Jeff Bingaman: “this is an amendment which tries to address some very serious health and energy production issues, environmental issues…”

“this is an amendment which tries to address some very serious health and energy production issues, environmental issues, along the 2,000-mile common border that we have with Mexico. There are tire dumps in that region that routinely catch fire and which have been determined to breed airborne dengue fever, which is a major health risk that we will face in the next decade. There are brick kilns that use wood and plastic and cause serious health-related problems in the metropolitan area of Juarez/El Paso. There are serious water contamination issues with regard to ground water along the United States-Mexico border. This amendment, which I am offering on behalf of myself and Senator Domenici, is one which directs the transfer of Department of Energy environmental management technologies to help clean up many of these serious and pressing health-related problems along the border. The amendment will develop joint research programs between U.S. and Mexican universities on technologies to help develop clean materials processing technologies such as leadless solders for microelectronics plants, techniques to control air pollution from border region heavy manufacturing plants, and energy-efficient methods to recover nonpotable water for irrigation. This is an amendment that was passed unanimously as S. 397 in the last Congress, the 106th Congress.”