[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 131 (Friday, October 1, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H9238]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        NO EPA OR IBWC EXTORTION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Filner) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to talk about a situation in 
San Diego, California on the border with Mexico, and I rise to object 
to a move by our very own Environmental Protection Agency to attempt to 
block a plan, a plan to treat 50 million gallons a day of raw sewage 
that flows from Mexico into the United States, a plan that was 
unanimously supported by this House of Representatives. The plan 
involves treating Mexican sewage that is flowing into the United States 
in Mexico. What can make more sense?
  But the EPA supports a less comprehensive plan to build sewage 
treatment ponds in the United States. And to get its way, the EPA seems 
to be extorting support for the U.S. plant from Mexico. In fact, the 
EPA has told Mexico that if the sewage treatment ponds are built in the 
United States by their plan, rather than the House of Representatives 
plan, the EPA would have $9 million left over to help Mexico with 
Tijuana-area sewage projects. And if the treatment plant were to be 
built in Mexico, according to the plan approved by this House, with a 
private firm's money, EPA says Mexico gets no money from the U.S. 
Government for their infrastructure needs.
  Mr. Speaker, that simply does not make sense. It is extortion, if I 
may speak bluntly. If a private firm builds a plant in Mexico, then the 
EPA would have its entire fund of $54 million available for 
infrastructure improvements in the Tijuana/San Diego area. It is hard 
to believe that the Environmental Protection Agency would not even 
consider working together with Mexico in this way to solve an 
international problem.
  And to make matters worse, the International Boundary and Waters 
Commission, known as the IBWC, is a partner in this extortion. This is 
the bureaucratic sabotaging of a plan that the House voted unanimously 
to pursue. It thwarts the Mexican government's fair and open review of 
a proposal that promises environmental benefits to the United States 
and clean water for Mexico.
  It is an outrage, Mr. Speaker, that this win-win international 
solution for the problem of sewage that has plagued us and our area for 
50 years may never be fully explored. The EPA has a 2-year history of 
obstructing the consideration of any other proposal to conduct sewage 
treatment at our border. Mexico is where the sewage starts and Mexico, 
by right, owns the water from any treatment plant. Why is the EPA 
opposed to building treatment ponds, then, in Mexico? I cannot 
understand how an agency such as EPA, which I support in the main and 
which is charged with protecting the environment of the United States, 
can be preventing a long-term or comprehensive solution to this 
problem.
  The gentleman from California (Mr. Bilbray) and I share the problem 
of Mexican sewage on the beaches and in the riverbeds of our districts. 
We have asked EPA, we have asked IBWC to work with us and to work with 
this House to solve the problem. We want those agencies to assure the 
Mexican government that they can undertake a fair review of this 
House's proposal without facing the possibility of loss of 
infrastructure help. We want the Mexican government, as supported by 
the gentleman from California (Mr. Bilbray) and myself and hopefully 
with EPA and IBWC, to get Mexico to do a fair, objective review of this 
proposal and tell us how long it would take and what steps have to be 
done to implement it.

                              {time}  1330

  Mr. Speaker, the bureaucrats in EPA and IBWC have employed 
spectacularly poor judgment on this issue. Let us hope that they come 
to their senses soon. We look forward to continuing to work with them 
to create a long-term solution that will protect the environment of our 
districts in San Diego, of the international border in the southwest 
corner of our Nation.

                          ____________________