The Mexican government has announced it will pursue a sweeping array of tactics to combat industrial pollution, from $4.8m in fines against a plant processing US hazardous waste to the rollout of a new industrial air-monitoring system, following investigations by the Guardian and Quinto Elemento Lab, a Mexican investigative unit.<\/p>\n
Those stories revealed<\/a> high levels of heavy-metal contamination in the neighborhood around the factory, Zinc Nacional, in the Monterrey metropolitan area, and showed<\/a> the broader extent of industrial pollution in the region, linked to Monterrey\u2019s role in manufacturing and recycling goods for the US market.<\/p>\n The investigations found that facilities are releasing more toxic heavy metals into the city\u2019s air than the totals reported in many US states, and more carbon dioxide than nearly half the world\u2019s nations.<\/p>\n In an announcement<\/a> last week, the government said it would establish a new atmospheric monitoring network for industry, \u201cthe first of its kind in Latin America\u201d. It said the system will measure emissions from industry, including heavy metals.<\/p>\n Mariana Boy Tamborrell, Mexico\u2019s federal attorney for environmental protection, said the latest moves represent a new wave of enforcement against industrial pollution in Mexico<\/a>. They originated when the first stories were published in early 2025 and include Zinc Nacional agreeing to address environmental damage, according to her agency.<\/p>\n \u201cThe work we have done over the past year with Zinc Nacional is a watershed moment in how we monitor and inspect regulatory compliance by industries,\u201d she said in a statement.<\/p>\n Details of the new air-monitoring system remain unclear, and the agency did not provide the information by the time of publication. It is unclear whether this will be for Monterrey or the whole country.<\/p>\n Additionally, the nation\u2019s main environmental regulator has announced it is updating air and soil contamination standards, some of which have not been revised for decades.<\/p>\n Mart\u00edn Soto Jim\u00e9nez, a prominent toxicology researcher at the Universidad Nacional Aut\u00f3noma de M\u00e9xico (Unam), who conducted soil sampling around Zinc Nacional in collaboration with the Guardian and Quinto Elemento Lab, said the new efforts to hold the company responsible for cleanup are precedent-setting.<\/p>\n \u201cThis agreement is a historic step forward for environmental justice in Mexico,\u201d he said in a written response to questions from reporters.<\/p>\n \u201cThe creation of an atmospheric monitoring network is one of the most valuable parts of the agreement. To be useful, it must make real-time data public [and] allow citizens and scientists to access and analyze the information.\u201d<\/p>\n Zinc Nacional, a Mexican company that imports highly toxic dust left over after the US steel industry recycles old cars and appliances, must undertake 24 corrective measures in addition to the fine.<\/p>\n The company is required to relocate some of its operations to a new plant outside residential areas of densely populated Monterrey and to build new containment and water treatment facilities. It must remediate contaminated land, reforest 12 acres (5 hectares) and monitor future emissions.<\/p>\n In a statement to the Guardian and Quinto Elemento Lab, Zinc Nacional acknowledged that there was some contamination on its land, which it said was associated with a company that previously operated on the site. It said that its \u201cemissions were identified as being well below regulatory parameters, confirming the effectiveness of our dust control and collection systems\u201d.<\/p>\n No contamination is being dispersed into the air or carried towards nearby water bodies by rain, it said.<\/p>\n \u201cThrough all these actions, we will reduce the environmental footprint of our operations, continue strengthening local employment, [and] expand green areas,\u201d it said in a press release<\/a>.<\/p>\n In the past, Zinc Nacional has disputed the findings of the soil sampling in the community around its plant, raising doubts about the way the study was performed and saying it did not prove the heavy metals originated in the company\u2019s factory.<\/p>\n Some neighbors expressed disappointment with the government\u2019s announcement, saying it focused on contamination inside the plant boundaries, but didn\u2019t address the concerns about health effects and heavy metals in the surrounding neighborhood.<\/p>\n Soil samples taken around the plant for the stories showed heavy metals, like lead, cadmium and arsenic inside and outside schools and homes. One primary school had 1,760 times the levels of lead that would be considered a human health risk in the US.<\/p>\n \u201cI think [the government] has failed to properly assess the needs of the vulnerable communities adjacent to the company,\u201d said Ricardo Gonz\u00e1lez, one of six neighbors who spoke with reporters and have become involved with efforts to demand change from Zinc Nacional in the past year.<\/p>\n Northern Monterrey, Nuevo Le\u00f3n, Mexico, on 13 September 2024. Photograph: Bernardo De Niz<\/p>\n Neighbor Crist\u00f3bal Palacios called for regulators to publicly share the details of the remediation, including soil sample results, and any air emissions information collected in the future.<\/p>\n \u201cAll of us who live near the company should be able to see, with our own eyes, the numbers [the government] says they\u2019re going to obtain \u2013 how much lead, cadmium, arsenic is in the air \u2013 and they should really make that transparent,\u201d said Palacios. He and other locals said it is crucial to have enforceable deadlines for the measures.<\/p>\n The actions by the federal government are the latest measures aiming to address industrial pollution to be announced following the journalistic series.<\/p>\n The environmental regulator, known by its acronym Semarnat, said<\/a> in December that it was working to update three of Mexico\u2019s industrial air-pollution standards, some of which haven\u2019t been revised in decades. This includes lowering the amount of particulate matter that plants are allowed to emit to the air by 50%<\/a>. The head of Semarnat also told<\/a> Mexico\u2019s congress that her department is working to update Mexico\u2019s standards for soil contamination.<\/p>\n Federal senator Waldo Fern\u00e1ndez, who heads the senate committee overseeing Mexico\u2019s negotiations with the US over North American free trade, said he is drafting legislation to amend Mexico\u2019s environmental law to limit the import of toxic waste and to require monitoring of heavy metal emissions by plants processing materials with heavy metals.<\/p>\n He said the measure, which he plans to introduce in February, would seek to stop the importation of certain types of toxic waste materials that are not \u201cenvironmentally beneficial\u201d for Mexico, including waste that generates heavy pollution with arsenic, lead, cadmium and other toxic elements.<\/p>\n And, when imports occur, \u201cwe\u2019re calling for stricter regulation to ensure these imports don\u2019t cause so much pollution\u201d, the senator said in an interview.<\/p>\n Additionally, two citizen groups took steps, following the latest article<\/a>, to demand improved air quality in Monterrey and better protection of the public\u2019s health.<\/p>\n