The Commission for Environmental Cooperation
The United States, Canada, and Mexico created the CEC to address regional environmental concerns, help prevent potential trade and environment conflicts, and promote the effective enforcement of environmental laws. Prior to the creation of the CEC, many North American cooperative environmental activities were bilateral in nature. Very few involved all three governments. The CEC has shifted the focus of
environmental efforts to trilateral activities, often involving the entire North American region. This has greatly improved the three governments�� ability to address regional environmental concerns.
The CEC accomplishes its work through the combined efforts of its three principal components: the Council, the Secretariat and the Joint Public Advisory Committee (JPAC). The Council is the governing body of the CEC and is composed of the cabinet-level environment officials from each of the three NAFTA parties. The Council is required to meet at least annually. This ensures that momentum is maintained behind common environmental initiatives. Moreover, the three member
governments�� annual review and approval of the CEC��s work plan ensures that NAFTA parties regularly prioritize regional environmental concerns and agree on steps to address those concerns. The Secretariat implements the
CEC��s annual work program, and provides administrative, technical
and operational support to the Council. The creation of the Secretariat has ensured that resources are devoted to the CEC��s environmental initiatives on a daily basis. The JPAC is composed of fifteen citizens, five from each of the three countries, and advises the Council on any matter within the scope of the NAAEC. The JPAC ensures that the views of citizens are factored into the Council��s
deliberations.
NAFTA parties are seeking solutions to a number of issues of trilateral significance for
the first time, focusing initially on five major themes: (1) protecting human health and the environment; (2) enforcement cooperation and law; (3) environmental conservation; (4) environment, trade and economy; and (5) information and public outreach. Each year, the Council approves an Annual Program and Budget for the CEC that includes funding for a number of specific projects in each of these areas; some project highlights to date are described below.
Protecting Human Health and the Environment
Pollution, like other aspects of the North American environment, does not respect international boundaries. Some pollutants can travel great distances through the air, while others may be carried many miles by rivers or ocean currents. It is impossible for any country, acting alone, to prevent pollution from entering its territory. This portion of the CEC��s work program aims to address this problem through cooperative efforts to reduce pollution and minimize its effects.
The sound management of chemicals is one area on which the CEC has focused a great deal of work. In 1995, NAFTA governments agreed to develop continental action plans for the sound management of chemicals that are acutely toxic or can build up to unacceptable levels in the food chain. So far, the CEC has reached agreement on regional action plans for eliminating the use of the industrial
chemical PCB, still found in old electrical equipment, by 2008, and for the phase out of the use of two pesticides, DDT and chlordane, over ten years, and their replacement with less environmentally harmful controls for mosquitos and termites. In addition, a task force is working on a reduction strategy for mercury, which has
both natural and anthropogenic sources.
Another project involves the development of a North American pollutant release inventory. A common inventory of pollutant releases can encourage industry to generate less waste, supports community right-to-know initiatives, and will also help in the implementation of the toxic substances action plans. As part of this project, Mexico recently established its first pollutant release and transfer register mechanism. The three governments are also working to develop a cooperative long-term air quality monitoring, modeling, and assessment program for North America.
Article 10(7) of the NAAEC calls for the parties to develop recommendations on assessing the environmental impacts of proposed federal projects likely to cause significant adverse environmental effects across national borders. These recommendations are to include provisions for notifying affected parties, as well as ways to mitigate potential adverse effects of such projects. NAFTA parties have agreed to complete negotiations on transboundary environmental impact assessment
procedures by April 15, 1998. The agreement will likely include a provision that will allow an affected state within one country to contribute comments and information to the environmental assessment process in another country, which will consider mitigation measures. The agreement will create an early warning mechanism
to promote conflict avoidance.
Enforcement Cooperation and Law
Recognizing that strong environmental laws will do little to protect the environment
unless they are accompanied by adequate enforcement efforts, each of NAFTA parties committed in the NAAEC to enforce effectively their environmental laws. To help the three countries improve their environmental enforcement efforts, the CEC
formed the North American Working Group on Environmental Enforcement and Compliance, composed of senior federal, state, and provincial environmental
officials from the three countries. This working group brings together for the first time
people from different governments, including from their environmental, customs, and justice departments, to share information on enforcement strategies, as well as expertise and technical knowledge. These exchanges of information have improved each government��s ability to track illegal transborder movements of hazardous substance and wastes, to enforce anti-smuggling laws against trade in endangered wildlife, and to limit the movement of harmful chemicals, such as ozone-destroying
chlorofluorocarbons.
In addition to the commitment to effective enforcement, the NAAEC also includes a commitment that NAFTA parties will maintain high levels of environmental protection and continuously strive to improve their environmental laws and regulations. In recognition of this obligation, the Council has agreed to develop principles in
1997 to guide the development of a new generation of environmental regulatory and other management systems. The CEC will use such principles as a yardstick to
evaluate the extent to which new laws, rules and regulations fulfill their obligations under Article 3.
Environmental Conservation
There are many species of animals, birds, fish and plants that are unique to North America. The ranges for many of these species cross national boundaries, which means that in order to ensure their survival, NAFTA governments must cooperate to improve management and conservation of these species�� habitats. The CEC is
creating tools, such as North American ecosystem maps and a North American biodiversity database network, which will enable governments to make better-informed
decisions regarding steps to ensure the continued viability of these species.
Under the auspices of the CEC, the three governments are currently working together to develop strategies for the conservation of migratory species that are threatened by the loss or decline in quality of their habitats throughout their North American migratory routes. The CEC��s North American Monarch Butterfly Conservation program, for instance, will support study of the Monarch butterfly��s
population dynamics and may include establishment of additional protected areas, public education efforts, and site management efforts to improve critical migratory habitats. Similarly, the CEC is coordinating a partnership of key public and private organizations to protect vital migratory bird habitat, including resting, feeding, breeding and nesting grounds along principal North American flyways.
The CEC is also promoting cooperation on the protection of marine and coastal ecosystems, which are under threat from increasing pollution and habitat transformation. The CEC is assisting the three governments in implementing their
commitments under a recently negotiated international agreement in this area (the Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from
Land-Based Activities, or GPA, concluded in November 1995). Focusing initially on two marine and coastal ecosystems, the Southern California Bight and the Gulf of Maine, the CEC is assisting the governments in identifying land-based threats to those ecosystems and steps to address those threats.
Environment, Trade and Economy
The NAAEC calls for an ongoing consideration of the "environmental effects of NAFTA" in Article 10:(6)(d). Accordingly, the CEC has convened a non-governmental panel of trade and environmental experts to design and implement an analytical framework to identify and assess, to the extent possible, the effects of increased economic development, including the direct and indirect effects of NAFTA,
on the environment of North America. The panel is in its third year of work on a general
framework for the assessment and believes this framework will provide the basis for further cooperation among the Parties to address ways of countering any negative effects and promoting any positive effects that it identifies. The CEC Council
will receive the panel��s results at the end of 1997, at which point it will determine how best to continue to fulfill the Agreement��s obligation for ongoing
work in this important area.
Another of the CEC's objectives is to promote pollution prevention policies and practices. In order to do so among small to medium-sized industries in NAFTA countries, in 1996 the Council created a pilot fund for pollution prevention projects in Mexico and is currently exploring options for extending this fund to the United
States and Canada. To address the barrier of inadequate information exchange, the CEC has created a Technology Clearinghouse. This project assists potential users of environmental technology in finding the technology necessary to help them
comply with relevant environmental laws and regulations or to improve their production efficiency while maintaining or improving their competitiveness.
Information and Public Outreach
As part of the NAAEC, NAFTA parties committed to provide the public with information about environmental developments, and allow public participation in discussions of how the environmental provisions of NAFTA and the NAAEC
are being carried out. For example, the CEC Council holds annual public meetings,
at which the three environment ministers hold open dialogues with the public.
This openness extends to every level of the CEC. Several CEC projects involve participants drawn from a number of sectors of society. In addition, the JPAC plays an important role in ensuring that citizens from all three NAFTA countries can help the CEC make decisions about its future direction, spending and programs. To date,
the JPAC has hosted public meetings annually on specific topics of concern to the Council. Topics for 1997, for example, are the long range transport of air
pollutants, voluntary compliance with environmental management systems, and environmental networking between North American communities. JPAC representatives and the CEC Council have frequent and extensive interactions, thereby ensuring that the CEC is well informed of public concerns regarding North American environmental issues.
In addition, each of NAFTA governments maintains its own advisory committees to provide input to its national delegations to CEC meetings. The United States has established both National and Government Advisory Committees. The National Advisory Committee is made up of non-governmental representatives, including
business, environmental organizations, and academics. The Government Advisory Committee is made up of state, local, and tribal leaders from around the nation.
There are ten to fourteen members on each committee.
For consultations to be meaningful, those involved must have access to accurate and
timely information. To broaden its outreach, the CEC established an Internet Homepage which contains a wide array of information, including current CEC publications, summaries of the three countries' environmental laws, and CEC
project results. In addition, a CEC resource center has been established in Mexico City, to make information more accessible to those NAFTA citizens living
furthest from the CEC headquarters in Montreal.
North American Fund for Environmental Cooperation
In 1995, the CEC created the North American Fund for Environmental Cooperation NAFEC as a means to fund community-based projects in the United States, Mexico, and Canada. The fund has been allocated a total of $1.6 million for the 1996 fiscal year. In order to maximize the impact of the CEC��s limited resources,
proposals are encouraged for projects which not only promise concrete results at the
local level, but which also have larger-scale impacts. NAFEC seeks projects which
respond creatively to new challenges or seek new solutions to old problems, and whose results can be shared throughout North America. To date, 35 projects have been funded under this program.
CEC Activities under NAAEC Articles 13 and 14
Article 13 Reports
Article 13 of the NAAEC authorizes the CEC Secretariat to prepare a report sua sponte on any matter within the scope of the annual program or on any other environmental matter related to the cooperative functions of the NAAEC, unless the Council objects by a two-thirds vote within 30 days. To date, the Secretariat has
completed two Article 13 reports, one about the long-range transport of
air pollutants and the other evaluating the death of 40,000 migratory birds at the Silva
Reservoir in the Mexican state of Guanajuato.
In 1995, 40,000 migratory birds died from an unidentified cause at the Silva Reservoir in the Mexican state of Guanajuato. Facilitated by the Mexican government, the Secretariat sent an international team of scientists to investigate. The team determined that the overwhelming cause of death was avian botulism. The CEC is
currently working with the local government to clean up the Reservoir to prevent recurrence of botulism. In addition, an international team of scientists has been formed
to exchange information about avian botulism in an effort to cooperatively resolve many of the outstanding questions about the disease.
Article 14 Citizen Submissions
Under NAAEC Article 14, the CEC Secretariat may consider a submission from any non-governmental organization (including businesses) or person asserting that a Party is failing to effectively enforce its environmental law. If the Secretariat determines that a submission meets the criteria set out in Article 14(1), it must decide whether the petition merits requesting a response from the concerned Party, in accordance with Article 14(2). After considering any response provided by
that Party, the Secretariat may recommend to the Council that a factual record be developed, in accordance with Article 15 and the Guidelines for Submissions on Enforcement Matters under Articles 14 and 15 of the NAAEC. The Council may then instruct the Secretariat to develop a factual record on the submission.
Ten public submissions have been filed in the three years that the Secretariat has been operational. Of these submissions, three concern the United States, two concern Mexico, and five concern Canada. Following is a summary of the submissions received to date:
- U.S. Endangered Species Act: The first submission under Article 14 was filed with the CEC Secretariat on June 30, 1995, by a consortium of environmental groups. These groups alleged that a supplemental appropriations and rescissions bill suspended enforcement of the Endangered Species Act��s listing provisions. The case was terminated when the Secretariat determined that a change in law itself, under most circumstances, does not constitute a failure to effectively
enforce the law within the meaning of Article 14.
- U.S. Salvage Timber Sales: The second submission which the Secretariat received in 1995 was filed by a consortium of U.S., Mexican, and Canadian environmental groups. This submission alleged that provisions of a 1995
supplemental appropriations act resulted in a failure to effectively enforce U.S.
environmental laws by eliminating private remedies for timber salvage sales. As in the previous submission, the Secretariat determined that the provisions of
Article 14 were not intended to apply to legislative actions.
- Cozumel Reef: In this case, which was filed in January 1996, Mexican environmental groups alleged that the Government of Mexico failed to conduct an adequate environmental review of a project involving construction of a cruise ship pier at Cozumel Island near the Paradise Coral Reef and the onshore facilities.
The Secretariat determined that the submission met the requirements of Article 14, and subsequently requested and received a response from Mexican government to the submission. In August 1996, pursuant to a recommendation from the CEC
Secretariat, the environmental ministers of the three NAFTA governments directed the Secretariat to compile a factual record in this case. The Secretariat is close to completing a final factual record.
- Canadian Wetlands: A second submission filed in 1996 alleged that the governments of Canada and Alberta had failed to effectively enforce their environmental laws, resulting in the pollution of specified wetland areas and
impacting the habitats of fish and migratory birds. In this case, the Secretariat determined that the submitter, a Canadian citizen, was still pursuing his legal
remedies in Canadian court. Therefore, the Secretariat terminated the current proceeding.
- Canadian Fisheries Act: This submission, which was filed in September 1996 by a Canadian environmental group, alleged that the Canadian government was failing to enforce the habitat protection sections of the Canadian Fisheries Act and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act. In November, the Secretariat
requested a response to the submission from the Government of Canada. In its response, Canada stated that the matter raised in the submission is the subject
of a pending judicial or administrative proceeding in federal court. Therefore, the
Secretariat terminated the current proceeding.
- Fort Huachuca: In this submission, which was filed in November 1996, the Southwest Center for Biological Diversity alleged that the U.S. Army failed to conduct an adequate environmental impact assessment when Congress
decided to increase the number of people assigned to Fort Huachuca, Arizona. In its
response, the United States noted that the submitter had failed to file a timely complaint in the domestic courts, and that the alleged non-enforcement action occurred entirely before the NAAEC entered into force and therefore is not within the scope of Article 14. The Secretariat determined that the preparation of a factual record was not warranted, but has decided to undertake an Article 13 study of water use in the area.
- Hydro-electric Dams in British Columbia: This submission, which was filed in April 1997, alleges that the Canadian government is failing to enforce the Canadian Fisheries Act to ensure the protection of fish and fish habitat in British Columbia's rivers from environmental damage caused by hydro-electric dams. In May, the Secretariat requested a response to the submission from the Government of Canada.
- Contamination of the Rio Magdalena: On April 23, 1997, the Secretariat received a submission alleging that wastewater from certain municipalities in the Mexican state of Sonora was being discharged into the Magdalena River without prior treatment. According to the submitters, this practice contravenes Mexican environmental legislation governing the disposal of wastewater. The Secretariat is conducting its initial evaluation of this submission.
- Canadian Hog Establishments: Also in April 1997, the Secretariat received a submission from a consortium of Canadian environmental groups, alleging that the Government of Quebec has failed to enforce certain environmental protection standards regarding agricultural pollution originating from animal production
facilities, especially hog farms. The Secretariat is conducting its initial evaluation of this submission.
- Atlantic Implementation of Canadian Fisheries Act: On May 23, 1997, the Canadian Environmental Defense Fund asserted that Canada failed to enforce the Environmental Assessment Review Process Guidelines Order by not requiring an assessment of The Atlantic Groundfish Strategy (TAGS). This submission was a result of the Canadian government��s decision to re-open the groundfish
fishery, a decision that the submitters assert was not supported by a proper scientific
assessment.