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2004 Douglas Arizona Meeting Minutes

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

GOOD NEIGHBOR ENVIRONMENTAL BOARD

Douglas, Arizona
October 27-28, 2004
DRAFT Meeting Summary/Minutes

subject to approval at Eagle Pass, TX meeting on February 17, 2005

Wednesday, October 27, 2004
(8:33 a.m.)

Meeting Participants

Board Members:

EPA/OCEM Staff:

Interpreters: Alfonso Visenor and Ron Zellon, Tucson, Arizona

Speakers

Other Attendees:

Day 1, October 27, 2004


Background

The Good Neighbor Environmental Board (GNEB or the Board) is an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) independent advisory committee. It advises the U. S. President and Congress on good neighbor practices along the U.S.-Mexico border. The focus is on the environmental infrastructure needs of the U. S. states that are contiguous to Mexico.

Welcome Remarks

Chairman Placido Dos Santos, Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, welcomed everyone to the Douglas, Arizona, Board Meeting and to the first meeting of the Good Neighbor Environmental Board (GNEB) in Cochise County. He introduced Eric Mapp, Director of Economic Development, City of Douglas, and thanked him and his staff for helping to organize the meeting.

Mr. Mapp welcomed everyone to the City of Douglas on behalf of the Mayor and the City Council, and thanked the Board for the work they are doing for border cities like Douglas and Agua Prieta.

Mr. Dos Santos introduced two persons: Elaine Koerner, the Designated Federal Officer (DFO) for the Board, and Paul Ganster, Director, Institute for Regional Studies of the Californias, San Diego State University, who would be the Chair after this meeting. Next, Board members, staff, and members of the audience introduced themselves

Remembrance of Gildardo Acosta

Mr. Dos Santos credited Gildardo Acosta, an environmental activist from Agua Prieta, who recently passed away, with stimulating many successful binational projects. Mr. Acosta made many contributions to the Arizona/Sonora region and was a great example to the Non-Government Organization (NGO) community. Mr. Dick Kamp, Director, Border Ecology Project, Santa Fe, New Mexico, one of Mr. Acosta's colleagues, introduced the Acosta family, who in turn thanked the Board for recognizing the environmental work of Mr. Acosta. Mr. Acosta was a chemical engineer with Calera, the lime plant, and had monitored the Douglas smelter. He spent much of his time managing hazardous waste and created three treaties which formed the basis for the La Paz agreement, which set up all of the border programs.

Mr. Kamp noted other important contributions of Mr. Acosta such as insisting that Mexican citizens need to be protected as well as U. S. citizens in the La Paz agreement; bringing to light that pollution levels from the Phelps Dodge smelter were ten times higher in Mexico than in the U.S.; and researching the basis for the La Paz Accord Annex 3, a hazardous waste agreement with civil penalties. In addition, Mr. Acosta was effective in establishing an emergency response plan between Agua Prieta and Douglas on hazardous materials emergencies. The maquiladoras turned to him for information on how to dispose of their hazardous waste. Mr. Acosta was the field coordinator for the Northeast Sonora Water Project, which successfully stopped sewage discharge from the maquiladoras. He collected data that showed which water wells were contaminated with trichloroethylene, sulfates, and arsenic. His mission was to see that Mexico had a strong, workable right-to-know program for hazardous wastes.

Mr. Dos Santos presented the family with a document that recognized his many accomplishments in benefiting the border environment.

Membership Announcements

Ms. Elaine Koerner, DFO, named three new board members: Gary Gillen, President, Gillen Pest Control, Richmond, Texas, and Ann Marie Wolf, both non-Federal members; and John Ritchie, Border Coordinator, Office of Mexico Affairs, U. S. Department of State, who will succeed Dennis Linskey, who is retiring from the State Department. Valecia Gavin, Jerry Paz, Diana Borja, and Chairman Placido Dos Santos would all be ending their tenures on the Board. Ms. Koerner thanked Diana Borja for her dedicated and distinguished service and presented her with a plaque. Ms. Borja responded that she was grateful that the Board visited many of the small communities and listened to the residents' needs and issues.

Ms. Koerner thanked Chairman Dos Santos for taking the board to a higher level of visibility and credibility, and preparing the board for the next step of making further in-roads into the national policy-making arena. Ms. Koerner presented him with a plaque in appreciation of this distinguished service and his contributions to the consensus-based recommendations to the U. S. President and Congress on environmental infrastructure issues along the border.

Daiva Balkus, Director, Office of Cooperative Environmental Management, EPA, noted that Mr. Dos Santos had worked with the Board to produce some remarkable reports by achieving consensus. She presented him with two mementos for his service. Fernando Macias, General Manager, Border Environment Cooperation Commission (BECC), stated that the BECC and its institutions recognized Mr. Dos Santos for his outstanding contribution in working to improve the quality of life for the millions of residents along the U. S. /Mexico border. Diane Rose, Mayor, Imperial Beach, California, also presented Mr. Dos Santos with gifts of appreciation.

Mr. Dos Santos responded that he was grateful for the opportunity to serve on the board and that OCEM recognized and appreciated the work of the board members. He reported that he was appointed to the EPA's Governmental Advisor Committee (GAC) that advises the government on environmental aspects of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Speakers

Mr. Dos Santos announced that the meeting agenda would be devoted to air quality, drought, emergency response, and the environmental impacts of undocumented immigration. The first presentation was by Mr. Gerardo Monroy, a member of the ADEQ border team and an air quality expert. Mr. Monroy would present an air quality study and discuss other issues pertaining to Agua Prieta, Douglas, and Ambos Nacos in Cochise County.

Air Quality

Gerardo Monroy, Border Air Quality Specialist, Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ)

Mr. Monroy presented some background for the Douglas-Agua Prieta Binational Air Quality Study. Three pioneer air quality studies have been initiated: the first in Ambos Nogales (1993-99), which has been completed (report available); the second in Douglas-Agua Prieta in 1999; and a third study in Yuma-San Luis in 2004. The Ambos Nogales study was the most extensive in terms of air quality binationally, but the Yuma-San Luis study is larger—covering Yuma, San Luis, Rio Colorado, and parts of Baja California. Funding for these studies is provided by the U. S. EPA Region 9 under the auspices of Border XXI, and now under Border 2012, the new federal program. They are all long-term, multi-component collaborative efforts.

Mr. Monroy showed a series of slides that described the Douglas-Agua Prieta study. The points illustrated were as follows:

Mr. Dos Santos thanked Mr. Monroy for his presentation that showed that community's efforts can bring about improvement in air quality. Next he introduced several persons, including some former board members, who had arrived after introductions. {Note: Names inserted in the list of participants.}

After the break, Mr. Dos Santos alerted members to the handouts from HUD, the Udall Center, and from the U. S. IBWC. He introduced Mr. Gregg Garfin, who would speak on the impacts of drought on the environment and economy.

Drought

Gregg Garfin, Program Manager, Climate Assessment for the Southwest (CLIMAS)

Mr. Garfin stated that the main message from his talk was that drought is a multi-year and multi-decade phenomenon in the border region and people's actions can increase or reduce vulnerability to drought. Impacts on the border region from drought are profound and can affect the water supply, the economy, and ecosystems. Mr. Garfin used a series of slides to illustrate these points.

The disastrous effects of drought accumulate over time, and the effects are spread over a wide region. The costs of drought per year are billions of dollars. Seasonal droughts and long-term droughts have very different effects. Drought consists of components that by appropriate policy and planning and the usage of land and water can be used to reduce our vulnerability.

The recent drought is due to lack of precipitation. In only one year, from 1996 to 2003, was precipitation above the average of 14 inches per year for 1971 to 2000. The accumulated deficit since January, 1999, is 21 inches in the Douglas area and around the border. The phenomenon is a western North American one with deficits over the past five years of 50 to 90 percent of average precipitation.

Using a longer perspective with the Palmer Hydrological Drought Index, there was a prolonged drought that peaked in the 1950s affecting the U. S. and Mexico, and another severe drought at the end of the 20th century that had profound effects on the Colorado River Basin. On a time scale of a millennium of winter precipitation (needed to recharge the water supply), droughts were evidenced in the 1600s, 1950s, and other periods.

Some of the causes of prolonged drought stem from the ocean, termed El Nino and El Nina. The drought circulation is El Nina, which reinforces the polar jet stream and leaves this area very dry, especially in the winter. A longer term phenomena, called the Pacific Decadal Oscillation or PDO, is similar in effect to the El Nino oscillation. Over the past century there have been 20- to 30-year periods of wet conditions in the southwest U. S. and northern Mexico.

Tree ring analysis allows for reconstruction of the stream flow in the Colorado River over 500 years. The worst mega drought was in the late 1500s and lasted for 25 years. The Colorado River Compact was signed in a period of high water flow, which indicated that there was about 16 and a half million acre feet of water to allocate. Based on the tree ring analysis, there is about three million acre feet, so the Colorado River flow has been over-allocated. This adversely affects the basin states and Mexico.

Some of the impacts of drought along the border are lower levels of reservoir water, affecting agriculture; expenditure of $350 million in northern Mexico; and lower levels of water in Lake Mead on the Colorado River, which affects irrigators and water delivery to Mexico. Groundwater accounts for 60 percent of drinking water in Arizona and is a non-renewable source. The average age of the groundwater in the Tucson Basin is from 300 to 8,000 years. A recent study by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in the Tucson Basin showed that the storage has decreased and recharge has been minimal in the last drought.

Along the San Pedro and Santa Cruz Rivers, the connection between surface and groundwater is important. The lack of recharge from the mountains and the pumping of groundwater lead to cones of depression and have impacts on riparian rights in the San Pedro area. Hydrologists at Penn State University recently studied the Rio Grande in New Mexico and found that the mountain front recharge can take as long as 50 years. Low groundwater and drought tend to concentrate contaminants in the water supply.

A case study in Ambos Nogales, Sonora, was used to illustrate the effect of population density on water supply. High demands of usage from municipal, industrial, and agriculture north of the border affect the Nogales, Sonora area. The water supply comes from well fields, a shallow aquifer, and from Nogales International Wastewater Treatment Plant. This plant supplies 25 percent of the water supply to Santa Cruz County in the U. S. Water is in short supply in Nogales, Sonora, but is in balance in Nogales, Arizona. The prognosis is that it is important to augment the water supply to sustain agriculture, municipal growth, and the riparian area in Nogales, Arizona. Some solutions are to use effluent, improve the infrastructure to prevent leaks, control development, and improve binational mechanisms for adaptive management.

Other impacts of drought are massive forest die-backs, enhanced erosion, changes in the ecosystem, higher temperatures, and attacks by insects. Wildlife is impacted due to lack of water and forage and there is a loss of native species, such as the Sonora Pronghorn. The drought has impacted military activities, range land permits, recreation, and tourism.

Ranching impacts are found in Arizona, Sonora, and Chihuahua, leading to declines in cattle operations and liquidation of herds. Selling out of ranch lands for housing developments has an even greater impact on groundwater levels. Selling of Mexican cattle in the U. S. has led to depressed prices and conflicts over importation of beef between the U. S. and Mexico.
Some of the proposed resolutions include forage banks for grazing during drought; having a diversified income, and creating a subsidy program for forage-based impacts. For Mexico, some solutions are genetic breeding, improving access to credit, and eradicating bovine tuberculosis.

Wildfire and subsequent erosion are effects of long-term drought. The cost of wildfires is billions of dollars. Other severe impacts are loss of life and structures, tourism, tensions in the ranching community, and illness due to particulate matter.

In Sonora and the Pitiquito Caborca Irrigation District, the impact of lowered groundwater levels has affected the levels of wheat harvest, crop land retirement, and retirement of water rights. In Arizona, there have been reductions in planted acres and increased energy costs. In Colorado, they have senior water rights; and they prefer having flexible water transfers, crop insurance programs, and early warning forecasts of drought. In the Sulphur Springs area, north of Douglas, farmers have improved efficiencies by lining canals, diversifying crops, and using more efficient irrigation technology to decrease vulnerabilities related to groundwater supply, energy price increases, and low socioeconomic status. Population growth and industrial employment tend to increase demand on water supplies.

Mr. Garfin offered the following recommendations:

Questions and Comments

Mr. Michel: What about the potential for water use efficiencies in regard to allocation issues and costs?
Mr. Garfin: There are three things that can be done to improve efficiencies of water usage: (1) Decrease the usage of flood furrow irrigation, which is very wasteful; (2) Improve irrigation management to reduce wastage through evaporation; and (3) Subsidize improved irrigation efficiencies through taxation.

Mr. Michel: Has any research been done on the effects of water usage by large developments?
Mr. Garfin: In Santa Fe, they allow new developments, but there can be no net loss of water, so developers have to find methods to develop new water supplies or re-use water.
Mr. Dos Santos: In Arizona, developments that occur within the critical groundwater management areas must demonstrate that adequate water supplies exist for100 years. Incentives are used to encouraged farmers to lay their lands fallow.

Ms. Rose: How was the statistical information going back to the 1600s and 1100s collected, and what do you see looking forward?
Mr. Garfin: The laboratory of Tree Ring Research at the U. of Arizona uses coring of trees and statistical models to extrapolate back into the past. The future is uncertain due to phenomena like the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, the El Nino/Nina fluctuations, and a companion circulation in the North Atlantic Ocean, which when aligned with the Pacific oscillation can bring about mega droughts. The effects of climate warming and early snow melt can increase evaporation.
Mr. Klein: Runoff is happening earlier and earlier because of climate change. In the Las Vegas Basin and in El Paso, Juarez, the ground is subsiding from taking out more groundwater than is replaced. This causes highways, overpasses, and buildings to sink.
Mr. Varaday commented that there will always be fluctuations whether due to climate change or some other natural phenomena and the vulnerabilities will still have to be dealt with.

Mr. Dos Santos: If the drought continues, will there be energy implications due to silting behind the dams due to lower water levels in Lake Powell and Lake Mead?
Mr. Garfin: There have been energy output reductions from Lake Powell that might necessitate drilling the turbine intakes further down. A Bureau of Recreation study has shown that as water levels lower, the southwestern area will not have adequate power. The Colorado River drought episodes last about 10 years, so we may be two-thirds of the way through this drought. The worst case scenario is that an early heat wave on the snow pack means that a lot of water never makes it into the reservoirs.

Mr. Ganster: There are plans for recharge of aquifers with brackish water that is then desalinated. Two problems with desalination are (1) huge capital costs, and (2) pollution of the air due to increased energy usage to desalinate water. Policies need to be determined by looking at all of the environmental issues together.


Emergency Response

Mario Novoa, Chief, Douglas Fire Department

Chief Novoa discussed his experience in fighting fires and hazardous conditions in the border area. The City of Douglas Fire Department was able to help the town of Agua Prieta fight structural fires until the mid 1990s when insurance coverage for firefighters and equipment used in Mexico became a problem. Another problem was the equipment was being damaged by sediment in the water supply in Agua Prieta. President David Fiquora had asked for their help with equipment maintenance, personal protective equipment, and training.

Chief Novoa related several incidents which had binational implications, because hazardous material does not just stay on one side of the border. The 35 firefighters in Agua Prieta were ill-equipped to cover the 120,000 population and 23 maquiladoras. Agua Prieta had no paramedics and no EMTs with basic certification. Douglas Fire Department has provided training, sanctioned by the Arizona Department of Health, in Cruz Roja and Caborca.

On January 15, 2204, there was an incident of chlorine leakage from a cylinder tank in the border area. A major concern was whether to evacuate people on both sides. On the Mexico side, they did not have personal protective equipment, such as a self-contained breathing apparatus, and some first responders may have breathed in chlorine gas. To help in these situations, the City of Douglas now has an agreement with EPS's Region 9, Border 2012.

On May 19, 2004, a structural fire on the international line right by the town cemetery required binational cooperation. The Agua Prieta Fire Department and the Commercion Protecion por Civil responded, but they did not have an adequate water supply, and many of the fire hydrants were not hooked up to the water supply. The Douglas and the Sunnyside Fire Departments sent water tankers and put the hose through the international fence to help supply water to quench the fire. The building was a chemical factory so there was a concern about PCBs from a transformer, touluene, and other chemicals, as well as, ground water contamination.

On September 13, 2004, a hazardous material spill of sulphuric acid from a tanker occurred 25 miles south of the City of Agua Prieta, and a plume of chemical smoke was headed for Douglas. Agua Prieta Fire Department did not have hazardous materials equipment or self-contained breathing apparatus. While the Cochise County Emergency Management Department said they would help on the U.S. side, Douglas Fire Department was called from Mexico to provide help and consultation. Communication through cell phones and radio was very difficult. The first responders were coughing and vomiting from the fumes, so Chief Novoa told them they needed to be medically evaluated.

On October 3, 2004, an incident occurred in the City of Douglas at a gas station. A tanker leaked 150 gallons of gas from a seam weld. It was a Sunday afternoon and he was unable to get any help from DPS, but a local policeman with hazmat training and the DOT inspected the vehicle, cited it, and impounded it. While the situation was mitigated, the problem was which agency should be responsible for this type of incident.

Chief Novoa's goal for his community is to have hazmat equipment and properly trained responders on both sides of the border. In addition to training his Mexican counterparts, they are planning a binational exercise with EPA Region 9 and Border 2012 on both sides of the border. Through the auspices of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the International Firefighters Association (IFFA) of a training session for first responders will be held on detection and mitigation of hazardous materials and weapons of mass destruction, and confined space rescue.

Questions and Comments

Diana Borja commented that vulnerability is a big problem on both sides of the border and the region needs to be treated as a whole. The lack of technology transfer and certification of operators need to be to be dealt continuously, not sporadically.

John Klein: In San Diego and Imperial County, it was necessary to train first responders on how to deal with the chemicals found in raids on the drug methadone laboratories. Have you had any problems of this type?
Chief Novoa: The hazmat training included the chemicals in methadone laboratories.
Mr. Dos Santos: Due to the danger of criminal action, the agency policy is that "meth lab busts" are a law enforcement issues, not for first responders.

Amanda Aguirre: The Governor recently issued a proclamation on the importance of training. In addition, First Responders gave $3000 to reimburse Mexican workers for their visas; and the IFFA donated equipment to the Mexican side in San Luis, Rio Colorado. The recently established regional councils under the Homeland Security Council should provide more resources to the fire departments.

Gedi Cibas commented that the polluter pay principle should apply to hazardous materials spills, because of the lack of governmental resources. The costs of clean-ups would then be included in the price of goods and services, which would be fairer and more efficient.

Diane Rose noted that a similar problem is faced in coastal communities in providing water rescues due to lack of equipment. She proposed that the Board look at ways to provide funds for the border environmental affairs, such as emergency response, hazmat response, and cross border evacuation.

Mr. Dos Santos responded that the subject would be taken up during the business meeting. He asked several persons who had recently joined the meeting to introduce themselves. The meeting was adjourned for lunch at 12:25 a.m.


Afternoon Session

Board Member Report-Outs

Elaine Koerner, DFO, asked if there were any report-outs from Board members. Several members summarized written reports that were in members' packets, as follows:

Report-Out from Counterpart Consejo Board

Rene Cordoba, Consulting Council for Sustainable Development (the Council), Mexico's North Western States

Mr. Cordoba described the organization of the Council and its relationship to the Secretary of the Environment in Mexico. In the last three years, the Council made 156 recommendations on the regional environment, some of which were made into public policy. Mr. Cordoba made his presentation in Spanish and used a series of slides to depict the Council's efforts. The main points included:

Questions and Comments

Diana Borja: Is there any communication or exchange between the Council, the Baja California and Sonora groups and the EPA 2012 program, which has regional workshops and a task force that deals with environmental education?
Mr. Cordoba: The connection is between people who are working on the same issues within different organizations. In Mexico, the Border 2012 is under the government, which has very few resources. The same is true of SEMARNAT in Mexico, so the Council is working through the schools.
Amanda Aguirre commented that the educational materials produced by environmental or public health agencies in Mexico are very useful because Mexican families have migrated into the Yuma and San Luis, Rio Colorado areas.
Paul Ganster: The perspective from the Mexican side of the border is helpful and indicates the need to form effective partnerships to address jointly agreed upon environmental strategies. More infrastructure support is needed for border communities on both sides that absorb the costs of development and industrial pollution.

Question: Is the Council following any kind of control measure or trying to measure the impact of the educational efforts?
Mr. Cordoba: Education is long-term and measuring impact is very expensive. However, some successes have been noted. In one small community, the Council measured chloroform, phosphates, and other pollutants, and the students informed their parents that the river water had too many phosphates. In another town, students requested an audience with the mayor to ask him to apply sanctions and fines to cattle breeders who dumped dead cattle along the river. The town created a program to apply fines and sanctions to that activity.
Michael Gregory: Almost 20 years ago he and Gildardo Acosta, and Dick Kamp initiated the development of an inventory of hazardous waste in the maquiladoras of Agua Prieta. Other organizational efforts and an inventory of hazardous materials throughout northern Mexico, including agriculture and air pollution, led to the establishment of the register: Registrio de Anneciones, of which Mr. Cordoba was speaking. The main goal of these efforts to catalogue wastes is to reduce toxic chemicals in the environment and this has not yet been achieved due a lack of political will to deal with pollution issues.
Mr. Dos Santos thanked Mr. Cordoba for this presentation and invited him to a binational meeting of the Environmental Education Exchange to strategize on environmental education in the Arizona-Sonora region.


Ranching Perspective

Reese Woodling, Chairman, Malpai Borderlands Group

Mr. Woodling described the organization called Malpai Borderlands Group, including their goals, activities, and concerns—mainly with fire, air quality, drought, development, and immigration. The Group is made up of ranchers, some biologists, and one nature conservancy person in the Malpai area, 30 miles east of Douglas, and covers a wide geographic area in Arizona and New Mexico. The ranchers came together and formed the Group to protect the right to let fires burn on their private lands and public lands owned by the Bureau of Land Management, who wanted to put the fires out. These ranchers believe that fire is a natural part of the environment and has benefits to ranching, wild life, and brush suppression. An owner of ranchland in the U. S./Mexico border area is working closely with the Malpai Group.

The Malpai group also favors the concept of conservation easements, which protect the land from development in perpetuity. They now have 700,000 acres under conservation easement, including all of the public land and 70 percent of the Malpai area. From that time on, the land is only worth whatever grazing rights are worth, so any environmental pollution that affects grazing grasses would make the land worthless. Some foundations have bought land to keep the area free from subdivisions.

Some of the activities of the Malpai group are watershed restoration in the desert, controlled burns, and science monitoring. Scientists monitor the effects of a burn on endangered species, plants, and grasses. The controlled burns have not affected endangered species; and they have helped the grasslands, and controlled brush.

As far as air quality is concerned, the ranchers need to have permits from various environmental agencies to have controlled burns. Pastures are only burned with the permission of the owners, and structures are preserved. He noted that the air quality in general and world-wide is getting worse, but was surprised to learn that recent smoke blowing over the ranches has come from relocation of the Agua Prieta landfill; thus illustrating how all things are connected.

From a rancher's standpoint, the drought started in 1994. Prior to that, he was measuring 24 inches a year since 1979 at 5,600 feet. Ranchers need summer rains to grow grass, because the value of winter rains is short-lived and brings on weeds. The southeast/northwest winds bring moist air from the Gulf of Mexico, and in the 1990's this air flow was interrupted. Other problems with drought were noted by observing the cattle and wild deer. The cows stopped producing as much milk, because of grass dying out, which also affected conception rates and calf growth. In 1996, deer began to come into their ranch yard to eat a weed called filaree, which is not their usual diet. The white-tailed deer are down 80 percent over the past 10 years in the mountains. The number of cattle in the Malpai area has decreased by 70 percent.

Illegal immigration is not an issue with the Malpai Group, as each rancher decides for himself how to treat them. Their main complaint was with the Border Patrol intruding on their lands using bright lights at night, helicopters, driving ATVs on grasslands, and scaring their horses. Personally, if a person needs food and water he will help them, but if a "coyote", who transports humans inhumanely, tries to get help, he will report them to the Border Patrol.


Environmental Impact of Immigration

Tibaldo Canez, Tohono O'odham Nation, Coordinator of border activities for the Arizona border tribes
Ned L. Norris, Vice Chairman, Tohono O'odham Nation, Sells, Arizona
Beau McClure, Special Assistant, Arizona State Director for International Affairs, U. S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM)

Tibaldo Canez introduced Ned Norris who would speak for the Tohono O'odham Nation as a tribal member and Vice Chairman. In 2203, the Nation elected its first female chair and Mr. Norris as Vice Chairman to lead the 28,000 plus enrolled members. Mr. Norris would speak about the environmental impact of undocumented migrants on the Tohono O'odham Nation, using series of slides.

The area of the Nation has been reduced from the aboriginal lands, which covered large parts of Arizona and extended into Mexico, to 2.85 million acres, so is now considered a small Indian reservation. About 1,400 members live across the border in Mexico, and the U.S./Mexico border is 75 miles long. The Nation is sovereign and administers its own police force, solid waste, environmental and natural resource protection, transportation programs, and the education system.

Since Operation Gatekeeper, the Nation has become a funnel for illegal migrants. Prior to 1999, there were about 200 border crossers a month, and now about 1500 a day. The Nation does help migrants with food, water, clothing, and shelter, but the crossers have significantly impacted solid waste, natural resources and infrastructure. For example, migrants discard as average of eight pounds of waste a day, totaling about six tons a year. The intrusion of the Border Patrol has created a militarized zone within their communities. Members are harassed and people are afraid to travel outside their communities. The natural vegetation has been desecrated, including the Saguaro plants whose fruit is harvested.

The EPA has provided the Nation with a grant of $50,000 to try to establish a sustainable waste disposal and recycling program from the discarded waste that includes backpacks, water bottles, and other waste. The study would analyze data provided by two waste removal actions to determine if the resale value would be more than the costs of labor, recycling, training, safety and transportation. To date, 12 waste disposal dumps have been cleaned up.

The only protection against illegal immigrants and drug smugglers is a three-strand barbed wire fence. This problem has been brought to the attention of Tom Ridge, Secretary, Homeland Security, but no response has been received to date. Some of the impacts from migrants and border patrol activities are damage to the public water system and wells; erosion and vegetation damage, dumping of tires used to wipe out footprints, and destroyed and stolen vehicles used for transporting immigrants. About 120,000 pounds of narcotics, mostly marihuana, has been intercepted by the Nation's police and the Border Patrol.

A major problem is the $7 million dollars of the Nation's finances is used to address the immigration problem, and there is no reimbursement from the Federal government. Many of the communities have no electricity, no running water, and no paved roads. These immigration costs to the Nation, if reimbursed, could finance housing, roads, health programs, social issues, and infrastructure needs. The environmental damage has impacts on wildlife and natural vegetation. They have met with U. S. Customs and Border Patrol and other Federal officials to encourage them to recognize the Nation's sovereignty and to not make decisions that affect them negatively.

Questions and Comments

Mr. Michel thanked Mr. Norris for his involvement in the Border 2010 solid waste, recycling, and water programs. He asked: What response has the Nation received from Secretary Tom Ridge?
Mr. Norris said he provided Mr. Ridge with documents and invited him to visit the Nation, but this request has not been honored. He requested the Board's help in obtaining a response.

Mr. Klein: Has the increased presence of the Border Patrol decreased the illegal dumping of toxic waste from the American side?
Mr. Norris responded that the Border Patrol does not focus on illegal dumping. The Nation's solid waste regulatory office investigates complaints and closes the dumps.

Mr. Canez: What is the impact of the local U. S. Air Force bases?
Mr. Norris: Aircraft have crashed on tribal lands from Luke Air Force base and the
U. S. Customs Service. The regulations that prohibit flying over certain zones are not always adhered to, and often they are not informed about the clean up efforts.

Mr. Dos Santos thanked Mr. Norris and said the Board would discuss the issues at the Board's business meeting to help address the problems. He then introduced the next speaker, Beau McClure, with the Border of Land Management, who has worked binationally on border issues related to undocumented immigration.

Beau McClure, Special Assistant, Arizona State Director for International Affairs, U. S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM), spoke of the environmental impacts of immigration on Federal and tribal lands, but noted that there are impacts on state and private lands as well. Approximately, 3,000 migrants a day cross over tribal and Federal lands. The barbed wire fences were intended to keep livestock from spreading diseases across the border, but not to prevent movement of people. These fences are being destroyed by vehicles and people. The vehicles destroy plants and cause erosion.

Some of the problems impacted the environment are damage to trails are abandoned vehicles and bicycles, tons of trash, human waste, graffiti in archeological sites, destruction of petroglyphs, vegetation damage, wildlife endangerment, destruction of resources by fire, and water pollution.

The trends in undocumented alien arrests indicate an increase from 75,000 in 2000 to 155,000 in 2004. Some of the increase is due to the Arizona Border Control Initiative (ABCI), which has brought in 200 additional border patrol agents. Almost 250,000 pounds of marihuana and 2,500 vehicles were seized by the Border Patrol on Federal and tribal lands in 2004. Firearm seizures are also increasing, from 18 to 43 this year. Some of the immigrants have been found with weapons, not just the smugglers, and this could mean danger to law enforcement officers. The trend for undocumented alien deaths is also increasing, from 145 in 2000 to almost 200 this year.

In 2000, Congress asked the Departments of Interior and Agriculture, the EPA and Homeland Security to collaborate and coordinate their efforts along the border and to produce a report on the impacts caused by undocumented aliens on Federal lands in southeastern Arizona. The completed report was submitted to Congress on April 29, 2002.

A task force was established, called the Borderland Management Task Force (BMTF), to address these issues. The BMTF consisted of Federal land manager, park superintendents, wildlife refuge manager, BLM field office manager, the Border Patrol, U. S. Customs, tribal representatives, State Land Department representatives, and Arizona Fish and Game Department representatives. The task force priorities include visitor safety; improvement of communication, migrant safety, and development of a coordinated plan for Arizona. The coordinated plan expanded both the territory covered and the goals. (The Plan was distributed to the Board.) Mr. McClure described the territory covered, which was included 21.4 million acres and 323 miles of border, 86 percent of which is managed by Federal or tribal land managers.

The plan has six goals related to safety, protecting natural and cultural resources, improving coordination of various agencies, increasing governmental and public awareness, reducing the number of migrant deaths, and seeking the funding to accomplish the goals and objectives. Additional resources would be required to implement the plan, but some objectives can be reached with existing resources. The BMTF also developed a communications guide with contact information for law enforcement officers and land managers in Arizona.

The BLM has provided small amounts of funding, some of which has been shared with the Malpai Group and the Tohono O'odham Nation to help with cleanup and repair of damage. Training in cultural and environmental impacts of immigration was provided to over 50 Border Patrol supervisors in June 2004. The next steps are to seek funding from the administration next year for an administrative budget item for this interagency program.

Questions and Comments

Ms. Rose: What role do the law enforcement agencies, including sheriff's offices, have in arresting undocumented aliens?
Mr. McClure: The BLM and other land managers do not have the authority to arrest migrants, but they can detain them and call the Border Patrol or the local sheriff's offices. However, sheriffs do not have the authority to arrest migrants. If the Border Patrol is unable to come right away, then the migrants are released.

Ms. Aguirre: What efforts have been made to work with Mexico? If not, are there any plans to do so?
Mr. McClure: The BMTF has not met with any law enforcement or government officials in Sonora, Mexico, and there are no plans to do so. The Border Patrol is working with Mexico on law enforcement issues.
Mr. Allen commented that cleanup efforts and repair of fences seems futile when smugglers and migrants continue to trash areas and destroy fences. The focus needs to be on prevention.
Mr. Michel pointed out that despite the costs and damage of Border Patrol actions, the environment impact of doing nothing is also important.
Mr. Dos Santos thought the answer lies in changing immigration policy so that workers would be able to come through the ports of entry. The issue is security vs. environment, but the Board only makes decisions related to the environment. In the last four years, despite the efforts of BLM, EPA, and the Tohono O'odham Nation, the increase in resources for border infrastructure issues has not been very significant.

Carlos De Latorre: What mechanisms are you planning to use to fence or close the border?
Mr. McClure: The Border Patrol does have a plan to improve the fencing starting with the San Diego area and then to other border areas near ports of entry, such as Nogales. The BP is looking at vehicle barriers, which are wildlife friendly, but do not keep people out. The plans are to build 110 miles of vehicle barriers across the Tohono O'odham Nation along the Colorado River and the Cabesa Prieta National Wildlife area.

Mr. Varaday commented that these problems play into the hands to anti-immigration forces that are against immigration reform of any sort. Mr. McClure stated that they are reacting to the problems and are not in a position to change immigrations policy.

Public Comment Session

Mr. Dos Santos opened the public comment session. Four persons would provide public comments, and one letter would be read by Mr. Dos Santos.

Susan Kunz, former Board member, Health Planner, Tohono O'odham Nation presented to the Board a recently completed study on binational collaboration methods. The study, Working Beyond the Borders: A Handbook for Trans-Border Projects in Health, was conducted by the Colejio de Sonora and the Arizona College of Public Health with funding from the Ford Foundation. Health was interpreted broadly to include social and environmental issues. Ms. Koerner said they would include the electronic copy in the next Roundup Newsletter.

Ann Browning Aiken, Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy, University of Arizona, described the shared concern of both migrants and residents on the Mexican side of the border on the Rio San Pedro of the need to clean up trash. They will be placing trash cans separated for recyclables in the border area. The field trip to the San Pedro River the next day would provide Board members with an opportunity to hear about local efforts to work together from a social science and scientific perspective on a binational river. Speakers would be from the Upper San Padre Partnership, Friends of the San Padre, and the Southwest Watershed Research Center.

Michael Gregory, Arizona Toxics Information, Bisbee, a property owner, stated that environmental policy can no longer be defined narrowly as in the past, when the major problems were industrial pollution. People and the environment go together. Environmental problems are not just scientific issues, but social issues. Immigration policy and drug policy need to be reviewed. Immigration policy has become a civil rights issue with the actions of the Border Patrol causing a militarization of the border. The Border Patrol has cut fences, insulted local ranchers, and even assaulted and arrested some people. Development policy needs include diversity and sustainability and not just be used to exclude people.

Jennifer Neeley, Defenders of Wildlife, stated that border policy and immigration policy are environmental issues. For example, Border Patrol infrastructures threaten to cut off the migratory paths of the native jaguar that population Mexico and Arizona. The Border Patrol has built a quasi-military installation in the Cabesa Prieta National Wildlife Refuge and the devastation of their activities, including new roads, fences, and helicopters is as important as the impacts of migrants. National policy has shifted the migrants into new areas which require infrastructures, such as vehicle barriers, that shift the migrant stream to other areas. If you look at the entire border, the policy is a failure, and the environment is being destroyed. Immigration reform is needed for those people who come into the U. S. looking for work so they can become part of a legal system.

A letter from Ben LaForge, Douglas City Councilman and IBWC Citizen Forum Board member was read to the Board by Mr. Dos Santos. The main concern was arsenic in the groundwater supply in the 37 square mile aquifer in the Douglas Basin. Both Douglas and Agua Prieta citizens are drinking water that exceeds the arsenic level of the Federal Clean Water Act to be imposed in 2006, and funds are not available to treat the arsenic. Mr. Dos Santos added that he would send a copy of the letter to the ADEQ and EPA. (On file)


Board Members Report-Outs, Con't.

Mr. Dos Santos asked members to complete the report-outs. Three members, Mr. Cibas, Ms. Borja, and Ms. Sorzano plus Ms. Grijalva from the Department of Transportation offered remarks.

Gedi Cibas, Manager, Border Programs, New Mexico Environment Department, Santa Fe, New Mexico, reported on a meeting of the rural New Mexico/Chihuahua Task Force under the Chihuahua and the Texas/New Mexico Regional Workgroup. The Task Force deals with rural environmental issues outside of the Pasado North area. Local rural residents are provided an opportunity to talk about their needs and problems.

At the Governors' Border Conference in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in August 9-10, 2004, environmentalists stressed three issues: environmental management systems, use of ultra-low sulphur diesel fuels, and identification of correlated health risks for children. Governor Richardson promoted a better dialogue amongst the governors to deal with the Colorado and the Rio Grande watersheds. The governors agreed to discuss the issues and issued a joint declaration that they would continue to collaborate on issues of water use and conservation, especially groundwater.

Mr. Dos Santos noted a proposal to pursue a prototype exemplary power facility that would comply with all applicable standards on both sides of the border. Mr. Cibas added that the governors promoted the use of renewable energy, and agreed to respond to the 2004 Western Governors' Association Renewal Resolution that will be presented for adoption during the 23rd Board of Governors Conference in 2005.

Diana Borja, Office of Border Affairs, TECQ, Austin, Texas, handed out a document related to an agreement of five governors – Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon, Coahuila, Chihuahua, and Texas – on issues, such as economic development and the environment. These governors were specifying concerns of a smaller area than would the Board of Governors as a whole. She pointed out that the Border 2012 regional workshops and task forces involved local people who had previously not been involved in binational concerns. The Border 2012 has border-wide forums and policy forums as well as regional workshops. Communications between these entities need to be improved.

She noted that some of the perceptions regarding wastes and severe air quality are not always correct and that public education is needed to correct these perceptions. There a real concern about the aggressive drilling done by Pemex and waste disposal in the Burbos basin. Technical transfer sessions were organized by TCEQ with SEMARNAT, Pemex, EPA, and the Texas agency that oversees drilling for oil and natural gas to assess the damage.

Shannon H. Sorzano, Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Affairs, (HUD), augmented the written report to talk about efforts in collaboration with the Mexican Government on border impacts. The Partnership for Prosperity held a meeting in Guadalajara in the Spring for the National Association of Homebuilders on both sides of the border. The participants signed an agreement to work together on construction technology and to network on training.

HUD is working with the Mexican Government to encourage the private sector to build affordable housing. HUD has become concerned about the suppressive effects of over-regulation on building affordable housing. The second week in November, 2004, the U.S. and Mexican cabinets would discuss mutual issues and the agencies on the GNEB Board might want to bring some of their issues to their attention. She encouraged the agencies to work together with Mexico to make it a place where people can live safely and to jointly work on environmental issues.

Comments from Silvia Grijalva, U. S./Mexico Border Planning Coordinator and Coordinator, U.S./Mexico Joint Working Committee on Transportation, DOT, Federal Highway Administration, reported that the Transportation Committee is doing transportation planning. One of their initiatives is the Border Infrastructure Needs Assessment on the transportation infrastructure, which is developing border-wide GIS projects and applications for transportation planning. At a conference in the Spring in El Paso, Texas, innovative financing mechanisms used by different states will be discussed. Infrastructural methods for solving binational bottleneck problems are under study.

Ms. Borja: Information on roads being built in Mexico is needed to avoid further environmental problems. The introduction of ultra-low diesel fuel by Pemex would also be important. Ms. Grijalva responded that new roads in Mexico would be toll roads and she would be glad to share information on road-building with interested Board members.

Mr. Dos Santos provided instructions on the next day's meeting which would start at 8:00 a.m. The meeting was recessed at 5:37 p.m.

Day 2: October 28, 2004 (8:00 a.m.)
Business Meeting

Board Members Present: Placido Dos Santos, Chair; Amanda Aguirre, Larry Allen, Diana Borja, Gedi Cibas, John Klein, Jacob Macias Paul Michel, Ned L. Norris, Diane Rose, Douglas S. Smith, Shannon H. Sorzano, Sally Spener, Robert Varaday, Ann Marie Wolf.

OCEM: Elaine Koerner, Daiva Balkus

Guests: Rene Cordoba, Dr. Michael Gomez

Welcome and Introductions

Placido Dos Santos, ADEQ and Chairman, welcomed Board members to the business meeting of the GNEB. He introduced Dr. Michael Gomez, Council Member of Ward 4, City of Douglas. Board members and guests introduced themselves. Mr. Dos Santos provided an overview of the meeting objectives to include: transitioning from his chairmanship to Paul Ganster's, meetings dates and locations, coordination with Consejo, comment letters, and discussion of the theme for the 2006 report.

Ms. Koerner remarked that official representatives from the states of California, Arizona, and Texas need to be determined by the next meeting. The charter and the by-laws call for a representative from each of the four U.S. border states.

Approval of the Minutes

The minutes of the June 9-10, 2004, McAllen, Texas, meeting were approved as written. Ms. Koerner said that the draft minutes of this meeting would be posted on the website.

Selection of 2005 Meeting Locations, Dates and Themes

Mr. Dos Santos asked members for their ideas about meeting location, dates and themes for the three meetings to be held in 2005. Considerable discussion ensued over the various virtues and logistical considerations of meeting sites. Coordination with other meetings, travel logistics, availability of appropriate meeting sites, feasibility of public attendance, and balance of meeting in the various states, were all considered. One meeting in Washington, DC in the spring, after their report, was ready was a necessity. Meeting on tribal lands, ranching interests, and locations along the border where field trips would be meaningful, were key factors. The need for a board member who could help with the logistics was vital..

The three meetings would take place in the following locations and dates:

The first meeting in Eagle Pass would be a strategy session for the rest of the year and a decision-making session on the yearly report. The report should be completed before the meeting in Washington, DC. A public meeting would be held on February 16 and the business meeting on February 17. Key selection factors were the area has environmental issues; could be reached by flying into San Antonio; and the Board has never met there before. Ms. Borja offered to provide a staff person in Laredo to help with the logistics.

The meeting in Washington, DC, would also require an extra day, so that members could visit with various agency heads and congressional representatives to explain the Board's findings and recommendations. The public meeting would be on May 10, the business meeting on the morning of May 11, and visits to various agencies on May 12. Some of the agencies to visit could be EPA, Department of Interior, DOT, DHS, Customs and Border Protection and Border Patrol. Talking to the Office of Budget and Management would be important to explain the need for funding. It would be important to visit policy makers and appropriation overseers to gain support for the Board's recommendations.

The third meeting would require an extra day for the tour of the Tohono O'odham Nation, Sells, and San Miguel. The public meeting would be on October 18; the tour on October 19, and October 20 would be the business meeting. Mr. Norris said the Nation would be honored to host the board meeting. Tribal representatives could participate in the public meeting. On the tour, the Board would be exposed to the third world conditions that exist within the tribal communities and better understand the environmental, border, and immigration issues.

Members all agreed that they would be able to attend on the dates and places agreed upon. Various methods to gather support for the recommendations in the Board's report were discussed. In March, 2004, some members would attend the National Coordinator's meeting, in Washington, DC. Members could talk about the major issues in the Board's report. Board members' meetings with various U. S. agencies and representatives could be set up in advance. Talking to the press, such as the Washington Post, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and press from border cities would help to gain public awareness. A reception on Capitol and a briefing for Congressional staffers was suggested for Wednesday afternoon in Washington, DC.

Ms. Koerner suggested setting up planning committee for the three meetings. Mr. Ganster led the discussion on planning committee meetings. For the Eagle Pass planning committee in February, Diana Borja and TCEQ, Sally Spener, and Bill Luthens from EPA, Region 6 would be asked to serve. For the Washington, DC meeting, Mr. Ganster and Doug Smith volunteered. Ms. Koerner would ask Federal agency colleagues to help with the planning. For the San Xavier meeting in October, Robert Varaday, Ned Norris, and the staff of ADEQ would be involved.

Mr. Ganster asked Ned Norris, as Second Vice President for the Inter Tribal Council of Arizona, to issue invitations to the San Xavier meeting to umbrella tribal organizations. He would also contact the tribal members in Mexico. Mr. Ganster would help follow up with the California tribes. At this point, Mr. Dos Santos chaired the meeting to discuss the planning teleconference calls to determine for each meeting themes and presenters. Ms. Koerner asked if she should list a calendar of events reported at the meeting, but received no response.


Board Member Report-Outs, Con't.

Diane Rose, Mayor, Imperial Beach, California, updated members on the lawsuit over the International Sewage Treatment Plant's not meeting the secondary treatment requirements for the State of California. Actions being taken include: a new environmental impact study; a settlement attempt prior to the court date in December; and an amendment to the 2000 public law that moved the secondary treatment from the U. S. to Mexico to provide the IBWC greater flexibility in implementing the law. The time line for secondary treatment is not until 2008, but the problem has been mitigated by advanced primary treatment.

Placido Dos Santos, Chair, reported that the Arizona Department of Education has distributed copies of the Children's Environmental Health Report to all schools in the U. S. border communities. In Sonora, the Departments of Agriculture and Education are incorporating environmental education into curriculums. The Governor of Arizona has highlighted children's environmental health as one of four top border issues at the December Arizona/Mexico Commission Conference. The Conference will hold a joint session on environment, education, health, and agriculture. Over 700 copies of the report have been distributed. Mr. Koerner added that 460 copies remained to be distributed at other events. Mr. Dos Santos requested that materials for the National Coordinators Meeting could be provided to him

A discussion of the value of written and oral reports from Board members and Federal agencies ended in a consensus that written reports should be optional, but that oral summaries were helpful to both Board members and the public in attendance. Members could write the reports bring them to the meeting.


Status of the Eighth Report Production

Ms. Koerner updated the Board on the status of the report. The next step is to send out a draft of all three sections for Board members to review. She thanked everyone who contributed to the report. Changes in the report since the last Board meeting including: a section on water management for water managers, and a tribal portion on issues such as water management. Information can be added once the draft report in reviewed. A private contractor in California that was used by the EPA San Diego Border Office would produce the report in time for the February, 2005, Board meeting, provided that a complete draft is available in early December. Erica Felix, OCEM, will be working on the photographs and graphics and members should send materials to her.


Ninth Report: Initial Discussion

Mr. Dos Santos led a discussion on the theme and contents of the Ninth report and briefly summarized the themes of the previous reports. Ms. Koerner suggested that members express their ideas about the format, length of the report, the number of recommendations, and the amount of background information. The brainstorming session on the themes and content of the Ninth Report yielded the following potential items:
{Note: Two ideas were included in the other items, for a total of 14 items.}

Further discussion on the brainstorming ideas yielded other concerns. For example, commenting on the 2205 Border 2012 biannual review report would have to be delayed until the GNEB 10th report in 2006. A critical review of the GNEB's recommendations and results would have to be a separate report, because the mandate of the Board is to report to the President and Congress on environmental and infrastructural issues along the border. Ms. Rose thought their mission was to try to convince the President and Congress to put Federal resources where they are needed, so topics should be focused on manageable recommendations. A member suggested that the environmental aspects of immigration might be too divisive for the Board. Some of brainstorming ideas could be consolidated, but the idea would be to have two or three viable, major topics.

Ms. Koerner asked if the current format of the annual report to the President and Congress could be simplified or reduced to an advice letter similar to what the National Advisory Committee (NAC) and other advisory committees do. Basically, it would mean sending the recommendations without background. Mr. Michel opted for a flexible format that would be driven by the themes and the content. Ms. Balkus suggested deciding on the format at the same time as the theme, because different themes and content would require different formats. The Board agreed to this idea.


Other Business

Mr. Dos Santos listed the items under Other Business to include:
1. The value of the roundup vs. the time commitment
2. Coordination with Consejo {Not discussed}
3. Performance evaluation of the Board, i.e., a self-evaluation
4. Comment letters, past and future.
5. Homeland Security and the GNEB (Ganster)

Roundup Value: Ms. Koerner asked if the roundup was essential; if it helped or increased the Board's visibility; or if her time should be used better in setting up meetings in Washington, DC. Board members agreed that the roundup was very informative and helpful and could include website addresses for calendar items. The roundup was sent to around 70 people and then Board members increase its circulation by sending copies out to border entities. Ms. Koerner said that it took three days to write the roundup. Preparing it bimonthly would not save much time as items would just pile up. To save Ms. Koerner's time, Ms.Balkus offered to have an intern prepare the report. The Board would continue to review the time commitment of the staff to prepare the roundup.

Performance Review: Mr. Ganster suggested appointing a committee to develop qualitative and quantitative indicators of effectiveness for a performance review of the Board, as a Federal advisory panel. A systematic review is needed to track the relative effectiveness of the Board's activities that could be used periodically. Mr. Dos Santos indicated a concern about time commitment for both Board and staff members. Mr. Ganster replied that Paul Michel in Region 9, EPA, and Doug Smith with a business background could provide helpful perspectives to this type of assessment.

Ms. Koerner added that the Board had a five-year study done in the past, and this information could be shared with Board members. Ms. Balkus reported that EPA is in the process of evaluating the effectiveness of all of its advisory boards, and that she had offered to have the GNEB used as a pilot study to see how a good DFO works with the Board. The GNEB has certain unique characteristics which might get lost in a general effectiveness study. Mr. Michel added that Board commitment would be needed to do a self-study and that the dialog or process may be more important than actions and products and needs to be measured as well. Mr. Ganster appointed Mr. Paul Michel, Robert Varaday, and Douglas Smith.

Comment Letters: Ms. Koerner stated that the comment letter on the invasive species was finalized and sent to the President, Congress and Administrator Leavitt. She encouraged any Board member that was coming to DC to let her know and they could go to the Invasive Species Council with the letter. Another comment letter is in draft form on the BECC and the NAD Bank Reform with the theme of ensuring that BECC has sufficient resources. That comment letter will be brought into the consensus process shortly. The Board agreed to continue with re BECC comment letter No one offered to draft any new comment letter.

Mr. Varaday thought that members might suggest names of persons to send blind copies to, because they might have more impact than the formal addressees. Ms. Koerner responded that the invasive species letter was sent to 8-10 recipients with multiple copies. Mr. Dos Santos recalled that in the past, the Board has developed a list of persons to receive comment letters, and he thought this should be continued.

Homeland Security Board Member: Ms. Balkus suggested that a new Federal member be added from the immigration section of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). DHS now covers Border Patrol and Customs and Immigration and is concerned about environmental hazard spills in the border area. Board members agreed that this was an excellent idea because then DHS could learn more about the border area problems and better understand the impacts of their decisions on local communities.

Ms. Koerner: In order to invite a new member it would have to be reviewed by the EPA general counsel and the office on congressional affairs, but the charter does not prohibit this since it calls for representation of appropriate Federal agencies. Ms. Balkus stated that the Board Chair would write a letter to the Director of Homeland Security to ask for a representative. Mr. Dos Santos also recommended a representative from the Department of Energy. The Board agreed with these two new representatives which would expand the Board for the first time in ten years.


Meeting Closure and Adjournment

Mr. Dos Santos thanked the Board for the privilege of serving as its chair. He praised Ms. Koerner for the major positive changes that have occurred since she became the DFO.
Improvements include the quality of reports, processes of appointments, the nature of board interactions, and enhancement of the Board's effectiveness. He also thanked Ms. Balkus for her support and regretted her retirement on May 1, 2005. Mr. Dos Santos noted that the Board reflected a diversity not found in any other FACA to his knowledge.

Ms. Spener thanked the City of Douglas Council member for their logistical support. Mr. Cibas added that the Chairman's contributions have been outstanding, especially his diplomacy.

Mr. Dos Santos adjourned the meeting at 12:08 p.m

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