U.S. Water News Online
SANTA FE, N.M. -- Mexican and U.S. states along the international border need to work together more on nagging water and environmental problems, the leader of a border governors' group said.
"We need regional, comprehensive approaches to resolving the water issues. We can't go our separate ways," New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson said at the opening of a two-day Border Governors' Conference. He serves as chairman of the group.
The federal government, through the International Boundary and Water Commission, has not provided needed leadership to settle differences over water between Mexico and the United States, including the Rio Grande and Colorado River, Richardson said.
Governors from the four U.S. states and six Mexican states at the conference need to explore a "bi-national multistate collaborative approach on water," said Richardson.
He also said Mexico and the United States need to improve controls over hazardous waste.
"Too much hazardous waste is ending up on both sides being dumped on our fields, our waterways and the desert," said Richardson.
His remarks came at a forum on the North American Free Trade Agreement, which went into effect a decade ago.
Chihuahua Gov. Patricio Martinez also called for a greater focus on border water problems.
A former U.S. ambassador to Mexico, Jim Jones, said the United States, Mexico and Canada should move beyond NAFTA and set a goal of establishing a "borderless economy" within the next decade.
NAFTA has succeeded in expanding international trade and creating jobs, he and other economic experts said at the forum. However, Jones said the agreement was "only half successful" in improving social and economic conditions for many Mexicans.
"The divide between the haves and have-nots has been growing. Half of the population in Mexico have no tangible benefits gained out of NAFTA," said Jones, a former Oklahoma congressman who served as ambassador during the Clinton administration.
Jones recommended the United States and Canada provide development money to Mexico for education, health care and infrastructure improvements in exchange for reforms in the Mexican legal and tax systems.
Gary Hufbauer of the Institute of International Economics in Washington, D.C., drew applause at the forum when he advocated changes in immigration policies.
"I think NAFTA countries should establish a presumption that after a person has resided in a country for a long period of time -- five to 10 years -- that person is entitled to a permanent resident visa," said Hufbauer.
He also said "all persons in North America should be guaranteed basic economic rights, whether they are legal or illegal residents" in a state. Those rights include access to schools, public health benefits, minimum wage protections and a driver's license, he said.
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