[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 12]
[House]
[Pages 17760-17765]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



   TIJUANA RIVER VALLEY ESTUARY AND BEACH SEWAGE CLEANUP ACT OF 2000

  Mr. LaTOURETTE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 3378) to authorize certain actions to address the 
comprehensive treatment of sewage emanating from the Tijuana River in 
order to substantially reduce river and ocean pollution in the San 
Diego border region, as amended.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                               H.R. 3378

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Tijuana River Valley Estuary 
     and Beach Sewage Cleanup Act of 2000''.

     SEC. 2. PURPOSE.

       The purpose of this Act is to authorize the United States 
     to take actions to address comprehensively the treatment of 
     sewage emanating from the Tijuana River area, Mexico, that 
     flows untreated or partially treated into the United States 
     causing significant adverse public health and environmental 
     impacts.

     SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

       In this Act, the following definitions apply:
       (1) Administrator.--The term ``Administrator'' means the 
     Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.
       (2) Commission.--The term ``Commission'' means the United 
     States section of the International Boundary and Water 
     Commission, United States and Mexico.
       (3) IWTP.--The term ``IWTP'' means the South Bay 
     International Wastewater Treatment Plant constructed under 
     the provisions of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 
     U.S.C. 1251 et seq.), section 510 of the Water Quality Act of 
     1987 (101 Stat. 80-82), and Treaty Minutes to the Treaty for 
     the Utilization of Waters of the Colorado and Tijuana Rivers 
     and of the Rio Grande, dated February 3, 1944.
       (4) Secondary treatment.--The term ``secondary treatment'' 
     has the meaning such term has under the Federal Water 
     Pollution Control Act and its implementing regulations.
       (5) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
     of State.
       (6) Mexican facility.--The term ``Mexican facility'' means 
     a proposed public-private wastewater treatment facility to be 
     constructed and operated under this Act within Mexico for the 
     purpose of treating sewage flows generated within Mexico, 
     which flows impact the surface waters, health, and safety of 
     the United States and Mexico.
       (7) MGD.--The term ``mgd'' means million gallons per day.

      SEC. 4. ACTIONS TO BE TAKEN BY THE COMMISSION AND THE 
                   ADMINISTRATOR.

       (a) Secondary Treatment.--
       (1) In general.--Subject to the negotiation and conclusion 
     of a new Treaty Minute or the amendment of Treaty Minute 283 
     under section 5, and notwithstanding section 510(b)(2) of the 
     Water Quality Act of 1987 (101 Stat. 81), the Commission is 
     authorized and directed to provide for the secondary 
     treatment of a total of not more than 50 mgd in Mexico--
       (A) of effluent from the IWTP if such treatment is not 
     provided for at a facility in the United States; and
       (B) of additional sewage emanating from the Tijuana River 
     area, Mexico.
       (2) Additional authority.--Subject to the results of the 
     comprehensive plan developed under subsection (b) revealing a 
     need for additional secondary treatment capacity in the San 
     Diego-Tijuana border region and recommending the provision of 
     such capacity in Mexico, the Commission may provide not more 
     than an additional 25 mgd of secondary treatment capacity in 
     Mexico for treatment described in paragraph (1).
       (b) Comprehensive Plan.--Not later than 24 months after the 
     date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall 
     develop a comprehensive plan with stakeholder involvement to 
     address the transborder sanitation problems in the San Diego-
     Tijuana border region. The plan shall include, at a minimum--
       (1) an analysis of the long-term secondary treatment needs 
     of the region;
       (2) an analysis of upgrades in the sewage collection system 
     serving the Tijuana area, Mexico; and
       (3) an identification of options, and recommendations for 
     preferred options, for additional sewage treatment capacity 
     for future flows emanating from the Tijuana River area, 
     Mexico.
       (c) Contract.--
       (1) In general.--Subject to the availability of 
     appropriations to carry out this subsection and 
     notwithstanding any provision of Federal procurement law, 
     upon conclusion of a new Treaty Minute or the amendment of 
     Treaty Minute 283 under section 5, the Commission may enter 
     into a fee-for-services contract with the owner of a Mexican 
     facility in order to carry out the secondary treatment 
     requirements of subsection (a) and make payments under such 
     contract.
       (2) Terms.--Any contract under this subsection shall 
     provide, at a minimum, for the following:
       (A) Transportation of the advanced primary effluent from 
     the IWTP to the Mexican facility for secondary treatment.
       (B) Treatment of the advanced primary effluent from the 
     IWTP to the secondary treatment level in compliance with 
     water quality laws of the United States, California, and 
     Mexico.
       (C) Return conveyance from the Mexican facility of any such 
     treated effluent that cannot be reused in either Mexico or 
     the United States to the South Bay Ocean Outfall for 
     discharge into the Pacific Ocean in compliance with water 
     quality laws of the United States and California.
       (D) Subject to the requirements of subsection (a), 
     additional sewage treatment capacity that provides for 
     advanced primary and secondary treatment of sewage described 
     in subsection (a)(1)(B) in addition to the capacity required 
     to treat the advanced primary effluent from the IWTP.
       (E) A contract term of 30 years.
       (F) Arrangements for monitoring, verification, and 
     enforcement of compliance with United States, California, and 
     Mexican water quality standards.
       (G) Arrangements for the disposal and use of sludge, 
     produced from the IWTP and the Mexican facility, at a 
     location or locations in Mexico.
       (H) Payment of fees by the Commission to the owner of the 
     Mexican facility for sewage treatment services with the 
     annual amount payable to reflect all agreed upon costs 
     associated with the development, financing, construction, 
     operation, and maintenance of the Mexican facility.
       (I) Provision for the transfer of ownership of the Mexican 
     facility to the United States, and provision for a 
     cancellation fee by the United States to the owner of the 
     Mexican facility, if the Commission fails to perform its 
     obligations under the contract. The cancellation fee shall be 
     in amounts declining over the term of the contract 
     anticipated to be sufficient to repay construction debt and 
     other amounts due to the owner that remain unamortized due to 
     early termination of the contract.
       (J) Provision for the transfer of ownership of the Mexican 
     facility to the United States, without a cancellation fee, if 
     the owner of the Mexican facility fails to perform the 
     obligations of the owner under the contract.
       (K) To the extent practicable, the use of competitive 
     procedures by the owner of the Mexican facility in the 
     procurement of property or services for the engineering, 
     construction, and operation and maintenance of the Mexican 
     facility.
       (L) An opportunity for the Commission to review and approve 
     the selection of contractors providing engineering, 
     construction, and operation and maintenance for the Mexican 
     facility.
       (M) The maintenance by the owner of the Mexican facility of 
     all records (including books, documents, papers, reports, and 
     other materials) necessary to demonstrate compliance with the 
     terms of this Act and the contract.
       (N) Access by the Inspector General of the Department of 
     State or the designee of the Inspector General for audit and 
     examination of all records maintained pursuant to 
     subparagraph (M) to facilitate the monitoring and evaluation 
     required under subsection (d).

[[Page 17761]]

       (3) Limitation.--The Contract Disputes Act of 1978 (41 
     U.S.C. 601-613) shall not apply to a contract executed under 
     this section.
       (d) Implementation.--
       (1) In general.--The Inspector General of the Department of 
     State shall monitor the implementation of any contract 
     entered into under this section and evaluate the extent to 
     which the owner of the Mexican facility has met the terms of 
     this section and fulfilled the terms of the contract.
       (2) Report.--The Inspector General shall transmit to 
     Congress a report containing the evaluation under paragraph 
     (1) not later than 2 years after the execution of any 
     contract with the owner of the Mexican facility under this 
     section, 3 years thereafter, and periodically after the 
     second report under this paragraph.

     SEC. 5. NEGOTIATION OF NEW TREATY MINUTE.

       (a) Congressional Statement.--In light of the existing 
     threat to the environment and to public health and safety 
     within the United States as a result of the river and ocean 
     pollution in the San Diego-Tijuana border region, the 
     Secretary is requested to give the highest priority to the 
     negotiation and execution of a new Treaty Minute, or a 
     modification of Treaty Minute 283, consistent with the 
     provisions of this Act, in order that the other provisions of 
     this Act to address such pollution may be implemented as soon 
     as possible.
       (b) Negotiation.--
       (1) Initiation.--The Secretary is requested to initiate 
     negotiations with Mexico, within 60 days after the date of 
     enactment of this Act, for a new Treaty Minute or a 
     modification of Treaty Minute 283 consistent with the 
     provisions of this Act.
       (2) Implementation.--Implementation of a new Treaty Minute 
     or of a modification of Treaty Minute 283 under this Act 
     shall be subject to the provisions of the National 
     Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.).
       (3) Matters to be addressed.--A new Treaty Minute or a 
     modification of Treaty Minute 283 under paragraph (1) should 
     address, at a minimum, the following:
       (A) The siting of treatment facilities in Mexico and in the 
     United States.
       (B) Provision for the secondary treatment of effluent from 
     the IWTP at a Mexican facility if such treatment is not 
     provided for at a facility in the United States.
       (C) Provision for additional capacity for advanced primary 
     and secondary treatment of additional sewage emanating from 
     the Tijuana River area, Mexico, in addition to the treatment 
     capacity for the advanced primary effluent from the IWTP at 
     the Mexican facility.
       (D) Provision for any and all approvals from Mexican 
     authorities necessary to facilitate water quality 
     verification and enforcement at the Mexican facility.
       (E) Any terms and conditions considered necessary to allow 
     for use in the United States of treated effluent from the 
     Mexican facility, if there is reclaimed water which is 
     surplus to the needs of users in Mexico and such use is 
     consistent with applicable United States and California law.
       (F) Any other terms and conditions considered necessary by 
     the Secretary in order to implement the provisions of this 
     Act.

     SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

       There are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be 
     necessary to carry out this Act.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Ohio (Mr. LaTourette) and the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Taylor) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. LaTourette).
  Mr. LaTOURETTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, H.R. 3378, the Tijuana River Valley Estuary and Beach 
Sewage Cleanup Act of 2000 will help solve sanitation problems in the 
San Diego and Tijuana border region.
  San Diego is in a state of emergency. Raw or partially treated sewage 
flows from Mexico into the United States, creating significant health 
and safety risks. To comprehensively address the problem, H.R. 3378 
encourages the United States to negotiate new international agreements 
with Mexico and provides the U.S. authority to enter into a public-
private partnership with a private corporation to help meet the rapidly 
growing wastewater treatment needs in the area.
  I encourage the United States to continue the current proposal 
involving a public-private partnership to address the treatment 
problems along the border as quickly as possible.
  I want to commend two of our colleagues, Mr. Speaker, the gentleman 
from California (Mr. Bilbray) and the gentleman from California (Mr. 
Filner), who have been like bulldogs on this issue, and have 
consistently brought it before the committee and now the full House 
again for their leadership in helping to resolve this significant 
international health and environmental issue.
  I urge my colleagues to support this bill as amended.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, the legislation under consideration today is an attempt 
to stem the ongoing flows of untreated and partially treated sewage 
that have impacted the communities and beaches of Southern California 
for almost 70 years.
  The U.S.-Mexican border region has experienced rapid growth over the 
past few decades. The cities of San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico, though 
on opposite sides of the border, have grown closer together, both 
physically and economically, the fates of the two cities. What happens 
in one city has had an impact on the other. This is especially true in 
the case of sewage treatment needs in the border region.
  Unfortunately, the wastewater treatment systems of the City of 
Tijuana, Mexico, have not kept pace with the city's growing population. 
Untreated sewage flowing from Mexico through the Tijuana River and into 
the Pacific Ocean has adversely impacted the South Bay communities of 
San Diego County, the river valley and estuary, and the coastal waters 
of the United States. These flows continue to pose serious threat to 
public health, economy and environment in the region.
  For decades, the U.S. and Mexican governments have been working to 
develop a solution to the San Diego-Mexican sewage problem. Numerous 
alternatives have been considered and an international wastewater 
treatment plant located in the United States was selected as the best 
alternative. As a result the U.S. and Mexican governments formally 
agreed, in Treaty Minute 283, to construct the South Bay International 
Wastewater Treatment Plant, located in San Diego, to treat and dispose 
of the sewage flows.
  In order to comply with international obligations and to achieve some 
level of treatment as quickly as possible, the South Bay treatment 
facility was constructed in stages. The first stage, which included the 
advanced primary treatment of sewage flows, became operational in 1998.
  However, over the past few years, numerous significant circumstances 
have presented themselves, including predictions of future population 
growth in the region justifying a review of the best means of 
permanently addressing the sewage treatment needs in the border region.
  In response to these needs, the gentleman from San Diego, California 
(Mr. Filner), and the gentleman from San Diego, California (Mr. 
Bilbray), introduced H.R. 3378, to expeditiously resolve the problem of 
migrating sewage. I commend these gentleman for their hard work and 
diligence to resolve this problem that has affected the health and 
safety of their constituents for decades.
  H.R. 3378 would direct the Secretary of State to give the highest 
priority to initiate negotiations on a new or revised treaty with 
Mexico for the secondary treatment of sewage generated in the Tijuana 
River Valley region.
  Subject to the negotiation and execution of a new treaty, and the 
availability of adequate appropriations, this legislation would 
authorize the United States, acting through the U.S. section of the 
International Boundary and Water Commission, to enter into a long-term 
contract with a private company for the construction and operation of a 
secondary treatment facility in Mexico.
  The bill would authorize the construction of a facility with the 
capacity of treating 50 million gallons of sewage per day to secondary 
levels, with the possibility of expanding the facility by an additional 
25 million gallons should such levels be found necessary for the long-
term treatment needs of the region.

                              {time}  2230

  In addition, to address the contracting concerns that have been 
raised

[[Page 17762]]

with this bill, the legislation includes provisions requiring, to the 
extent practicable, the use of competitive procedures by the owner of 
the Mexican facility in the procurement of property or services for the 
engineering, construction and operation and maintenance of the 
facility, as well as the commission's review and approval of 
contractors selected to carry out these functions.
  Also, the bill requires the Inspector General of the Department of 
State to monitor the implementation of the legislation, to evaluate the 
extent to which the owner has met the terms called for in the bill, and 
to report to Congress on its findings.
  Mr. Speaker, another benefit of this legislation is that it provides 
for the reuse of treated waters in Mexico and, if available, in the 
United States. By authorizing the construction of facilities capable of 
treating waste waters to potable water, we will help alleviate some of 
the pressure in finding new sources of drinkable waters at a time when 
the communities in Mexico and Southwestern United States are facing 
serious water shortages.
  Again, I commend the gentlemen from California (Mr. Filner) and (Mr. 
Bilbray) for their work on this bill. It is a good bill, and I urge my 
colleagues to support it.
  Mr. LaTOURETTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to 
the gentleman from California (Mr. Bilbray), one of the authors of the 
bill and the gentleman who advises me he has been working on this 
problem for his constituents for a quarter of a century.
  Mr. BILBRAY. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the chairman of the 
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure (Mr. Shuster) and the 
gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar), the ranking member, who I 
learned very early when I got to this floor is very concerned about the 
quality of the waters of this Nation and the surrounding area, someone 
who has spent a lot of time working on this issue and is very concerned 
about it.
  I would also like to thank the gentleman from New York (Mr. Gilman) 
and the ranking member of the Committee on International Relations. I 
would just like to say sincerely, I want to thank the gentleman from 
Waveland, Mississippi, home of Little Jays, for being able to give such 
a great background for this bill, articulating this piece of 
legislation. I appreciate the fact that he got into the details so that 
the rest of us do not have to restate them. I think that we can talk 
about the general issue.
  The general issue, Mr. Speaker, is the fact that as we have set a 
policy in this country nationally, that the waters of the United States 
are, and should, remain clean, pure, and safe. Sadly, over the last 25, 
30, 40 years, we have had places where there were major breakdowns. 
Frankly, they are not always places where we can blame our own 
industrial commercial or economic or political or public 
irresponsibility.
  The Tijuana River happens to flow through a community of over 1 
million people in the Republic of Mexico; and it flows north like the 
Nile, not south like the Mississippi. And, it flows towards the United 
States into an estuarian preserve that has been set aside as a critical 
habitat preservation by the United States, and then flows into the 
oceans of the United States and flows north through the communities of 
Imperial Beach and Coronado.
  I, for one, happen to be an individual who was raised as a child in 
Imperial Beach and grew up with the hideous problem of pollution in our 
waters that did not come from our neighborhood, but came from our 
neighbors. I would just ask everyone to be very sensitive of the fact 
that when a young person is raised, it is bad enough for that person to 
go to their beaches and find out that they cannot go into the water, it 
is unsafe, it is polluted, it is a danger to their life and to the 
wildlife around them, but to then also be told in less than tactful 
ways that it is somebody else that did this to you, that a foreign 
government or foreign people imposed this on your life and your little 
part of paradise.
  I think for too long we have allowed that to occur. As the Federal 
Government over the last 30 years has demanded and required local 
communities to come up and participate in the cleansing and the 
cleaning of the waters of the United States, sadly, the United States 
for too long has found reasons not to go to our neighbors to the north 
or the south and say look, neighbor, good neighbors do not pollute each 
other's backyard. Do not threaten the children of the person on the 
other side of the fence. Sadly, that has happened for all too long.
  Mr. Speaker, today we are asking for support of a bill that will work 
with Mexico in addressing a Mexican problem that is being inflicted on 
American citizens. Today, we are asking for support of a bill that 
says, Mexico recognizes that it has created an environmental problem 
and is willing to work with us at treating their sewage in Mexico, not 
in the United States.
  Now, my colleague, the gentleman from California (Mr. Filner), joined 
with me and the gentleman from California (Mr. Cunningham) and with the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Hunter) and with the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Packard). Every member of the delegation of San Diego 
County that represents over 3 million people finds that it is time that 
the Federal Government try to think outside the box, try to encourage 
innovative approaches without compromising environmental options.
  Mr. Speaker, I am very proud to say as somebody who has worked on 
this issue for over a quarter of a century, that I really think that we 
have fallen on an idea that may set an example not just for our current 
relationships with Tijuana and Mexico. It may be something that our 
committees of international relations may want to look at, and work 
with committees like the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 
on an international-national policy, that we pay for outcome and 
treatment, not for projects that may, or hopefully will treat; that we 
pay for the actual protection of the environment rather than the 
promise of the protection of the environment.
  Now, this bill does not get the job done all by itself, but it opens 
the door that allows us as a region and as a Nation to start 
cooperating with Mexico in a way that we will ask Mexico to meet us 
halfway, that we will participate in the creation of service and 
infrastructure capabilities to avoid the environmental damage that has 
happened in the past; to clean up a problem that has been ignored for 
all too long and to address the fact that Mexico not only has a 
challenge that we are willing to work with them on, but has an 
opportunity to take this problem and create it into an asset: reusable 
water.
  Mr. Speaker, I think that we have to recognize that H.R. 3378 
provides the means to implement a plan that the City of San Diego, the 
mayor of Tijuana, the Surfrider Foundation consistently has found is 
not only the right answer here, but may be the answer to many other 
places where we have problems like this. The citizens of the City of 
Imperial Beach and Coronado and San Diego have waited far too long for 
the United States Government to protect them in their environment, to 
hold our neighbors to the same standards that we require of our own 
citizens, and to do it in a manner that does not cause conflict, but 
creates consensus and cooperation.
  This bill should be used as a blueprint as how we can work with 
foreign governments to be able to have an outcome-based environmental 
strategy. This bill will enable us to be able to show how governments 
and peoples can work together for not just the good of the environment, 
but for the community at large that shares the environment.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues who strongly express their care and 
need and their desire to protect the environment to support this bill, 
and support the concept that if we really care about the environment, 
then we will care about it in every square inch of this Nation, and we 
will do what we can, when we can, where we can.
  The Tijuana sewage problem has gone on for too long. My children, Mr. 
Speaker, are second-generation sewage

[[Page 17763]]

kids. They have grown up under the cloud that their beaches may be 
polluted at any moment. I want to make sure that my grandchildren do 
not have to be threatened with their beaches being closed, their 
environment being polluted.
  I want to thank the ranking member who is here today for his very, 
very committed involvement in this, and I want to say clearly that I 
know the gentleman from California (Mr. Filner); I have worked with him 
a long time. Bob would like to be here; we have very critical work he 
is doing in San Diego, and the gentleman from California (Mr. Hunter) 
and the gentleman from California (Mr. Cunningham) and the gentleman 
from California (Mr. Packard) all join us in saying please join us in 
protecting our part of the United States, to treat our citizens with 
the equity that every other American has been guaranteed, and let us do 
it while we are working with a bright, new, cooperative future with the 
Republic of Mexico.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 3378, and urge my 
colleagues to again cast the votes on behalf of the environment and 
public health of the San Diego-Tijuana border region.
  Just over a year ago, Mr. Speaker, the House voted 427-0 in support 
of a Sense of Congress brought by myself and my colleague Mr. Filner; 
this resolution expressed the Sense of Congress that the governments of 
the U.S. and Mexico should enter into negotiations of a new Treaty 
Minute, to allow for the siting of secondary sewage treatment 
infrastructure in Mexico, and the development of a privately funded 
Mexican facility to provide for the treatment to secondary levels of 
raw sewage originating in Mexico, which continues to present a public 
health threat to citizens and their environment on both sides of the 
border.
  My colleagues, by supporting this amendment last July, you were 
recognizing the need to ``think outside the box'' in order to provide a 
comprehensive solution for one of the most vexing international 
environmental and public health challenges we face today. The 
overwhelming support for that resolution has paved the way for the bill 
we are considering today--H.R. 3378, the Tijuana River Valley Estuary 
and Beach Sewage Cleanup Act of 2000. My colleague Mr. Filner and I 
introduced this bipartisan bill to fulfill the intent of that Sense of 
Congress, and after its consideration and approval by the 
Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and the International 
Relations Committee, we stand here today at a historic point in U.S.-
Mexico environmental cooperation, poised to move forward in a mutually 
beneficial manner.
  Before proceeding any further, Mr. Speaker, I want to specifically 
thank Transportation Committee Chairman Shuster and International 
Relations Committee Chairman Gilman, and their respective ranking 
members, Mr. Oberstar and Mr. Gejdenson, for all their hard work in 
helping to bring this bill to the floor. It is a credit to the vision 
of these gentlemen that the San Diego-Tijuana border region now stands 
to benefit from the comprehensive solution that H.R. 3378 will provide, 
and I thank them for their ability to see what can be accomplished 
here, and their willingness to work with me and my colleagues in a 
bipartisan manner to do so.
  Many of you are well aware of the ongoing health and environmental 
threats which have existed along this border region for decades, as a 
result of renegade flows of untreated sewage from Mexico. We have 
reached a critical point in the rapid growth of the San Diego-Tijuana 
border region; already, we are experiencing peak sewage flows into the 
U.S. from Mexico in excess of 75 million gallons per day (mgd), and it 
is essential that any treatment works that are built are able to 
respond to and address these ever-increasing flows. We are here today 
in support of a proposal which will help to meet and address this 
threat in a substantive manner. The facilities which would be 
constructed in Mexico under H.R. 3378 would allow for development of 50 
mgd of treatment initially, with the ability to expand its capacity as 
needed to deal with future flows. Other alternatives would be 
inadequate to meet the region's needs, lack the ability to be expanded 
to treat increasing future flows, and provide no long term solution for 
the region.
  An added and significant benefit of the facilities which will be 
developed in Mexico under this bill is their ability to reclaim and 
reuse treated wastewater (which would belong to Mexico) and make it 
available to the rapidly expanding business and industrial sectors of 
Tijuana. In this growing and arid border region, water is a 
particularly scare and valuable commodity, and water which can be 
reclaimed and reused from these treatment facilities can reduce the 
high demand for precious potable water supplies for drinking and other 
uses in Mexican households.
  In addition to the strong bipartisan support which Congress has 
already demonstrated for this approach, there is significant support in 
the border region as well, ranging from the City of San Diego, Mayor of 
Tijuana, and the Surfrider Foundation, a conservation organization 
which is committed to healthy oceans. I have a brief statement from the 
Surfrider Foundation which I would ask to be entered into the record at 
this point, along with a letter of support from the Mayor of Tijuana, 
which I would also ask to be included. I would like to add, Mr. 
Speaker, that I am extremely encouraged by the responses to this 
proposal from both the Mayor of Tijuana, and from representatives of 
the incoming President of Mexico, Vicente Fox. Let me quote two 
excerpts from the Mayor's letter to me:

       . . . Bajagua represents the kind of entrepreneurial 
     solution that will not only help comprehensively meet both of 
     our constituents' sewage treatment needs, it will also 
     provide a much needed source of water for the citizens and 
     businesses of Tijuana.

       As you know, I am a member of the PAN. As such, I feel 
     comfortable stating that the Bajagua project is 
     representative of the type of private sector solution that 
     President-elect Fox would like to use and extol as a model in 
     Mexico during his administration.

  Mr. Speaker, we ought not to underestimate the historic and 
precedent-setting potential of our vote here today. In addition to 
providing a comprehensive means by which to address this border sewage 
problem, we have the opportunity to establish a new relationship and 
way of doing business with our neighbor to the south. With this 
successful blueprint, going ``outside the box'' to develop solutions to 
long-standing problems will hopefully become the rule, rather than the 
exception. It is exciting to see the binational eagerness to move 
forward with this project, and that enthusiasm can be sustained and 
directed at other challenges as well.
  Mr. Speaker, throughout my career in public service, I have 
wholeheartedly supported and fought for the appropriate treatment of 
these renegade flows in order to protect our beaches, estuaries, and 
the United States citizens who have had to live with this problem for 
far too long. I am more than willing to spend whatever time and money 
may be needed in order to deal with this problem comprehensively and 
conclusively, but both time and available dollars are extremely 
precious commodities, particularly when the public health continues to 
be at risk. Fortunately for these citizens and their impacted 
communities, such as my hometown of Imperial Beach, this opportunity 
has emerged to ``think outside the box'' and implement a progressive 
and comprehensive strategy that will benefit the entire region well 
into the future. There is tremendous and achievable potential in this 
approach which, once implemented, can provide a long-term and 
comprehensive solution to a chronic environmental program. It would be 
my hope that the success of this project will influence policy-makers 
in both Mexico and the United States, who will recognize the wisdom of 
moving away from the old method of doing business and in this new and 
innovative direction in order to better and more effectively address 
other environmental challenges faced by both nations.
  If we are successful in implementing this process, the children of 
families in both San Diego and Tijuana will be able to go to their 
beaches, play in the estuaries, fish and swim in the oceans, and live 
their lives in their communities without the chronic stigma and health 
threat of the sewage pollution which has been an unfortunate fact of 
life in this region.
  I want to again thank my colleagues for the support they've 
demonstrated for these goals, and again urge their support for H.R. 
3378.

                                     Tijuana, Baja California,

                                                September 6, 2000.
     Hon. Brian Bilbray,
     House of Representatives, Longworth House Office Building, 
         Washington, DC.
       Dear Congressman Bilbray: On behalf of the City of Tijuana, 
     I would like to extend and invitation on your next visit to 
     the region to visit with me in Tijuana and discuss the issue 
     of cross-border sewage flows. Specifically I would to discuss 
     our support and encouragement for the Bajagua proposal, which 
     I understand is currently undergoing review in the United 
     States Congress.
       Our reasons for support are various and we can discuss them 
     in more detail at our meeting, but in short, Bajagua 
     represents the kind of entrepreneurial solution that will not 
     only help comprehensively meet both of our constituent's 
     sewage treatment needs, it will also provide a much needed 
     source of water for the citizens and businesses in Tijuana.
       As you know, I am a member of the PAN, As such, I feel 
     comfortable stating that Bajagua project is representative of 
     the type

[[Page 17764]]

     of private sector solution that President-elect Fox would 
     like to use and extol as a model in Mexico during his 
     administration.
       Please let me know of your availability to meet and discuss 
     this and other issues of mutual concern, I look very much to 
     your visit.
           Sincerely,
                                            Francisco De Lamadrid,
                                           Mayor, City of Tijuana.
                                  ____
                                  

  Surfrider Foundation Policy Regarding Delays in Achieving Secondary 
                  Treatment at the U.S. Mexican Border


                              July 9, 1999

       Currently, more than 50 million gallons per day (mgd) of 
     raw, untreated sewage enters the Tijuana River and the 
     Tijuana Municipal Wastewater System. Less than half of this, 
     approximately 25 mgd, is treated to advanced primary 
     standards at the International Wastewater Treatment Plant 
     (ITPO and discharged into the ocean via the South Bay ocean 
     outfall. A portion of the remaining untreated sewage, up to 
     71 mgd, receives some indeterminate level of treatment at the 
     San Antonio de Los Buenos Treatment Plant in Mexico. The 
     remainder of untreated sewage is discharged directly into the 
     nearshore marine environment at the mount of the Tijuana 
     river and at Punta Banderas, 5 miles south of the Border. 
     Together with numerous other groups, the San Diego County 
     Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation is concerned about the 
     environmental impacts and human health risks of discharging 
     any raw sewage into the ocean, as well as effluent that 
     receives anything less than secondary treatment.
       The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and International 
     Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC) are required to achieve 
     secondary standards of treatment for all sewage discharged 
     from the ITP by December 2000. Several options for an 
     appropriate treatment plant have been considered by EPA and 
     the IBWC, however, no final preferred option has been chosen. 
     The frontrunner to date is a 25 mgd secondary treatment plant 
     using ``Completely Mixed Aerated'' pond technology at the 
     ``Hofer'' site adjacent to the ITP. Because the deadline to 
     begin construction of a secondary treatment plant which would 
     be operational by the December date has passed, the agencies 
     have sought more time to select a preferred alternative. 
     Additionally, this added time has been sought to fully 
     consider options not previously considered, which would 
     provide for a comprehensive solution to the known and future 
     anticipated volume of sewage.
       The Surfrider Foundation agrees with many others that 
     secondary treatment must be achieved as quickly as possible. 
     The harmful effects to the deep ocean environment, the 
     public, as well as to the beaches and beach communities of 
     southern San Diego County must not continue. However, 
     recognizing that a partial solution is not solution, the 
     Surfrider Foundation is strongly in favor of a comprehensive 
     solution, fully aware of the risk of slight delay. A 
     comprehensive solution will offer the benefits of timeliness 
     as well as the consideration of other priority issues such as 
     the ability to treat all present and future flows, impact of 
     the plant location upon the immediate environment and 
     population, plant expansion capability, feasibility of 
     beneficial water reuse, proper sludge handling, and the 
     relationship and compatibility of the proposal within the 
     existing system of wastewater treatment on both the U.S. and 
     Mexico.
       Therefore, the Surfrider Foundation will support the EPA 
     and the IBWC in their efforts to provide comprehensive 
     secondary treatment of all sewage flowing from the Tijuana 
     River as quickly as possible.

  Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I thank the ranking member 
for mentioning one of the many great restaurants in my district, but 
before the people of Bay St. Louis take offense, I better claim that as 
my hometown, although Waveland has always been very good to me.
  Mr. BILBRAY. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. I yield to the gentleman from California.
  Mr. BILBRAY. Mr. Speaker, I know the gentleman is from the great 
community of Bay St. Louis. It is just that I always remember that one 
of the great landmarks of Bay St. Louis has to be in Waveland; and the 
gentleman's office, at least your campaign office, is obviously the 
greatest location for crawfish anywhere in the United States, and that 
is Little Jays.
  Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I am sure every member of the 
Kidd family thanks the gentleman from California for that great 
commercial.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman 
from Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar), the ranking member of the full Committee 
on Transportation and Infrastructure.
  Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to express my great appreciation to the gentleman 
from Pennsylvania (Mr. Shuster) for moving this legislation in such an 
expeditious fashion in bringing it to the House floor in order to 
address and, in the process of addressing, resolve a long-standing 
problem. I want to express my great appreciation and admiration to and 
for the gentleman from California (Mr. Filner), who has been dogged and 
persistent in his determination to address this issue. To the gentleman 
from California (Mr. Bilbray) who recently spoke, I would like to 
express my appreciation for his kind words, but also for his 
persistence, practically from the first day he arrived in this body, in 
literally descending upon me and other members of our committee in 
appealing for legislative action to address the problem of clean water, 
the quality of water of the beaches along San Diego, the use of which 
he is so well known, and for his partnership with the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Filner) and the rest of the San Diego area delegation.
  I would just like to address a couple of issues here that I think are 
very critical. The question has been raised, why should the United 
States be providing financial support for, in this case, in effect 
guaranteeing the financing of a project built in Mexico? Well, the 
first very simple fact is, as the gentleman from California (Mr. 
Bilbray) well expressed, the Tijuana River flows into the United 
States, part of its course, and then out into the waters that both the 
United States and Mexico share. Furthermore, while there are 1 million-
plus people in Tijuana and about 3 million in the U.S. San Diego side, 
this is 4 million headed for 6 million in a very few years. The growth 
is absolutely explosive, both population growth and economic growth in 
this very dynamic region of the North American continent. If we do not 
act now, the waters into which the Tijuana flows will be destroyed, 
perhaps for decades to come. Now is the time to act.
  Secondly, this is not an issue without precedent. We have in the past 
provided authorization for and financing of works constructed in 
another country that benefit the United States. Specifically, Canada. 
The Red River on which Minnesota and North Dakota border flows north 
into Canada. The way weather works, it is a little bit warmer in 
Minnesota and North Dakota a little bit earlier than it is in Canada, 
so that by the time the ice breakup reaches Canada, it is still frozen 
in Canada, the water backs up and floods Minnesota and North Dakota.
  So our Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, then the 
Committee on Public Works, 4 decades ago authorized the construction by 
the Corps of Engineers, in cooperation with the Canadian authorities, 
of works in Canada to free up ice so the Red River of the north could 
flow freely without backing up and causing flooding in the United 
States, a benefit to U.S. citizens from work constructed in another 
country and paid for by the United States.

                              {time}  2245

  The same principle applies here. That is what is at stake. It is 
important that we undertake this work and that it go forward. Of 
course, it will require a further international agreement between the 
United States and Mexico, which I am confident will be forthcoming.
  Again, in conclusion, I commend the gentlemen from California, Mr. 
Filner and Mr. Bilbray, for their farsightedness in addressing this 
issue and bringing this legislation to the floor, and I urge its 
overwhelming passage.
  Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker I rise in support of H.R. 3378, a bill 
providing the best chance for a comprehensive solution to the problem 
of Mexican sewage flowing in to the U.S. and our waters.
  I introduced H.R. 3378, the Tijuana River Valley Estuary and Beach 
Sewage Cleanup Act, along with my colleague, Mr. Bilbray, to end a 
problem that has plagued the San Diego area for decades. No other 
district has endured raw sewage from Mexico flowing unabated in their 
riverbeds and beaches.
  By treating Mexican sewage in Mexico, this bill advances a common-
sense solution to the problem of international sewage along the border 
between the United States. This is a win-

[[Page 17765]]

win solution for both countries. The growing amount of sewage currently 
left untreated by Mexico and flowing into the U.S. would be treated--a 
win for both countries. And the treated sewage--which belongs to Mexico 
to begin with--could be reused in Mexican industrial and agricultural 
endeavors.
  Current plans--those short-sighted plans supported by both the EPA 
and International Boundary Water Commission (IBWC)--call for treating 
less than half of the sewage that fouls our beaches and estuaries. It 
has taken these bureaucracies 10 years to prepare to build a secondary 
treatment arm of the International Wastewater Treatment (the IWTP). In 
that time, the sewage flows have more than doubled, yet they continue 
to fight for a plan that will not solve the problem. The problem in 
beach pollution now is not the quality of the outfall coming from the 
International Wastewater Treatment Plant, but a growing quantity of 
sewage that Tijuana can't handle.
  The plan that Mr. Bilbray and I are advancing in H.R. 3378 would take 
care of the growing quantity of sewage as well as the sewage now being 
treated at the IWTP. Instead of spending money on an impartial 
solution, it would quickly provide a comprehensive solution to the 
problem.
  This is an acute problem. An official of the Surfrider foundation 
said, ``I'm surfing in sewage.'' He put it a little less delicately--
and it is not a very genteel situation in my District when sewage 
washes up on the beach, flows down our rivers and canyons and fouls the 
water where our children should be able to swim worry-free.
  A solution to not surfing in sewage? Build enough sewage treatment to 
handle the problem. That's what our bill would do. It says we will 
pursue a plan that can easily treat 50 million gallons of sewage each 
day--and perhaps even more.
  The plan makes even more sense when you know that the Mexican sewage 
will be reclaimed and reused by industrial and agricultural users in 
Mexico to help cover the cost. That way, all the hazardous and 
unhealthy sewage that now flows into our ocean without proper treatment 
will be cleaned--and much of it reused so that it never gets to the 
ocean.
  We may owe that to our surfers--but we definitely owe that to our 
children. I ask you to support this bill so that this innovative plan 
to protect the health and safety of San Diegans can move forward.
  Mr. BOEHLERT. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman and ranking member of 
the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee for helping to bring 
H.R. 3378, the Tijuana River Valley Estuary and Beach Sewage Cleanup 
Act, to the House floor for action.
  I also commend Representatives Bilbray and Filner of California, who 
introduced H.R. 3378, for their dedicated bi-partisan leadership in 
getting us to where we are today.
  Their bill would authorize the United States to take actions to 
comprehensively address the treatment of sewage generated in the area 
of Tijuana, Mexico that flows untreated or partially treated into the 
San Diego, California area.
  Thie pollution, occurring because the region's wastewater treatment 
capacity can not keep pace with its rapid growth, has created serious 
sanitation issues for decades in the U.S. In fact, the city of San 
Diego has declared a continued state of emergency since 1993 due to the 
threats to public health and the environment resulting from increasing 
sewage flows into the area.
  To provide sufficient wastewater treatment capacity in the area, H.R. 
3378 encourages the U.S. to negotiate new international agreements with 
Mexico. It also authorizes the United States to enter into an 
innovative public-private partnership to construct and operate a new 
wastewater treatment facility in Mexico.
  It's time to resolve this serious sanitation issue that has plagued 
the San Diego border area for decades. I support passage of H.R. 3378, 
as amended, and urge my colleagues to do the same.
  Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests 
for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. LaTOURETTE. Mr. Speaker, I urge passage of the bill, and I yield 
back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Pease). The question is on the motion 
offered by the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. LaTourette) that the House 
suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 3378, as amended.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor 
thereof) the rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

                          ____________________