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June 12, 2006

Illicit Toxin Waste Trucked Up From Mexico

It's not only its poor that Mexico has been dumping across our resolutely undefended border. The USA is a convenient place to dump toxic waste too.

American environmental officials can't say how much poisonous gunk is trucked across the border, what its exact sources are, or precisely which hazardous chemicals might be included, as we lack a comprehensive system for inspecting and tracking the toxic waste trucked north from Mexican industrial plants. A $250,000-a-year program called Haztraks was deep-sixed in 2003 because the EPA was two years behind on data entry. Now they use a heterogeneous collection of forms that are practically useless. The small nonprofit Border Compliance Assistance Center has been compiling what data it can get hold of, but its figures are months old before they are made public, and probably not very accurate. Although the EPA has impressive plans involving electronic manifests and real-time tracking systems, these are years away from actualization.

Estimates suggest the toxic waste total has doubled since 1997 to over 43 million pounds per year. Some worry that terrorists could take advantage of the chaos to sneak dangerous materials into the country.

Thanks to a federal grant, California has the only regular hazardous waste inspection program on the entire 2,000-mile border. The result is that more waste gets pushed to other border states. Director of the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality Steve Owens explains:

It's kind of the hazardous waste version of undocumented folks coming across the border. When they tighten up the borders for hazardous waste entry (in California), importers are going to come through Arizona because our borders aren't controlled.

Sneaking in toxins under less hazardous classifications makes for lower disposal fees — as well as potential disasters. With customs agents overwhelmed trying to deal with the alien invasion and illicit drug issues, cheaters are unlikely to get caught.

The waste products being imported include various metallic elements and industrial solvents that would not be welcome supplements to our water supply. But I'm sure Senate Dems and RINOs will tell you that these toxins only taint wells that American hazardous waste is too lazy to poison.

Posted by Van Helsing at June 12, 2006 1:56 PM

Comments

Posted by: Ben at June 12, 2006 8:20 PM

Posted by: V the K at June 12, 2006 9:23 PM