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SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT FOSTERED IN U.S.-MEXICO BORDER AREA

Release Date: 03/03/2000
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FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, MARCH 3, 2000
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT FOSTERED
IN U.S.-MEXICO BORDER AREA

A strategic alliance has been launched to foster sustainable development along the U.S.-Mexico border and to demonstrate that it is compatible with free trade. On Feb.23, in Mexico City, 10 additional Mexican and U.S. groups signed on to the Seven Principles of Environmental Stewardship for the 21st Century including the Border Trade Alliance, the Environmental Law Institute and several Mexican trade and environmental organizations. This effort is consistent with the Administration’s environmental stewardship and reinvention efforts. Companies will be encouraged to work with other companies and industries to maximize environmental performance, environmental stewardship and sustainability practices, especially in the border region where population and industrial growth creates stress on human health and ecological systems. The alliance calls for companies to voluntarily control pollution and improve the environment in ways that go beyond legal requirements. The principles advocate company-wide commitments to public access to information about emissions and other environmental matters, pollution prevention, energy efficiency and improved environmental performance using environmental management systems and improved auditing procedures. The principles were developed last year by the environmental agencies of the two countries, the U.S.-Mexico Chamber of Commerce and the Border Environment Cooperation Commission, one of the groups formed to carry out the North American Free Trade Agreement. Beginning in April the U.S.-Mexico Chamber of Commerce will sponsor workshops as part of the implementation of the alliance for companies and other stakeholders in four border areas including El Paso/Juarez, San Diego/Tijuana, Tucson/Nogales and Laredo/Nuevo Laredo. Further information is available at https://www.epa.gov/usmexicoborder.

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