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Fourteenth & Final Border Sister City Agreement Signed
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Special Recognition
Key stakeholders who were instrumental in officially institutionalizing this agreement are as follows:
City of El Paso, Texas: Robert Andrade from the City of El Paso, Texas, Chief Robert Rivera, Chief Don Berger, Lt. Danny Medrano, all Emergency Personnel from the City of El Paso. Texas.
Municipality of Cuidad Juarez, Chihuahua: Former Civil Protection and Ecology Director Oscar Rene Nieto, Fire Chief Efren Matamoros – Civil Protection and Ecology Director, Guadalupe Sandoval and Luis Rodriguez.
City of Sunland Park, New Mexico: Chief Robert Monsivaiz and City Administrator Mack Wilson.
U.S. Consulate: Vivek Yoshi
Mexican Consulate: Gisele Fernandez and Guillermo Reyes (Consul)
U.S. EPA Region 6: Carlos Rincón – Border Office Director; Valmichael Leos – On-scene Emergency Coordinator; Maria Sisneros – border office staff.
Texas Commission on Environmental Quality: Eugenia Posada; Terry McMillan
New Mexico Environment Department: Dennis Pepe
On Monday, June 25, 2007, the last of the 14 major sister city agreements was signed between the communities of El Paso, Texas – Municipality of Juarez, Chihuahua -Sunland Park, New Mexico. EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson and Region 6 Administrator Richard E. Greene were on hand to witness the signing of this event. "It's really important for us to take stock of the fact that from California all the way to Texas, we've established these sister city agreements. I was thinking about it today, about the importance of signing this agreement and the work that's been done over this past decade," Johnson said. "Yes, it is for handling emergencies. But, what it's really for is to help the people of our nation, not only those of us that are aging ... but it is protecting our nation's most vulnerable populations: our children and grandchildren and future generations." Johnson said (El Paso Times, June 26, 2007).
A critical element of Goal #5 the U.S.-Mexico Environmental Program Border 2012 is the development of 14 major sister city partnerships between municipalities in the United States and Mexico. Sister cities build confidence along the US. – Mexico border by having communities jointly work and plan in the event an environmental emergency should impact either side of the border. Plans call for police, fire, paramedics, and other emergency response personnel from both sides of the border to respond quickly to large fires, dangerous chemical spills, or other emergencies. The plans also address preparedness issues including: hazard identification; pollution prevention; risk reduction; training; exercises; and equipment. The first sister city emergency plan was signed in 1997 between Brownsville, Texas - Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico.
Background on El Paso - Cuidad Juarez—Sunland Park MOU
Local officials became aware of the importance of this type of agreement during the summer of 2006, when a 500-yr flood impacted the region. During these flood events, a dam in the region was on the brink of complete failure which would have had a devastating effect on the communities of Cuidad Juarez and El Paso. Officials on all levels had to quickly respond and communicate with one another to remedy the situation. One of the lessons learned during this event was that there needed to be an official and effective communication mechanism in place to handle any environmental emergency that could impact one or more the communities in this region. A local workgroup with representatives from each city was quickly established to begin the process of drafting the agreement between El Paso, Cuidad Juarez, and Sunland Park. In addition to private citizens, representatives from federal and state agencies (i.e. U.S.EPA, SEMARNAT, TCEQ, NMED, BECC, IBWC, CILA, U.S. & Mexican Consulates) participated in the workgroup.
All three city councils voted unanimously in support of the initiative for binational coordination and cooperation for protecting the environment, the public and community infrastructure in case of an emergency due to Hazardous Materials exposure.
The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) consists of the three major components:
— Creates a Bi-national Task Force to develop joint emergency preparedness strategies and a plan
— Develop a Bi-national Emergency Communication & Notification Plan
— Exchange of information on hazardous waste to identify threats to the region.
The agreement not only establishes a communication mechanism and helps to identify chemical risks on both sides of the border, but calls for a tri-state joint training exercise between community responders.
"It's great that Mayor Murguía and I have this personal relationship, but we have to institutionalize the relationships between the two communities and three communities," , "(El Paso Mayor John) Cook said. "That's what this is really all about today: institutionalizing what is already in existence." (El Paso Times, June 26, 2007)