Jack Reed: “Mexican officials said they were eliminating these environmental impact assessments to increase investment, which may…”

“Mexican officials said they were eliminating these environmental impact assessments to increase investment, which may well be an apparent violation of NAFTA because it prohibits, apparently, the weakening of environmental laws to attract investment. So our experience with NAFTA should tell us that we must redouble our efforts to have the principal negotiating objective of environmental concerns. Yet, again we have constrained and circumscribed the ability of the President by simply saying they have to be directly related to trade, and many environmental problems are not directly related to trade. For example, near the United States-Mexican border, there is an area known as Ciudad Industrial, where a number of sophisticated, highly automated manufacturing plants have been established since NAFTA. These manufacturing plants discharge hazardous waste through a nearby sewer outfall which adjoins a river that is used for washing and bathing. The Mexican Government has enacted a number of institutional barriers to environmental progress to prevent pollution abatement.”