The fight to clean up border pollution has come a long way since the early 1960s, when people essentially passed the hat in Tijuana bars and restaurants to raise money for what was then seen as a remedy.<\/p>\n
In recent years, some $650 million in U.S. federal money and $46 million from the state of California has been secured, along with commitments from Mexico, to substantially reduce the sewage and other toxic waste that flow from the Tijuana River into San Diego and the ocean off Imperial Beach.<\/p>\n
Should all this reach its endgame, it would be a notable milestone for an effort that has seen many downs and ups over the better part of a century. Yet still more will be needed to create a permanent, ongoing operation to finally resolve the matter.<\/p>\n
The cause has been enthusiastically embraced by the Trump administration through Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zelden, who in December announced the latest binational agreement<\/a> aimed at further advancing plans to address the toxic flows.<\/p>\n However, the bipartisan cast of local officials who have worked hard on this issue for years and cheered this latest development were given pause when President Donald Trump declined<\/a> to renew the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which injected uncertainty into the delicate, politically-charged river dance.<\/p>\n The USMCA trade deal committed $300 million<\/a> of the federal money currently targeted for Tijuana River Valley pollution.<\/p>\n San Diego leaders are seeking assurances that progress achieved through the pact won\u2019t be lost. Switching to offense, several officials have said no new trade deal should be signed unless it includes a permanent solution to stopping the Tijuana River pollution.<\/p>\n In that, their view appears to be somewhat parallel to Trump\u2019s larger trade goals of getting more for the U.S. out of a new pact. Though Trump had negotiated the USMCA during his first administration, he has come to criticize it as inadequate.<\/p>\n The decision not to renew the agreement started a 10-year clock before it expires.<\/p>\n The polluted flows out of Tijuana \u2014 and the toxic gases they emit \u2014 have grown dramatically along with the city\u2019s population and border maquiladora industry, the latter of which has been developed in part by U.S. interests. This has overwhelmed the city\u2019s aging and balky sewer system for decades.<\/p>\n Several remedies have been attempted, on occasion resulting in significant, if temporary, improvement.<\/p>\n More than 60 years ago, when the border was a very different place, the remedy \u2014 of sorts \u2014 was to put chlorine in the wastewater before it was sent into the international outfall. Sometimes Mexican officials resisted spending tens of thousands of dollars to do that.<\/p>\n San Diego County\u2019s public health officer threatened to declare a pubic health emergency<\/a> and keep San Diegans away from \u2014 or from crossing \u2014 the border. That got everybody\u2019s attention.<\/p>\n Not wanting to lose their American customers, proprietors of bars, restaurants and other businesses along Avenida Revoluci\u00f3n helped raise money to pay for the chlorine.<\/p>\n The idea of shutting down the border or restricting crossings to force a sewage solution has come around every so often, even in modern times. But the problem is so much more complex these days \u2014 and the economies of Tijuana and San Diego so intertwined \u2014 it\u2019s not realistic because of the pain it would cause north of the border, let alone to the south.<\/p>\n In 1994, Vice President Al Gore attended the groundbreaking of the existing South Bay International Boundary Water Treatment Plant<\/a>. Rep. Bob Filner presented him with red boxing gloves for \u201cdelivering a knockout blow to Tijuana sewage in this river valley.\u201d<\/p>\n Alas, that fix eventually proved to be inadequate. Much of the money now targeted for addressing the problem is for expanding and upgrading the plant.<\/p>\n EPA chief Zelden has called his latest plan\u00a0a \u201c100% solution<\/a> to permanently and urgently end the crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n Many have applauded the plan, though a bit cautiously, including historian Marco Antonio Samaniego of the Autonomous University of Baja California. He served on an advisory committee for the International Boundary and Water Commission.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s a good thing that they\u2019ve signed another agreement,\u201d he told<\/a> the Times of San Diego. \u201cWhat they are proposing in engineering terms is significant.\u201d<\/p>\n But he didn\u2019t see it as a permanent solution.<\/p>\n \u201cPoliticians always claim that their agreements will resolve everything. I\u2019ve heard that about the Tijuana River for decades,\u201d he said. \u201cThey have always made important steps, but never sufficient ones. Urban problems are much more accelerated than the speed of diplomacy. It\u2019s one step among many.\u201d<\/p>\n San Diego elected officials for years have largely been united in seeking money and binational resolve to address the problem. When the USMCA was thrust into limbo, that brought another round of attention to the border.<\/p>\n County Supervisor Paloma Aguirre, whose district includes Imperial Beach, has been among the most outspoken leaders in efforts to keep the pressure on the federal and state government and Mexico.<\/p>\n At a recent news conference, she called<\/a> the pollution detrimental to the local economy and \u201cthe biggest environmental and public health emergency in the Western hemisphere.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf the USMCA is to continue shaping our economic future, it must first stop undermining it,\u201d Aguirre said, according to KPBS<\/a>, adding that \u201cuntil that truth is reflected in the USMCA, it should not be extended.\u201d<\/p>\n Rep. Scott Peters, D-San Diego, and others also have argued for using trade negotiations<\/a> as leverage to secure a lasting solution, but urged that gains be protected.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s essential that Mexico is held to its commitments under the USMCA to ensure lasting progress for our region,\u201d Peters said<\/a> in a statement. \u201cAnd if we walk away, we risk undoing hard-won progress and leave San Diego exposed to more pollution and economic setbacks.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s hard to predict whether the USMCA situation will ultimately bolster or hinder the generations-long effort to clean up the Tijuana River Valley.<\/p>\n But given the recent progress, it\u2019s hard not to see that continuing \u2014 in fits and starts, just as it always has.<\/p>\n What they said<\/p>\n