As the U.S. Congress prepares for hearings and debates about whether to approve NAFTA, environmental and public-health conditions in the U.S.- Mexico border region are in the spotlight, In late July. House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt laid down what many consider to he “bottom-line” conditions for Democratic support ot’ NAFTA in Congress. The following are among his proposals concerning the border region’s environment: Allow shareholders of U.S. corn-panies that do business in Mexico to the company for failure to abide by Mexico’s environmental la’ws. .Treat the failure ofMxico-located companies to abide by environmental regulations as an unfair trade subsidy. enliffing U.S. companies in the same industry to request protective Customs duties. (.)Expand (the budget of the EPA’s)border and international operations. (.)Expand U.S. ‘community right.-to-know” statutes so that U.S. companies doing business in Mexico within 100 kilometers of the U.S.-Mexico border must inform the public of basic toxic-pollution emissions from their plants. (.)Establish a binational commission along the border with the power and resources to address environmental enforcement. and basic water and waste- ater issues. (.)Require (U. S -owned maquiladora)plants to follow a “code of Conduct,” which addresses basic health, safety fair-wage issues. (.)Enacta “cross-border transaction tax” Ofl movement of goods between theUnitedStatesandMexico.witheach country’s revenues used to fund necessary programs in worker training, infra-stnicturedevelopment,andenvironmen-tal protection.
Menu
