^OER 20
0/VTER^
Border 2020 Newsletter
Region 9
California, Baja California, Arizona and Sonora
Spring/Summer 2015
www2.epa.gov/border2020

This newsletter provides a summary of activities that took place from January to June 2015.
General Updates
rs


M
- -



,, w

%
• ' "Sizg*

A ¦
/
^ %
New Air Quality Monitor Launched at San Diego-Tijuana Border Crossing: On February 2, 2015, Regional
Administrator Blumenfeld spoke at the inauguration of a special-use fine particulate matter (PM2.5) monitor at
the San Ysidro Port of Entry in San Diego. The monitor is located on the roof of the main pedestrian building at
the Port of Entry, adjacent to the busiest international land crossing in the world.
Under a grant from EPA, the San Diego Air Pollution Control District
(SDAPCD) installed the monitor and will operate it for two years to provide a
more accurate estimate of PM2.5 concentrations in adjacent communities. The
PM2.5 levels are being monitored in real-time and the data is continuously
posted on the SDAPCD's website. Potential sources of PM2.5 include emissions
from the thousands of northbound vehicles idling at the border each day, and
soot from nearby agricultural burning. The installation and operation of the
monitor is a partnership between EPA, the SDAPCD, the California Air
Resources Board (CARB), the General Services Administration (GSA), and
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). See EPA press release. Contact
Dave Fege at fege.dave@epa.gov.
U.S.-Mexico Border Program Releases 2015 Request for Proposals (RFP): Region 9's U.S.-Mexico Border
Program is reviewing proposals received following a 45-day RFP issued on April 13th. The RPF fulfills binational
commitments identified within the U.S.-Mexico Border Environment Program: Border 2020. The RFP put forth
29 priority project areas that support binational environmental protection efforts along the California/Baja
California and Arizona/Sonora border region. Approximately $1.2 million will be made available. For more
information on this year's RFP, please visit www.cocef.org or contact Lorena Lopez-Powers at lopez-
p o wer s. 1 orena@ ep a. gov.
Border 2020 Action Plans Showcase Border Efforts Underway: The Arizona-Sonora and California-Baja
California 2013-2014 Action Plans have been published to the Border 2020 website. The Action Plans provide a
summary of known projects and efforts that were funded by a variety of border partners in Arizona-Sonora and
California-Baja California and that align with the Border 2020 Goals and Objectives. Of the 121 activities
described in the 2013-2014 Action Plans, 60 were completed, 7 were cancelled, and 54 are ongoing. Action Plans
help align the Border 2020 resources towards accomplishing unmet goals and objectives, inform future 2-year
Action Plans, and take into account resource and priority changes. 2015-2016 Action Plans have been developed
and will be posted in late-July. Contact Jeremy Bauer at bauer.ieremy@epa.gov.

-------
Arizona-Sonora Regional Workgroup Leadership and Task Forces Convene: On April 30th, the state and
federal agency co-chairs of the Arizona-Sonora Regional Workgroup convened in Nogales, Sonora with the air,
water, and waste Task Forces. A significant portion of the meeting focused on the Border 2020 RFP criteria,
completion of the draft 2015-2016 Arizona-Sonora Regional Workgroup Action Plan, and Q&A from border
stakeholders. The meeting concluded with a tour of the Los Alisos Wastewater Treatment Plant which boasts a
1.5MW solar array (the first one in Latin
America) and whose funding was leveraged by
the Border Environment Infrastructure Fund.
The meeting was led by Amanda Stone
(ADEQ), Tomas Torres (EPA), Oscar Tellez
Leyva of Sonora's Commission of Ecology and
Sustainable Development (CEDES), and Jorge
Andres Suilo Orozco of Mexico's Secretariat of
the Environment and Natural Resources
(SEMARNAT). Contact Lorena Lopez-Powers
at 1 opez-powers .1 orena@, epa. gov.
BECC/NADB Semiannual Meeting: The Board of Directors of the Border Environment Cooperation
Commission (BECC) and the North American Development Bank (NADB) convened in Tijuana on May 13-14
for their semiannual public meeting. The Board approved the certification and financing of $24.87 million for
four new infrastructure projects in the U.S.-Mexico border region. Region 9 projects included first-time paving
of more than 34,000 square meters of streets, water and wastewater infrastructure, and public lighting system
improvements in Playas de Rosarito, Baja California; improvements to a wastewater treatment plant in Wilcox,
Arizona benefiting Lake Cochi se; and replacement of the Crawford Street water main in Nogales, Arizona. The
Board also approved the integration of BECC and NADB into a single institution; however, additional work
remains to finalize the charter of the merged institution and organizational structure. It is expected that the new
institution will preserve the environmental mission and geographic jurisdiction of the institutions. For more
information, see BECC-NADB Press Release.
Goal Updates
Goal 1 - Reduce Air Pollution
U.S. and Mexico Develop Strategy on Border Air Quality: On May 27, 2015, Region 9 staff (Zimpfer, Fege,
Perez) met with Mexican Federal and State representatives (SEMARNAT, INECC, and SPA) and U.S. state and
local representatives (CARB, SDAPCD, ICAPCD) to review the status of current projects and plan future air
quality efforts in the California-Baja California regions. Priority topics of discussion included options to improve
the operation and maintenance of the Baja Air Quality Monitoring Network which has been intermittently in
disrepair; the installation of additional monitoring stations in Mexicali; operation of the new monitor at San
Ysidro; training for Baja California staff to be provided by CARB and INECC; and the completion of the Air
Border 2020 Action Plan. The meeting was held in Tijuana at the U.S. Consulate.
Page 2 of 8

-------
Goal 2 - Improve Access to Clean and Safe Water
Holtville, California Kicks-off New Wastewater System Improvements: The City of Holtville, California
began operating its new gravity wastewater transmission main in February 2015, benefiting 6,500 residents. The
old 3.2 mile transmission main was 84 years old and experienced frequent pipe and manhole collapses. Its
deteriorated condition also allowed infiltration of agricultural water, significantly increasing flows to the
treatment plant. EPA provided $400,000 in technical assistance to support planning and design of a wastewater
improvement project totaling $1.3 million. These technical assistance funds allowed the City to secure
construction funding from USDA-Rural Development ($2.8 million loan and $1.6 million grant), and EPA Border
Environment Infrastructure Fund (BEIF) resources ($1.3 million grant). In June 2014, the City extended service
to 29 homes in two small neighborhoods with failed septic systems and substandard wastewater connections
discharging to the transmission main. (Su Cox, 415-972-3555)
Willcox, Arizona is Slated for New Wastewater Treatment Plant Improvements: The City of Willcox, AZ,
is rehabilitating and upgrading its wastewater treatment plant from a lagoon system to an oxidation ditch facility.
The improvements will enable the plant to comply with permit limits for discharges to the impaired Cochise Lake.
The joint BECC-NADB Board certified the project for construction at the May 14 Board meeting in Tijuana. This
$11.33 million project is jointly funded with $4.62 million in EPA BEIF funds administered by the NADB, and
a USDA-RD loan and grant totaling $6.71 million. (Roger Kohn, 415-972-3416)
Border 2020 AZ/SON Water Task Force Advances Water Efforts: The Task Force convened in Nogales,
Sonora, following the Regional Workgroup Meeting on April 30, 2015. Key topics of discussion included
IBWC's design plans for rehabilitating the International Outfall Interceptor (IBWC), the Fats Oils and Grease
(FOG) Pretreatment Toolkit (BECC), the Metals and Cyanide Handling workshops (BECC), and the solar project
at the Los Alisos Wastewater Treatment Plant (OOMAPAS-NS), which was funded in-part through EPA's Border
Environment Infrastructure Fund (BEIF). After the meeting, the Director of OOMAPAS gave ADEQ, EPA, and
BECC officials a tour of the treatment plant and solar project. (Doug Liden, 619-235-4763)
•BEE),
Border 2020 Tijuana River Watershed Task Force: The Task Force met jointly with the California Regional
Water Quality Control Board-led Tijuana River Valley
Recovery Team on June 18th at the Tijuana Estuary Training
Center in Imperial Beach, CA. Key topics of discussion
included: the EPA RARE-funded Tijuana sediment model
development (SDSU), Coastal dye studies funded by NSA
(Scripps), Tijuana River Action Month activities (WildCoast),
tire cleanup efforts in the Valley (City of SD), bypasses from
the Tijuana River (IBWC), Flood Resilient Infrastructure and
Sustainable Environments Project (UC Irvine). (Doug Liden,
619-235-4763)
Page 3 of 8

-------
Goal 3 -Promoting Materials and Waste Management and Clean Sites
Addressing Binational Trash in the New River: The Sonoran Institute (SI), working under a $65,000 Border
2020 grant, has kicked-off efforts to remove trash along a 1.5 km area of the New River canal in Mexicali. hi
addition, SI will develop designs for an Eco-kiosk to demonstrate the benefits of this project in creating public
green space; and will seek community input on the causes of trash dumping and mitigation strategies. SI
removed over 2200 tons of trash in the first cleanup on January 24th, involving 11 government agencies and 44
community members. SI conducted several public workshops
engaging 14 government agencies and field surveys canvasing various
community members of three colonias. To amplify community
engagement on the canal cleanups and reuse efforts, SI held an
environmental education fair on June 19 and plans to conduct
additional cleanups along the canal this summer. Finally, SI has
leveraged their grant funds by collaborating with several community
organizations for volunteer support, equipment, security, and other
services.
The Inter-American Development Bank Invests in Developing e-Waste
Management Capacity in Mexicali: The Inter-American Development Bank is
investing over $460,000 with an additional $338,000 in matching funds to promote the
safe recycling of used electronic devices (e-waste). The project will build capacity on
safe recycling practices, conduct e-waste collection events, and identify markets and
training needs to transition the informal sector waste pickers (pepenadores) into safe, living wage business
enterprises in the repair and dismantling of e-waste. The BECC is administering the project over a 42 month
period in partnership with EPA, the MIT Co-lab, UABC, and others.
Inter-American Development Bank
Waste Policy Forum Convenes in Tijuana. On February 10-11, the Border 2020 Waste Policy Co-chairs Barnes
Johnson (EPA OSWER) and Carlos Sanchez-Gasca (SEMARNAT) convened in Tijuana, Baja California.
Binational topics of discussion included: sustainable materials
management, draft guidance on preparing end-of-life vehicles (junk cars)
for export, abandoned tires, discarded electronics, plastics, and trans-
boundary trash mitigation. Border 2020 grantees, Fundacion Helice,
Tijuana Calidad de Vida, and the Sonoran Institute (all environmental
NGOs) gave presentations on the zero waste activities being performed
under their grants. Region 9 was represented by Jeff Scott, U.S. Federal
Co-chair of the AC/BC and AZ/SON Regional Workgroup. Contact Emily
Pimentel at iimentel.emily@epa.uov.
Waste and Enforcement Task Force Convenes in Nogales, Sonora: On April 30th, the state and federal co-
chairs of the Waste and Enforcement Task convened to discuss Arizona/Sonora priorities and accomplishments.
Key outcomes included binational coordination on trash cleanups in Nogales, Sonora and finalizing the 2015-
2016 Action Plan projects and efforts.
Page 4 of 8

-------
New e-waste Tool Helps Arizona Border Communities Reclaim Resources. The Arizona Department of
Environmental Quality (ADEQ), working under a $63,621 Border 2020 grant, completed a web-based toolkit to
promote the use of certified electronic recyclers to safely manage e-waste and to provide easy-to-implement
guidelines to conduct e-waste collection events in border communities. ADEQ held workshops in border
communities on how to apply the toolkit and collected over 60,000 lbs. of e-waste using R2 or e-Stewards,
certified recyclers in the Arizona border cities of Bisbee, Nogales, Sahuarita, San Luis, and Somerton. ADEQ is
also exploring conducting a collection event in Serra Vista, Arizona in the next three months. The toolkit is
anticipated to be available on-line in English and Spanish by September 2015. See draft pre-view at
http://azdeq.gov/environ/waste/p2/ewastetoolkit/introduction.html.
EPA Awards Funding to Remove Binational Trash in the Nogales Wash: During the summer monsoons, the
Nogales Wash in Arizona is impacted by solid waste originating in Nogales, Sonora.
EPA has allocated $60,000 via contract assistance to the Arizona Department of
Environmental Quality to mitigate trash dumping impacts by mapping the most
concentrated areas of trash and setting priorities for cleanup, facilitating at least two
trash cleanup events in 2015 and work with Mexico to mitigate trash impacts
originating from illegal dumping and inadequate trash collection.
Environmental Finance Center (EFC) Supports Border: EPA awarded a grant to the EFC in 2014 to support
building institutional sustainability along the border. The EFC is working with Tijuana Calidad de Vida (TCV),
an urban planning oriented non-profit, to develop sustainable compost services at the compost center they
developed under a previous Border 2020 grant. The EFC is also researching viable markets for compost in the
region and the feasibility of implementing "green generators" fueled by food scrap and landscape wastes in
Tijuana. EFC is also supporting the Sonoran Institute on strategies to identify and engage communties in Mexicali
to mitigate illegal trash dumping by using proven social-media and other community outreach tools.
Promoting the Safe Management of Discarded Electronics in Baja CA: Fundacion H el ice, an environmental
non-profit, completed numerous efforts to advance the safe management of e-waste under a $46,987 Border 2020
grant, including: collection of 19,150 kg of e-waste via six public events (over 485 families participated);
collaboration with six large Mexicali businesses to collect 1,468 kg of e-waste
(over 300 employees participated); and providing 57 recycling professionals
with training on responsible recycling (R2) electronic recycling certification
requirements. Fundacion Helice also developed a public education campaign
using social media, radio, and TV and created "logos" to uniquely
communicate the need to safely manage e-waste.
Nogales Diverts Used Motor Oil from Entering Waterways: The Secretariat for Urban
Development and Ecology (SUDE) of Nogales, Sonora is working under a $16,508 Border
2020 grant to train small businesses that generate less than 400 kg of oil per year on best
management practices and will construct a transfer station to make it more cost-effective for
oil recyclers to collect and transport the used oil for recycling. Since April 2015, SUDE trained
76 small businesses on best management practices and coll ected over 117,000 liters of used
motor oil. SUDE also assisted 12 businesses in registering as hazardous waste generators (and
is processing 18 more) to increase their compliance with Mexico's federal regulations.
Page 5 of 8

fOSA Dt RtTENCION PARA
1 I < \><1 PI I' 1 K K \M 1 s
RSInc,.^

-------
Goal 4 - Emergency Preparedness and Response
Arizona/Sonora Emergency Responders Learn About Sulfuric Acid
Rail Transport Safety: The Arizona-Sonora Border 2020 Emergency
Prevention and Preparedness Task Force hosted a training course on May
11-15 (1/2 day course offered multiple times) provided by Union Pacific
in Nogales, Arizona. Over 250 emerging response personnel from the
United States and Mexico participated in the course which focused on an
introduction to railroad operations and the associated hazards related to
tanker cars carrying sulfuric acid.

4

Baja California Showcases Emergency Management Center: Protection Civil
hosted a tour of the very impressive C4 (Command, Control, Communications and
Computer) building and showcased the capabilities they have developed for
coordinating response to emergencies. Ongoing communication and testing of
binational notification systems is a critical component of overall emergency response
capabilities.
Arizona-Sonora Emergency Prevention and Preparedness Task Force Meeting: Approximately 85
emergency response personnel from the Arizona-Sonora border participated in an emergency prevention and
preparedness task force meeting in San Luis Colorado, Sonora on April 9-10. A key focus of the meeting included
kicking-off revisions to the Sister City Emergency Management Plans.
The Task Force meeting was preceded by a Traffic Incident Management
System (TIMS) Train-the-Trainer Course. Traffic incidents including
crashes, disabled vehicles, and debris on the road create unsafe driving
conditions, put motorists and responder lives at risk, and account for
approximately 25 percent of all traffic delays. First responders in Sonora
are now equipped to train others on the system that provides safe and
quick incident clearance and interoperable communications.
Goal 5 - Enhance Compliance Assurance and Environmental Stewardship
The California Unified Program Agency (Ct.'PA) Border Panel Convenes in San Diego: The CUP A
conference, one of the largest compliance and enforcement events of its kind in California, convened a border
program panel organized by San Diego County's Hazardous Materials Program (calcupa.org). The panelists,
consisting of Bob Heiss, EPA (OECA); Emmanuel Mendoza, Environment Canada; and Saul Guzman, Baja
California Secretariat for Environmental Protection (SPA), provided perspectives on efforts to enhance
information-sharing and understanding of each country's respective regulatory and enforcement programs. This
panel fulfills Border 2020's commitment to enhance information sharing amongst binational agencies.
Page 6 of 8

-------
Environmental Health
Making a Visible Difference in Communities: Imperial County: EPA is supporting the Imperial Valley
community's efforts to protect human health and the environment by including Imperial Valley as a focus
community within the "Making a Visible Difference in Communities (MVD)" initiative recently launched by
EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy. The MVD initiative aims to provide enhanced support to communities in
environmentally overburdened, underserved, and economically distressed areas. Border 2020 has funded two
projects that fulfill aspects of the MVP initiative including Imperial Valley Child Asthma Program's (IVCAP)
Healthy Homes Healthy Breathing Project and the Public Health Institute's Assessment of Environmental Health
Data for the California Mexico Border, described below. Additional EPA activities are listed in the Making a
Visible Difference in Communities: Imperial Valley Work Plan. Please contact Priyanka Pathak for more
information (pathak.priyanka@epa.gov. (415) 972-3576).
Promoting Healthy Homes in Imperial Valley, CA: The EPA and Imperial Valley
Child Asthma Program co-sponsored a Healthy Homes for Community Health
Workers course in El Centro on May 13th. The course helps housing and public
health professionals, community health workers, and others to develop critical skills
to create a healthier home environment for children and other occupants. Instruction was provided by the City of
San Diego's Lead Safety and Healthy Homes Program, a partner in the National Healthy Housing Training
Network. Over 40 participants learned how to identify and address common home health hazards, and how to
provide healthy homes education and general advice about specific healthy homes problems to landlords, tenants,
and other community members. (Jacquelyn Menghrajani, 415-972-3259).
Assessment of Border Environmental Health in the California Border Region: A Border 2020 Grant was
awarded in December 2014 to the Public Health Institute to compile and analyze existing border environmental
health data, to create a comprehensive snapshot of border environmental health in the California Border Region
and to make recommendations on how to obtain additional data and coordinate with Mexico on data gaps. A
draft report was submitted to BECC and EPA in June and a final report is due in August. PHI is scheduled to
present the findings of their report during the children's health symposium later this year.
Imperial Valley Physicians Learn about Asthma Best Practices: EPA staff from the Border and Children's
Health Programs have been planning a series of outreach and education efforts on environmental health along the
U.S.-Mexico Border. The first will take place in August in Holtville, CA and will cover asthma treatment best
practices for Imperial Valley physicians who work with border communities that typically face the highest asthma
hospitalization rates in California.
Building Environmental Health Capacity along the California and Arizona Border: EPA Children's Health
and Border Program staff are coordinating with the California Department of Public Health and the Border Health
Commission to conduct a series of environmental health training workshops along the U.S.-Mexico Border in
California and Arizona. Topics may include indoor/outdoor air quality and asthma triggers, pesticides exposure,
lead exposure, and climate change. The three workshops are tentatively scheduled to occur in September in the
San Diego-Tijuana, Imperial Valley-Mexicali, and Ambos Nogales areas. Staff from the Pediatric Environmental
Health Specialty Unit (PEHSU) and from the California Department of Public Health will bring their extensive
environmental health expertise and experience working with promotores to share best practices and
environmental health information.
Page 7 of 8

-------
Border Children's Environmental Health Symposium in the Works: EPA Region 9 will be hosting a Border
Children's Environmental Health Symposium in late 2015 or early 2016 in San Diego, California to share the
most recent environmental health information and best practices with doctors, nurses, and other healthcare
providers, health outreach workers, promotores and others in the public health community who work with border
communities. The symposium will complement a similar event to be held in El Paso, Texas hosted by EPA Region
6 on September 24-25. The U.S.-Mexico Border Health Commission is partnering with EPA on both symposiums
and will recruit their binational health networks to participate. The Region 9 Pediatric Environmental Health
Specialty Unit doctors and staff will also assist with preparing and presenting the information at both events.
Page 8 of 8

-------