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U.S. AND MEXICO RELEASE REPORT ON BORDER ENVIRONMENT

Release Date: 6/16/1998
Contact Information: Paula Bruin, U.S. EPA, (415) 744-1587

FIRST COMPLETE  BINATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL INDICATORS REPORT
 
      (San Francisco)--The first cooperative effort by the United States and Mexico to develop ways of measuring environmental and human health quality in the border area has been completed and details are available in the Border Environmental Indicators Report.  Indicators reflect progress toward goals, milestones, and objectives for environmental and ecosystem quality.  The report was released by Carol M. Browner, Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and Julia Carabias Lillo, Mexico's Secretary of Environment, Natural Resources and Fisheries, at the annual Binational Commission meeting held in Washington, D.C.

     The border's pollution problems and resource constraints make it an important area for ensuring that the Agency's work is directed toward high-priority problems, and indicators are an important tool for ensuring that cooperative projects produce sustained improvements in ecological and human health.  By measuring the effectiveness of EPA's cooperative border programs through indicators, the Agency and its partners will be able to more efficiently plan ways to address significant threats to the environment and human health in both countries.

     The report covers nine areas:  air, water, environmental health, hazardous and solid waste, enforcement and compliance, pollution prevention, natural resources, contingency planning and emergency response, and environmental information resources.  The report was developed as part of the 1996 Border XXI program, a  cooperative program by the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of the Interior, the Department of Agriculture, and the Mexican government, and involving state and local agencies, tribal nations, community and business groups.

     Copies of the report and other Border XXI documents are available by calling 1-800-334-0741.  Several Border XXI documents are available on the EPA Border XXI web page at: https://www.epa.gov/usmexicoborder.  The indicators report will be posted on the web page in July.                  

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