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EL PASO AND CIUDAD JUAREZ SHARE A COMMON AIRSHED
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Inversions trap emissions from both cities in the Rio Grande river valley, causing
pollution buildup.
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Source: Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission, Texas Near
Non-attainment Areas: Technical Background (1994).
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El Paso is the only city in Texas in violation of national
standards for both respirable particulate matter and carbon monoxide. The city is also designated as a "serious" nonattainment area for ozone. El Paso has
been in compliance with national standards for nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and, since 1986, lead.
El Paso and other cities along the Texas-Mexico border face unique pollution problems. Modeling studies
designed by the state have shown that air pollution originating in Ciudad Juárez -- which lies in a desert valley across the Rio Grande from El Paso -- contributes
as much or more to overall air pollution in El Paso than pollution originating on the U.S. side of the border.* In
fact, pollution levels monitored in Ciudad Juárez are significantly higher than those in El Paso. These two cities, along with Sunland Park, New Mexico, share a
common airshed in a valley characterized by the Rio Grande and surrounding mountain peaks. Temperature inversions in the area contribute to air pollution problems.
A 1990 joint study by the EPA, Texas Air Control Board, El Paso City/County Health Department, and Mexican authorities
found that the highest concentrations of particulate matter occurred in urban Ciudad Juárez and in the mountain pass along the border.* The principle sources of carbon monoxide, particulate matter, and ozone in the area include motor
vehicles, industries located in the airshed, open burning of domestic and agricultural wastes, and the burning of common and hazardous wastes by brick kilns.
A problem specific to the area is the large number of vehicles waiting to enter or exit the United States from Mexico.
The El Paso-Ciudad Juárez border crossing is one of the busiest crossings along the border. Each vehicle crossing the
border, about 40 percent of which have Mexican license plates, must wait at least ten minutes at the border while its
paperwork is processed. Vehicles at idle produce higher emissions. In addition, Mexican vehicles, because they are
older and have less stringent maintenance and emission controls, tend to be higher emitters.
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EXCEEDENCES OF MEXICAN CRITERIA POLLUTANT STANDARDS IN CIUDAD JUAREZ, 1991-1995.
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YEAR
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OZONE EXCEEDENCES
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HIGHEST LEVEL
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CARBON MONOXIDE EXCEDENCES
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HIGHEST LEVEL
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PARTICULATE MATTER EXCEDENCES
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HIGHEST LEVEL
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1991
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23
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0.3081
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23
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13.85
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15
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18
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1992
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15
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0.1322
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1
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11.45
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14
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314
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1993
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4
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0.1543
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2
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11.35
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13
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251
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1994
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6
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0.1459
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0
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8.88
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20
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341
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1995
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6
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0.1171
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8
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14.67
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7
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242
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Source: Oscar Ibánez, Department of Ecology and Urban Development, Municipality of Ciudad Juárez, 1996.
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Ozone 1-hour standard is 0.11 parts per million.
CO 8-hour standard is 11.00 parts per million.
PM-10 daily standard is 150mg/cubic meter.
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In 1995 and 1996 the then-TNRCC submitted a Section 818 Attainment Demonstration to the EPA to prove that pollution
emanating from outside the United States prevents El Paso's compliance with national ambient air quality standards.*
The "attainment demonstrations" are aimed at preventing the city from being bumped up from a serious to a severe
ozone nonattainment area and from a moderate to a serious carbon monoxide and particulate matter nonattainment area.* It also keeps the city from suffering federal sanctions, including the loss of federal highway funds and
construction grants even though the city continues to suffer poor air quality past compliance deadlines. In essence, El
Paso is being given a break because of its inability to control pollution on the Mexican and New Mexican sides of the
border. However, El Paso still has had to adopt and enforce stringent pollution control rules to comply with the federal Clean Air Act.
State and local officials, environmental groups like Environmental Defense, and business interests from the United
States and Mexico have worked on setting up an International Air Quality Management District encompassing the two
cities and surrounding areas. In 1996 the U.S. and Mexican governments agreed instead to the establishment of a Joint
Advisory Committee on Air Quality Improvement, composed of local government, industry, and public representatives,
which can make recommendations to a joint U.S.-Mexican Binational Air Quality Work Group led by the federal environmental authorities of both countries.* The advisory committee has made a number of recommendations and
has adopted studies to help come up with creative solutions to the area's unique air pollution problems. One of their
ideas has been to allow companies in El Paso to meet clean air obligations by investing in Mexico air pollution control strategies.
In 2001, the Texas Legislature approved a law that allows emission reductions in Mexico to count toward regulatory
obligations on the Texas side of the border. * For example, El Paso Electric Company -- in order to comply with a state
requirement to reduce their power plant NOx emissions by 50 percent -- had proposed an alternative plan to reduce
emissions in the Paso del Norte airshed by building 60 modern brick kilns with lower emissions of CO, PM-10 and VOC
in Ciudad Juarez just across the border. Brick kiln emissions are a serious environmental and health problem in the
airshed and it is clear that this investment would provide benefits to the airshed. Nonetheless, some -- including
members of the Joint Advisory Committee on Air Quality Improvement -- have questioned the logic of allowing a
company like El Paso Electic to substitute reduced kiln emissions in Mexico with increased NOx emissions in Texas. In
fact, since the proposal, EPE has only built 20 of the 60 kilns and is proposing that only five of these kilns be applied
toward the original 50 percent NOx reduction requirement, with the remainder instead count toward a separate federal
New Source Review emissions reduction requirement, not currently authorized by U.S. law. *
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