we are going to look
at loan guarantees and foreign aid. I will tell the gentleman, though,
even if we eliminated the foreign aid, direct foreign assistance to
Mexico, tomorrow, it constitutes less than 0.001 percent of our total
trade. So I am not sure what effect it has in the real world, except
the way Mexico and its officials take it and how they will react in the
kinds of discussions that we have participated in for over a decade,
and I am sure we will be continuing to participate in in the next
decade.
The resolution of the gentleman does nothing to clean up the
pollution and the sewage that he so eloquently describes. It is a real
problem for the gentleman's constituents, for my constituents. That is
why we have worked together to develop infrastructure. That is why NAD
Bank recently granted $16 million to develop a parallel sewage
conveyance system and to help Tijuana upgrade its sewage treatment
plant.
That is why as I have a letter here from the commissioner of the
International Boundary and Water Commission, Mr. Bernal, who we both
know very well, who is reporting on an agreement on the Mexicali II
project that was just executed. Mexicali working with both countries
have put in the money for a wastewater system capacity for the city of
Mexicali for a pump station and wastewater treatment plant. The U.S. is
providing 55 percent; Mexico 45 percent. I think that is the kind of
cooperation that we need.
The problem is real. We have heard it. The answer is cooperation, not
threats, not sanctions. We have made great progress. The gentleman
knows that. The gentleman is one of the chief architects of that
cooperation. Let us not put that cooperation in jeopardy.
The administration, the State Department, opposes this bill. The
Mexican Government opposes the bill. I would say to the gentleman from
California (Mr. Bilbray) we have correspondence from the embassy and
our good friend the consul in San Diego wondering why, after just
having attended meetings with him, the gentleman has taken a position
which seems to be very hostile. It puts people in a very difficult
situation when we try and negotiate agreements all across our border.
So I rise reluctantly because the gentleman and I have worked for so
long together on these issues and I look forward to working with the
gentleman over the next years on these to solve them but let us work
with a cooperative tone and not a tone that threatens sanctions.
Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 additional minutes to the
gentleman from California (Mr. Bilbray).
Mr. BILBRAY. Mr. Speaker, I want to respond to my colleague from
California (Mr. Filner) and point out that on environmental issues we
should never threaten, but we should also never be afraid to hold
people to standards. We should just be cooperative. Frankly, let us
recognize about this, is that we have to date been very cooperative.
The fact is, Mexico City and Washington, D.C. have not been as
sensitive to the problem. As my colleague has pointed out, we have
built a lot of projects, but the beaches are still polluted.
A $2 million project for a pipeline by itself does not make the
beaches any cleaner and does not make the public any safer. Let me
point out to my colleague, he may not be aware of the meeting we had
this August, but I participated in that meeting. Showing the lack of
sensitivity we can get on both sides, we still have 9 million gallons
of drinking water pouring into raw sewage, spreading the pollution more
onto Mexico's side.
The word I have gotten on this is that the resources and the
commitment by Mexico City has been lacking. The frustration of the
people in Tijuana is that Mexico City needs to be more aware of this. I
appreciate the fact that the gentleman participated in this discussion,
because the International Boundary and Water commissioner mentioned by
the gentleman from California (Mr. Filner) has this week delivered this
sense of Congress to Mexico City. So hopefully it will tell everybody--
let us work together.
Let me point out that my reference to reviewing treaties and existing
commitments may not necessarily mean reductions, but may also mean
increases in resources under existing relationships. But it does mean
that we will look at this substantially.
I challenge my colleagues again to say that outcome does not matter
here. All I am saying is, all the treatment plants, all the talk, all
the negotiations, all of the relationships are fabulous, but if they do
not make the environment safe for the children of Tijuana and San Diego
and Imperial Beach, then all we are is a bunch of diplomats and
politicians sitting around talking, patting ourselves on the back while
our children are exposed to hepatitis, and God knows what else.
Mr. Speaker, I would ask my colleagues to consider that and consider
the kids that continue to be exposed. All I am asking is a sense of
Congress that says this is important enough for us to review everything
and let us talk about it, let us look it over. Let us set the standard
that ending pollution is what we care about, not just the building of
projects.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Blunt). The gentleman from Minnesota
(Mr. Luther) has 13\1/2\ minutes remaining. The gentleman from New York
(Mr. Gilman) has 5\1/2\ minutes remaining.
Mr. LUTHER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from
Texas (Mr. Rodriguez).
(Mr. RODRIGUEZ asked and was given permission to revise and extend
his remarks.)
Mr. RODRIGUEZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition to the
resolution that is before us. The problems do exist in Tijuana but they
also exist along the entire length of the U.S.-Mexican border,
including my south Texas district. I represent probably the next
largest sector next to one additional Congressman in Texas. I want my
colleagues to know that I have problems also with potable water. I have
problems with sewage. I have problems with Third World conditions and I
am not talking about Mexico; I am talking about the United States.
We also have an obligation to make sure that our cities have
appropriate sewage plants, and we do not.
[[Page H10178]]
{time} 2215
We are having a serious problem. I recognize that the efforts that
are being made, and hopefully this will be an opportunity to bring to
light what occurs in the area. But if anyone has received most of the
NAD Bank money it has been Tijuana and not south Texas where we are
suffering also for some of those same conditions.
At this time is not the time to start pointing fingers at Mexico. We
need to look at ourselves and what we are also doing to the river, what
we are also doing to the environment, and in the way we are also
allowing Maquilladoras to go across the border and create part that
have pollution.
This resolution is a heavy-handed, counterproductive approach that
could set back existing cooperations with Mexico to deal with serious
environmental issues along the entire border. I would attest to my
colleagues that Mexico is making a sincere effort at moving in some of
those areas, just like we are trying to do.
I am frustrated because I recognize that my communities do not have
the resources. I need 30 million in 1 little community, and I am
talking again about the U.S. I am not talking about Mexico that
requires some money for potable water.
So, as I indicated to my colleagues, I do represent constituents on
the U.S.-Mexico in south Texas who are facing pressing environmental
problems on both sides of the border.
Through the International Boundary Water Commission, the Border
Environmental Cooperation Commission, and the NAD Bank, we are working
to solve some of these problems. I know it is going to take a long
time.
I am hoping that the U.S. provides assistance to those Third World
conditions that exist in the United States, and that we should take the
initiative, and we should set the example, also, before we start to
throwing stones across the river.
The Board of environmental Cooperation Commission has approved 24
environmental projects on both sides of the border with 14 in
construction phase and eight pending construction. For every dollar we
appropriate to the Board of Environmental Cooperation Commission,
Mexico has been matching that. Do we want to jeopardize that ongoing
projects? I do not think so.
Sure, three or more problems are delayed with these projects, but the
bottom line is this particular resolution will not solve those existing
problems that we have there, and we need to begin to work cooperatively
as we move forward.
I want to also emphasize that the U.S. Department of State has
indicated that they oppose this effort and that this is not the way of
going about making things happen. I would ask that, as we move forward,
that we look at that infrastructure that needs to be developed.
I would also attest to my colleagues that we have got to be careful
when we do that. We are right now at the verge of putting a waste site
which is nuclear and right on the Sierra Blanca, right on the border.
That has direct impact. Mexico has protested the fact because it
violates certain other treaties.
When my colleagues talk about the language on their particular, it
does talk about treaties. What are we talking about? Look at all the
treaties that we have had with Mexico ever since. Are we going to go
back to the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.
I think we need to be realistic about some of these items. I think we
need to really look at the problems. But it does give us an opportunity
to hold our own government accountable for Third World conditions that
exist in the border.
I am hoping that, if nothing else, this issue allows us an
opportunity to look at that. But I would also ask my colleagues to vote
against this effort. I want to thank the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr.
Luther) for allowing me this opportunity to say a few words. I ask my
colleagues to vote no.
Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to the
gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fox), a member of our committee.
Mr. FOX of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to
rise in support of H.Con.Res. 331, the legislation introduced by the
gentleman from California (Mr. Bilbray).
Certainly this is the kind of legislation that is positive. It is
going to bring forth, hopefully, the kind of environmental improvement
that is much needed in California.
The flow of sewage from Tijuana has forced the beach closures.
Certainly by bringing this problem to the attention of the Mexican
government does not in any way jeopardize our relationship with them.
We have a very close relationship with Mexico, working together with
them on port access, loan guarantees, foreign aid. We have a very close
relationship.
However, we need to work jointly on this problem, and we will,
because this just highlights the need of, frankly, the White House, I
am sure working with Congress, can take the leadership of the gentleman
from California (Mr. Bilbray) and others, bring up how we need to solve
this issue.
The gentleman from Texas (Mr. Rodriguez) raises a very important
point about the problems we have in Texas. That does not mean we should
not work on the problem with Texas; but this resolution deals with
Mexico, and we need to a make sure that we work on this particular
resolution now, and we will deal with Texas next. That does not mean we
should forsake one for the other.
I frankly feel that the gentleman from California (Mr. Bilbray) has,
for a long time, brought to our attention, Mr. Speaker, the importance
of environmental protection, the importance of saving our beaches and
making sure the air and water are pure. I have to compliment him on
bringing this issue forward and making sure we deal with it in a
sensitive matter.
This resolution, frankly, only advances that inquiry, brings us
toward a solution, and we should support H. Con. Res. 331 in a
bipartisan fashion.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Blunt). The gentleman from Minnesota
(Mr. Luther) has 9\1/2\ minutes remaining. The gentleman from New York
(Mr. Gilman) has 3\1/2\ minutes remaining.
Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, we have the right to close, I believe, in
which case, we suggest the gentleman go ahead. We have only one more
speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. LUTHER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 6 minutes to the gentleman from
California (Mr. Becerra).
Mr. BECERRA. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the gentleman for
yielding and for being here at this late hour managing this bill along
with the chairman and my other colleagues who have taken the time to
speak on this matter.
Let me also thank my colleague and friend, the gentleman from San
Diego, California (Mr. Bilbray), for raising this issue. But,
unfortunately, I must disagree with the way he has done this.
As the gentleman from California (Mr. Bilbray) said, this is only a
sense of Congress. This bill will not have any practical legal affect
on our laws and how we conduct our affairs, at least not immediately.
It is, in essence, a message bill. Unfortunately, the message it
sends is not that this is just a sense of Congress that there is a
problem between our two countries of Mexico and the U.S. along our
borders, but it sends a different message. The message that will be
received, not here, but in Mexico will be one of threats.
While the gentleman from California (Mr. Bilbray) raises a very
important point that we must take care of our environmental matters
between two sovereign nations, in this case, our country and the
country of Mexico, I do not believe that anyone south of the border
reading this sense of Congress would believe that this is a
cooperative, collaborative approach to resolving the problems that are
disturbing the folks in San Diego.
Let us make it clear, the folks in San Diego have every right to be
concerned. The folks in Tijuana, Mexico have every right to be
concerned. But what we should not do is say that we will unilaterally
take action if we do not believe the Mexican government and the Tijuana
government have done enough to resolve this problem.
That is what we are faced with in this sense of Congress, which will
have no immediate legal effect. It is a message bill. But the message
it sends is that we are doing this today. The message we may get back
from the Mexican government and the Tijuana government is, tomorrow we
will do something similar.
[[Page H10179]]
Let me give my colleagues an example. For many decades, the Mexican
public, the Mexican government has complained that the U.S. Government
allows its people, its State governments, and local governments to
extract too much water from the Colorado River, the best of the
Colorado River; and also that our people, our governments, our industry
is depositing too much into the Colorado River, which is not good. So
that by the time the Colorado River crosses the southern border and
gets into Mexico, what they have left of a very rich vibrant river is
not much. They say you, U.S., you should be doing more about this. They
have been saying this for decades.
Would we want to see a resolution from the Mexican government that
says they unilaterally are sending us a sense of their Mexican Congress
that the U.S. has not done enough, and because it has not done enough,
then the Mexican government can unilaterally start reviewing all its
treaties, all its agreements with our country that it has signed?
I do not believe we would take kindly to that, because we would say
we are trying. I do not believe anybody thinks that the U.S. Government
and its people are trying to give Mexico polluted, unusable, nonpotable
water. But the Mexican government and the Mexican people probably would
say, well, you may not believe it to be the case, but what we see is
much different.
Let me give my colleagues another example. Recently this Congress
voted, this year this Congress voted, as the gentleman from Texas (Mr.
Rodriguez) mentioned, voted to site a hazardous waste deposit site
along the Texas Mexico border, the Sierra Blanca site in Texas.
The Mexican government protested to the U.S. Government and to the
State governments of the States involved that would be depositing this
hazardous waste along the border that this was unjust, it was unfair,
that much of the hazardous waste would migrate at the end into Mexican
territory and affect the lives of Mexican people.
They also pointed out, as we here pointed out, that this hazardous
site is on top of an existing earthquake fault. And if ruptures as a
result of any earth quake would occur, that could expose many people,
Mexican and U.S. individuals, to the effects of this hazardous waste.
All of that is to say this, we all have examples of how our
governments, our peoples perhaps are not working in the fashion that
the other people and the other government would like to see. What we
should be doing is what we have done, and in the case of this
particular environmental problem in and around Tijuana, the two
governments have done, and they have worked cooperatively.
Mexico and the U.S. have been working cooperatively for a number of
years on the South International Wastewater Treatment Plant, which is
about to start up its operation. In addition, the U.S. and Mexican
governments are working through the International Boundary and Water
Commission to clean sewer lines and also to construct a back-up system
to the current coastal sewage conveyance and treatment system.
They are doing things. But we can certainly argue that we have not
seen enough done. But is this the way we treat a partner, someone we
say we cooperate with? I think that is the problem.
If we are going to use threats, if we are going to use our muscle,
then we should realize that we should be prepared to face the
consequences of someone responding in kind. I do not believe that is
what we should do with a solid trading partner.
I do believe we send messages, but send messages as a partner would
send a message that we want to work with them and we want to improve
the conditions. We want to do it together. Because there are people on
both sides of the border who will be affected.
I believe the intent of the gentleman from San Diego is eminently
good, well-intended, but I do not believe, unfortunately, this sense of
Congress gets us there. I would urge my colleagues to vote against this
resolution.
Mr. LUTHER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I simply want to say that I think this has been a good,
healthy discussion. I appreciate the various points of view that have
been presented. We all clearly wants to clean up the environment. That
is not the issue here.
I commend the gentleman from California (Mr. Bilbray) for coming
forth. I think it has been terrific that we have heard this debate
because, clearly, it is a more complex issue than what initially meets
the eye.
There are many facets to this discussion, this debate. Of course that
is why the administration has concerns about this legislation.
I think the real issue here is how do we best clean up the
environment. How do we best approach this? Do we do it through this
approach in this legislation, or do we continue the cooperative efforts
that the administration has embarked upon in the past and are
continuing to undertake?
So I would simply ask the Members to vote their conscience, vote
their point of view on this particular issue. I know there is a variety
of points of view within our caucus as I am sure there are in the
gentleman's.
I thank the Members again, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Gilman),
for his bringing this before us. I urge everyone to look at this issue
carefully and to simply vote their point of view on the issue.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
{time} 2230
Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from Minnesota
(Mr. Luther) for conducting a very good debate on this measure.
Mr. Speaker, to close our arguments on our side, I yield such time as
he may consume to the gentleman from California (Mr. Bilbray).
Mr. BILBRAY. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleagues. I really
want to thank my colleagues who have experience related to the
Fronteras pollution problems. Let me just tell my colleagues, this is
20 years that I have been trying to address this issue. The reason why
I came to Congress probably more so than anything else is the
reputation I have had trying to confront the environmental problems.
The fact is that in 1980 I almost went to jail over this issue.
Somebody that was willing to stand up, and senior citizens and children
stood up and said, enough is enough. Our government has to start
addressing this issue. They were frustrated because they were just a
working-class community. They did not have a lot of political clout, a
lot of influence, but they felt, we are Americans. We have as much
right to be defended and protected from environmental problems as
wealthy people. Just because the color of our skin may be a little
darker, we may be a little poorer, does not mean we do not have
environmental rights.
Now, I say to my colleague from Texas, I agree with him, and I want
to work with him, and I will commit myself to working with him. The
fact is that the Clean Water Act should apply just as much for
pollution across the border as it does for within the border. But the
frustration of a working-class neighborhood that is told by EPA that
they will go to jail if they dump their sewage while that same working
community is polluted by somebody else, and the EPA does not clean it
up.
The NAD Bank, there can be more things done with the NAD Bank, and I
would really point out that there is agreements by the bank to build
projects in the Republic of Mexico 60 miles from the border, which I
think ought to be taken care of, the landfill at Punta Penasco and the
sewer treatment plant in Ensenada. But the border problems should be
given the highest priority, because they are the ones that are really
the threat to our growing prosperity.
Now, let me get back to this issue. I met with Mexico, articulated to
Mexico that this is as much a message to the Federal Government of the
United States as it is to Mexico. They understand the concerns. Those
who say that we do not want to disturb Mexico or they might take it
inappropriately, let me assure my colleague, in 1978, that is exactly
what the young neighbor at Imperial Beach was told by the Carter
administration, because an oil deal was going through, and they did not
want to jeopardize an economic oil deal over just an environmental
problem in a working-class neighborhood in the corner of the United
States.
Now, Mr. Speaker, I do not think anyone here believes that we should
be
[[Page H10180]]
selling out the environment for any economic deal. Those days are over
with. The fact is, we need to send a very clear message, not just to
Mexico, but to ourselves, that we will not allow the continuation of
the pollution of our environment just because it is convenient to look
the other way for economic or political reasons; that every
neighborhood in the United States has the right to a clean, healthy
environment, and the Federal Government of the United States has as
much responsibility to the environment along the border as it does
anywhere else in this country.
Mr. Speaker, I am not half as concerned as the message this body
could send to Mexico. We have already sent it, it has been delivered.
What I am concerned about is the message we send to our fellow citizens
here in the United States. There is much prejudice against Mexico, and
I want to stop that, and I think the one way we stop it is by sending a
clear message to American citizens that this body, the sense of
Congress, is that we will not sell out the environment of America for
economic advantage. We will place the environment of the United States
and the citizens who live in that environment first and foremost in all
of our relationships.
I ask my colleagues, please, to pull together and just say, let us
work together so that we make sure our relationships with Mexico and
the United States and the environment are all cleaned up together. That
kind of commitment is what I am asking for today.
I ask for approval of this resolution, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from
California for his very eloquent argument.
Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back
the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Blunt). The question is on the motion
offered by the gentleman from New York (Mr. Gilman) that the House
suspend the rules and agree to the resolution, H. Res. 331.
The question was taken.
Mr. BECERRA. Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a
quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not
present.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 5 of rule 1 and the
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be
postponed.
The point of no quorum is considered withdrawn.
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