by Emily Zenner, F25 Environmental Clinic student
In far West Texas, the city of El Paso sits right on the border with Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. As a large and historic town (for reasons beyond Marty Robbins’ classic song), El Paso is the perfect example of “a border city,” where its very identity is, in large part, defined by its relation to its neighbors and the cultures and communities that relationship fosters. In fact, the wider El Paso-Juárez region, sometimes referred to as the Borderplex, constitutes the largest bilingual and binational workforce in the Western Hemisphere. Many El Pasoans take full advantage of this. Trips across the border are common, often just to try a restaurant, see a relative, or visit the dentist. The advantages that come with living at the border, however, also come with disadvantages. The Borderplex has long struggled with air pollution, and its location on the border can often mean additional pollution sources and greater difficulty with respect to enforcement and environmental justice.
A major source of air pollution in the Borderplex is at the Bridge of the Americas (BOTA), a set of bridges which cross over the Rio Grande and connect El Paso with Juárez, allowing both residential and commercial traffic to cross the border. Located in south-central El Paso, the BOTA port of entry facilitates millions of crossings each year.[1] With high demand to cross, lines are inevitable, and so vehicles stall for hours, contributing to high vehicle emission pollution in the nearby heavily populated area. These emissions have been linked to asthma and some cancers.[2] Following years of debate on the subject, a conclusion was seemingly reached earlier this year, with the General Services Administration deciding to both modernize the port and eliminate commercial traffic – instead directing it through other ports of entry closer to the “edges” of town. These changes will be finalized by 2030, hopefully bringing with them reduced crossing wait times and decreased pollution in the area.[3]
The presence of the border also makes it more difficult to achieve uniform enforcement and justice across the Borderplex region. Border walls can’t block air pollutants. So, when an air pollutant is emitted from a source in America, it may drift to impact Mexico, and vice versa – and this likelihood is strongest at sites right at the border. For example, we can look to the ASARCO copper smelter, which stood in El Paso for over 100 years, just a few hundred feet from the border. Unfortunately, copper smelters emit dangerous pollutants, such as lead, cadmium, and arsenic. A series of studies in the 1970s found high levels of lead surrounding the plant.[4] The smelter was eventually torn down, and ASARCO’s 2009 bankruptcy established a cleanup trust under Texas state oversight[5]. It should be noted, however, that the smelter also greatly affected Juárez. Former El Paso mayor John Cook, a lifetime resident of the city, asserted that, when the wind was blowing south into Mexico, ASARCO would actually increase production, “passing off” the pollution to another country. In a way, the smelter’s position on the border served as an adverse incentive to ramp up unhealthy activities. Despite this, neighboring communities in Juárez never got cleanup. A local was quoted in NPR: “The people of the United States, they will fix everything over there. And here, what will happen? Nothing.”[6] Since the time of ASARCO, cross-border collaboration has improved, with the EPA and Mexico’s SEMARNAT establishing the Border 2020 and 2025 programs to further work on joint environmental monitoring, enforcement, and community education.[7] With the reality of the border separating two jurisdictions, the goal of supporting clean air on both sides of the border will benefit from this collaboration.
Overall, the two case studies discussed – the modern example of BOTA and the historical example of ASARCO – reflect just a few of the unique challenges a border community faces when working towards cleaner air. These challenges do not create impossibilities, though. Through stronger oversight, better infrastructure, and the application of science, environmental harms can be reduced. And, through cross-border work between the United States and Mexico, solutions can be applied across the whole of the Borderplex, ensuring that all members of the community can benefit from cleaner, healthier air.
[1]https://www.elpasotimes.com/story/news/immigration/2023/09/08/bridge-of-the-americas-ends-useful-life-but-how-should-it-be-modernized-el-paso-veronica-escobar/70463293007/
[2] https://earthjustice.org/action/texas-residents-deserve-to-breathe-clean-air
[3] https://kfoxtv.com/news/local/gsa-finalizes-bridge-of-the-americas-project-excludes-commercial-trucks
[4] https://www.nrdc.org/stories/flint-east-chicago-there-was-smeltertown
[5] https://www.epa.gov/enforcement/case-summary-asarco-2009-bankruptcy-settlement
[6] https://www.npr.org/2010/02/04/122779177/a-toxic-century-mining-giant-must-clean-up-mess
[7] https://www.tceq.texas.gov/border/border2020.html
The articles published on this site reflect the views of the individual authors only. They do not represent the views of the Environmental Clinic, The University of Texas School of Law, or The University of Texas at Austin.