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International Environment: Environmental Infrastructure Needs in the U.S.-Mexican Border Region Remain Unmet

RCED-96-179 Published: Jul 22, 1996. Publicly Released: Aug 05, 1996.
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Highlights

GAO provided information on the U.S.-Mexican border region's unmet environmental infrastructure needs, focusing on: (1) the financial and institutional challenges facing the United States and Mexico; and (2) how the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) identifies and prioritizes funding for environmental problems along the U.S.-Mexican border.

Recommendations

Recommendations for Executive Action

Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Environmental Protection Agency To ensure that EPA funding for border-related activities addresses the region's highest-priority environmental needs, the Administrator, EPA, should work with key federal entities in the United States and Mexico that are involved in developing and implementing the U.S./Mexico Border XXI Program to ensure that the program includes specific plans to use the inventory of all environmental data for the border region to establish criteria within, as well as across, the nine binational workgroups (taking into account the relative risks to human health and the environment).
Closed – Implemented
EPA has taken several actions to use the inventory of environmental data for the border region to establish criteria to ensure that the highest-priority needs are addressed.
Environmental Protection Agency To ensure that EPA funding for border-related activities addresses the region's highest-priority environmental needs, the Administrator, EPA, should work with key federal entities in the United States and Mexico that are involved in developing and implementing the U.S./Mexico Border XXI Program to ensure that the program includes specific plans to set priorities within and across the binational workgroups according to the established criteria.
Closed – Implemented
EPA has taken several actions to plan activities to ensure that the highest-priority projects are addressed.
Environmental Protection Agency To ensure that EPA funding for border-related activities addresses the region's highest-priority environmental needs, the Administrator, EPA, should work with key federal entities in the United States and Mexico that are involved in developing and implementing the U.S./Mexico Border XXI Program to ensure that the program includes specific plans to clearly link the priority activities chosen for funding to environmental indicators.
Closed – Implemented
EPA has developed environmental indicators for efforts in the border region and is committed to track performance based on the indicators.

Full Report

Full Report (32 pages)

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Topics

Natural Resources and Environment
Environmental policiesHazardous substancesIndustrial wastesInternational cooperationPrioritizingSewage treatmentWaste disposalWastewater treatmentWater pollution controlWater qualityInternational roads