Summary of BECC Public Meeting March 24th, El Paso, Texas

By Cyrus Reed, Texas Center for Policy Studies*

*As always these are my own interpretations of events. It should be noted due to a plane I had to leave early before the vote on the Sanderson Project. Therefore, the summary should be viewed as incomplete.

During the Public Meeting of the BECC Board of Directors, three wastewater treatment projects -- two in Mexico and one in the U.S. -- were certified by the BECC Board. In addition, the Board directed staff to conduct informational meetings with key stakeholders to discuss concerns related to the reuse of wastewater downstream of the two Mexican projects and to develop better public outreach and notice procedures so that the public could be more fully informed and participate in discussions about projects with possible transboundary impacts. Finally, the BECC officially announced it is seeking a new U.S. General Manager of the institution, and that acting deputy general manager Pete Silva has announced he will not seek the General Manager position as he has accepted a position in California.

After approval of the previous minutes from the January meeting, BECC acting chairperson Lynda Taylor turned it over to Arturo Herrera for the executive committee report. Herrera announced that the executive committee had considered four projects for certification -- Sanderson, Ciudad Acuña, Piedras Negras and Tecate --but had decided to only recommend three of the projects because the environmental assessment of Tecate was not complete. In addition the executive committee is examining how to increase private company participation in the BECC, and approved technical assistance monies for Sheffield in Pecos County and Laredo, Texas for a rate study. Finally, John Bernal discussed the process for finding a new general manager and announced that they will cast the widest net possible through the use of a search firm.

Lynda Taylor discussed possible funding cuts in the U.S. Congress which could affect both the technical assistance PDAP projects as well as construction BEIF funds, which have been fundamental to the BECC process. Taylor asked for support from those who had benefitted from the BECC process. The Board also introduced new Mexican Board Member Ing. Julian de la Garza, from Monterrey, Nuevo León, who was the consensus candidate of all six Mexican border states. Finally, it was announced that the GAO report assessing the BECC will be available soon and is generally positive on the BECC and calls for a strategic plan for the border, led by the BECC.

There was then an impromptu celebration of Pete Silva's tenure as deputy general manager. Several board members as well as General Manager Javier Cabrera spoke eloquently on Pete's high professional conduct as well as his ability to work in cooperation with Mexico.

Co-chairs Francisco Treviño and Leo Valdez then presented the Advisory Council report. First, they announced that the Advisory Council had unanimously recommended that all three projects be certified. Treviño announced that the workplan of the AC had been finalized --nearly -- and that three subcommittees had been formed, one on post-certification committees and opinion polls (public participation), led by member Maria Josefina Guerrero, , a subcommittee on Sustainable Development (Oscar Romo leads that) and one on Finances, led by Leo Valdez and Treviño. Treviño lamented the cut in the Advisory Council's budget of $25,000 and called for it to be reinstalled.

Maria Josefina Guerrero than elaborated on the need to certify the two wastewater treatment plants in Mexico and how highly impacted people were from the untreated wastewater. She directly chastised U.S. groups for asking for a delay in such necessary projects.

Finally, the Piedras Negras and Ciudad Acuña projects were presented by BECC staff, who pointed out that the Wastewater Reuse plan which calls for thermoelectric plants (Carbon 1 and 2) to reuse the water were absolutely necessary to make the wastewater plants financially sustainable. Gonzalo Bravo also pointed out that public participation and meetings have been occuring for several years for both projects.

The meeting was then opened for public comments with TNRCC commissioner Ralph Marquez beginning. Marquez spoke of TNRCC's support for the BECC process and the absolute necessity for wastewater plants for the two Mexican communities. However, Marquez noted that his agency had been kept in the dark about the wastewater reuse plan, and many of his constituents were very concerned that more water was being taken out of the Rio Grande. He called for a delay in certification or if not possible stakeholder meetings to make the information available and if it was found that their concerns were well-founded that the projects wastewater reuse plan should be revised and BECC certification put on hold.

IBWC and Javier Cabrera assured Marquez that all the information would be provided and that both the water availability and question of air quality degradation from Carbon I and II were better dealt with in existing forums than through the BECC. They agreed that the concerns themselves were valid.

Cyrus Reed --that's I -- was then called up, and I reiterated points I had made in a March 9 letter to Ignacio Garza, BECC Chairman. The letter was also signed by Environmental Defense scientist Ramon Alvarez, Sierra Club Big Bend Region's Fran Sage and representatives from the Interhemispheric Resource Center and Southwest Environmental Center. I pointed out that none of us were in opposition to the plants themselves and recognized that they would and should be certified. I also pointed out that I did not believe BECC procedures had been violated nor were they meant as personal criticisms of BECC staff and my comments should be seen as a way to improve the process and they were said in that context. I made four points -- two substantive and two procedural. The substantive concerns involved the possible loss of water from the Rio Grande due to the reuse of wastewater and the possible increased air emissions from Carbon I and II due to increased production from the water. The two procedural concerns involved the lack of specificity in the BECC summary documents with regards to the Wastewater Reuse plan and the poor public notice procedures for EPA's Finding of No Significant Impact. I then read sections of a letter to Gregg Cooke at EPA region VI asking for changes in how EPA notices its Eas and FONSIs on BECC projects. I have previously posted that letter to these lists.

I asked the BECC to either delay the certification or hold a public meeting on the U.S. side to answer concerns and also asked both BECC and EPA to improve their public notice procedures.

Reaction to my suggestions and comments were generally positive and EPA's Alan Hecht announced that Gregg Cooke and EPA had already committed to improving the public notice process for BECC projects. With respect to Carbon I and 2, Hecht said there would soon be a clearer picture of the possibl e impact of these plants and it was hope it would lead to binational dialogue to resolve the possible transboundary flows.

Andrea Able from the NWF in Austin then echoed their concerns for the wastewater reuse component of the project as well as the procedural problems, while recognizing the great need for the project.

Several of the members of the Public Participation Committees and public officials on both the Ciudad Acuna and Piedras Negras projects then spoke of the great need for the projects. Among those speaking were Mario Rivera, JMAS's Juan Salcedo, Arturo Sepulveda, Trinidad Herrera, Jesus Partida, Carlos Chaves y Pacho, Manuel Gomez, from Comision Estatal de Aguas y Saniamiento and Advisory Committee member Arturo Limon. All spoke eloquently of the positive impact certification would have and their commitment to ending contamination of the Rio Grande from their communities.

Following public comment, the Board unanimously approved a motion to propose items for public rules to improve the BECC's public notice and availability procedures. Subsequently, both projects were unanimously approved with the proviso that informational meetings be held with stakeholders with concerns and that the BECC facilitate the exchange of information.

I then had to leave to catch a plane (after watching some impressive Juarez high school students receive awards for their design of a wastewater treatment plant from EPA's Hecht on behalf of President William Clinton).