Organization Name:

Border Ecology Project (BEP)

I. Contact Information

Santa Fe Office	Bisbee Office
Dick Kamp/Executive Director	Ted Schabacker/Adminstrative Assistant
231 Las Mananitas	PO Drawer CP
Santa Fe, NM 87501	619 Briggs Ave
(505) 983-4642 (Office)	Bisbee, AZ 85603
(505) 670-1337 (cell)	Voice & Fax (520) 432-7456
Email bepdick@worldnet.att.net	Email borderecology@mindspring.com

SCROLL DOWN FOR BORDER ECOLOGY PROJECT ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

PUBLICATIONS AVAILABLE FROM BORDER ECOLOGY PROJECT (reports or books, not individual papers or memoranda):

2003: Scoping Proposal for the Creation of an International Environmental Technical Assistance Fund for Developing Countries with

Dick Kamp, Anne Maest, Bob Moran, Patricia Gay Webb

2002: Impacts of Power Plants in New MexicoAn Investigative Report for the New Mexico Legislature with Charles Bensinger, Harry

Browne, Dick Kamp, Bill Powers, Ted Schooley, Chris Wentz, Brian Wilson, Doug Wolf

2002: Integrating Environmental Projects in Northeastern Sonora that are coordinated by Enlace Ecologico AC and/or Border Ecology

Project and their relationships to local priorities, funding sources and government programs with Gildardo Acosta and Dick

Kamp

2002: Soil, Soil-Gas, & Water Monitoring in the Douglas-Agua Prieta Area with Gildardo Acosta and Dick Kamp

2001: Draft: Inventory of Sites and Sources of Mercury in Mexico: with Gildardo Acosta and Bill Powers

2000: When a Mine comes to a Mexican Community: A Users Guide with Harry Browne, Caroline Hotaling, Enrique Medina,

Margarita Morales

1999: Northeast Sonora Water Project: Phase One report with Gildardo Acosta, and Mario Castaneda

1998 (published 2000 USEPA): Technical Bases for Appendices to Annex IV of the La Paz Border Agreement with Bill Powers

1995 Environmental Impacts of Multinational Mining Investment in Sonora, Mexico with Barbara Ferry

1994 The Challenge of Cross Border Environmentalism: The US-Mexico Case introduction to book by Tom Barry and Beth Sims

1994: Multilateral Investment Options to Reduce Mining and Smelting Impacts in Peru

1993: Environmetnal and Health Issues in the Interior of Mexico: Options for Transnational Safeguards with Laura Durazo and Geoff

Land

1991: US-Mexico Free Trade Negotiations and the Environment: Exploring the Issues

(special issue of Columbia Business Review) with Michael Gregory, Mary Kelly, and Jan Gilbreath

1990: Clean Air and Strategies to Mitigate Economic Impacts on Coalfield Communities (US EPA) with Bruce Carey and Michael

Gregory

1989: Emergency Response Program for Douglas, Arizona-Agua Prieta, Sonora with Michael Gregory for Cochise County, Arizona

1988: Air Pollution and Tree Dieback: Recent Trends ini the U.S. and Canada

1988: Hazardous materials Inventory of Agua Prieta, Sonora, Maquiladoras with Gildardo Acosta and Michael Gregory

1986: Estimates of Impacts of Agriculture in Sonora Mexico from Copper Smelter Derived Sulphur Dioxide Pollutants with Wayne

Williams

Border Ecology Project

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

The Border Ecology Project (BEP) is a small non-profit, research and advocacy organization, located on the Arizona-Sonora border and in Santa Fe, NM, that has sought solutions to environmental and health problems in the US-Mexico border and other Latin American regions since 1983. Through collaboration with non-governmental organizations, academic institutions, private consultants and government agencies, BEP adds community input to national and international policy discussions and negotiations. This has made us more effective in developing concrete strategies to prevent, reduce, or remediate pollution hazards created by industry and commerce, urban development, and natural resource exploitation, which are compounded by the impoverished condition of municipalities that lack basic infrastructure.

BEP’s board and staff, from the US and Mexican border region, believe that pollution impacts (particularly on human health) must be seen within the complex political, cultural, and developmental ambience of Mexico and the border; or within the context of other Latin American countries such as the southern cone region at a time of economic globalization. Addressing environmental problems requires understanding and the ability to openly address questions of local health, economics, regional legal and political questions, human rights in general and sometimes indigenous rights, natural resource exploitation and especially local history. Much of our efforts have also centered around capacity building of groups, particularly in Mexico, addressing environmental and health problems. We don’t believe in abandoning issues. One never knows what the long-term repercussions may be of a perceived solution. Some BEP activities since 1983 are described below:

Border Smelters and La Paz Agreement: We were a major force behind creation of the 1987 Annex IV to the La Paz Border Environment Agreement to regulate air pollution from smelters operating in the border region, affirming the closure of Phelps Dodge’s Douglas (Arizona) smelter to protect the health and welfare of border residents, and resulting in the installation of air pollution controls at the nearby Nacozari (Sonora, Mexico) copper smelter. BEP analyzed crop damage related to Douglas and Nacozari smelting which provided a major policy basis for Annex IV of the treaty while pursuing legal and regulatory strategies within the U.S. Related legal strategies helped push the cleanup of the San Manuel, Arizona copper smelter. Involvement in related dislocated worker issues led to a 1990 analysis for EPA of means to mitigate labor impacts of the new Clean Air Act in coal mining communities. In 1997, BEP co-consulted to EPA to analyze the success of the smelter accord and the need for broader and more reliable border air pollution control.

BEP participated in the drafting of Annex III to the La Paz agreement to regulate the transboundary movement of hazardous waste and materials, followed by the first inventory of hazardous materials use in the maquiladora industry--in Agua Prieta, Sonora--to evaluate the implementation of the accord.

NAFTA Institutions: We were a consistent voice in addressing hemispheric environmental and health issues related to trade and investment, before and after NAFTA. While ultimately opposing NAFTA, we have engaged the institutions that developed from NAFTA: BECC, NADBANK, and the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC). This included (1) promoting public participation in all institutions, (2) creating and finding funding for border infrastructure projects in Sonora, and (3) advocating for transparency and applied research within the CEC NAFTA Environmental Effects Oversight Committee.

Cooperative Projects on the Border and in Latin America: For almost 20 years, BEP has promoted Right-To-Know and public access to and dissemination of information. We have helped to launch, and worked within, unusual collaborative binational public access water quality projects: the Nogales Water Project and the Northeast Sonora Water Project. The latter project has led to onsite investigations of sources of dumping of toxics in Agua Prieta, Sonora, as well as complex community-NGO long range water monitoring and planning for protection on the Sonoran side of the San Pedro River and Rio Sonora. We have also worked with border authorities on binational emergency response plans. Since the early 1990's BEP has been working cooperatively with Mexican, Peruvian, and Chilean citizens to better characterize the local and transnational social and environmental impacts from mining and smelting activities. We have examined the impacts caused by policies of global multilateral banks and multilateral investment agencies as well as the site-specific impacts of the funding of industrial development from smelters to mines to power plants. Attempting to provide means for citizens to understand the impacts, and respond effectively, has been a collaborative process that we foresee continuing.

Along these lines, BEP has worked--with varying degrees of success--to promote NGO networks and very broad-based democratic binational environmental health councils. We have also tried to assist NGOs in Mexico to develop appropriate structures and to seek funding. Our role as a periodic fiscal agent for Mexican NGOs has been paralleled by efforts to promote institutional means of philanthropy between US and Mexico foundations and NGOs as well as to assist in the development of public interest laboratories and law groups.

Environmental Health: Environmental health impacts are difficult to understand and painful to deal with, and BEP has been involved with health issues since our inception. BEP worked with local citizens in Douglas and Agua Prieta to better understand the incidence and potential factors involved in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus in those communities (catalyzing community input and a clinical lupus study in Douglas), and to gain better access to health care. The U.S.-Mexico border has an array of disturbing health conditions with some probable environmental linkages that are impossible to ignore when addressing contamination.

GLOBAL DIRECTIONS: BEP has been exploring the feasibility of developing global funding to support the high costs of environmental legal and technical assessment for citizens of developing countries who lack resources to address the environmental impacts of globalization.

Awards: Director Dick Kamp was presented the United Nations Environment Programme’s Global Youth Forum Special Service Award at the U.N. General Assembly for “special service to the global environment” on World Environment Day, June 6,1991.

Border Ecology Project, Inc. is a 501 (c)(3) tax exempt non-profit organization, recognized by the Internal Revenue Service and incorporated in the states of Arizona and New Mexico. BEP welcomes inquires about its work as well as offers of financial support.

Border Ecology Project has worked successfully in the following areas:

1983-88: Oversaw and co drafted creation of first US crossborder agreement to control and regulate air pollutants to the highest standards of both countries—Annex IV to the La Paz Agreement. Successful litigation and implementation of programs by Phelps Dodge (resulting in a smelter shutdown) to protect Mexican air quality to US standards. Involved in policy creation of SO2 standard in Mexico and design and implementation in Nacozari, Sonora of a state of the art pollution controlled copper smelter. Successful litigation against Magma Copper smelter resulting in cleanup. Environmental assessment of agricultural impacts of air pollution from smelters used as basis for Mexican national policy to control SO2 from nonferrous smelters. Involved in development of public participation in the La Paz agreement working groups firs t for air, then hazardous waste and emergency response.

1985-90: Field researched hazardous waste management in Mexico by US owned maquiladoras, codrafted binational accord (Annex III to the La Paz Agreement), carried out first field inventories of hazardous waste in northern Mexico, played major role in advocating and implementing US-Mexico hazardous waste control program.

1987-92: Designed and attempted to implement several inventoried hazardous material emergency response programs, particularly along eastern Sonora-Arizona border. Established civil sector binational network for hazardous material emergency response with collaborators in Mexico. Began administration of approximately $1.2 M

in funds from U.S. sources for capacity building of and collaboration with Mexican nongovernmental organizations (as well as occasional support of Mexican municipal, state and federal projects). Helped in the founding and financial support of 5 Mexican NGOs that continued to survive as of 2002.

1989-90: Water quality inventory of Nogales, Arizona-Sonora

1990: For EPA, evaluated options to mitigate Clean Air Act on Appalachian communities.

1990-93: A principle organization and individual working on the nongovernmental side of developing adequate environmental and social programs attached to NAFTA. (1998-2002: a parallel program to explore a nongovernmental environmental commission for the hemisphere relating to programs such as the FTAA, WHO, and Mercosur)

1993-2000: Close involvement in creation and oversight of the North American Commission on Environment (NAFTA enviro commission or CEC)

1994-2001: Participation in creation and oversight of Border Environmental Cooperation Commission

1987-1998 Analysis of copper mining impacts in Arizona and New Mexico

1993-1999 Extensive involvement in analysis of investment and environmental impacts in Mexican mining sector

1994-1997: Involvement in Peruvian mining and smelting issues

1997: Involved in creation of Mining Network for Latin America

1997-98 Evaluation of Chilean mining issues and trade; support of creation of public interest law organization

1994-2003: Widespread water quality and quantity evaluation of northeastern Sonoran water quality and quantity issues---field analysis with governmental, academic and nongovernmental partners. (State of Arizona, University of Sonora, Sonoran NGOs, and municipios. Development of alternative policies to address toxics issues.

In Cananea, Sonora region: indepth analysis of mining impacts, potential closure and reclamation plans, and possible community-based long term water quality monitoring programs

2001-2002 Analysis of export credit agency impacts in northern Mexico.

1998-2002 Analysis of power plant and utility impacts in border region accompanying deregulation scenarios

1995-2001 (Staff expertise) Immune system and other environmental health impacts in eastern Arizona-Sonora border region.

2002—2003? management of Mexican environmental fund for USEPA to build nongovernmental capacity in northern Mexico.

2001-2002: Geoprobe analysis of solvent dumping in northern Sonora and land use analysis across border in Arizona.

2002-2004: Funding of institutionalization of public access academic water lab in Sonora and of public interest law group.

2002-2003: Exploration of options to establish a fund to finance environmental technical and legal assessment in developing countries. (possibly also under consultancy).

This page is located at http://www.borderecoweb.sdsu.edu/Drct_pgs/bep.html