Waste, weather, energy and borders.

Targeting Hazardous Waste

On January 3, Mexican Official Standard NOM-055-Semarnat-2003 took effect. It establishes the technical requirements applicable to the storage of previously stabilized hazardous waste. The purpose of this new standard is to protect surrounding soil, surface and groundwater from contact with improperly stored hazardous waste.

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Previously stabilized hazardous waste is defined as those wastes receiving biological, physical, thermal or chemical treatment prior to final disposal, with the specific exception of liquids, semisolid, radioactive or PCB wastes.

This standard replaces NOM-055-Semarnat-1993 and charges the Secretariat of Environment (Semarnat) with the responsibility of evaluating applications and authorizes the Attorney General for Environmental Protection (Profepa) to oversee compliance.

Petroleum Product Forecast

In the next 10 years, the Secretariat of Energy (Sener) projects that gasoline and diesel demand will increase annually by 2.7 percent and 2.9 percent, respectively, to 782.9 million and 408.1 million barrels per day.

These forecasts are contained in Sener's publication (Prospectiva de petroliferos 2004-2013, available at www.energia.gob.mx), which analyzes the historical activity in the Mexican energy market since 1993 and provides a trend projection of supply and demand out to 2013.

This study outlines market factors and requirements for infrastructure and process modernization in the refining sector for the short and medium term.

Despite the increased national production capability, this study concludes that demand will exceed supply and Mexico will continue to import gasoline and diesel to cover the production deficit.

Weather Forecasting Agreement

The directors of the Mexican, U.S. and Canadian Meteorological Services recently signed ceremonial documents at the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) in Camp Springs, Maryland, to demonstrate support for a new system designed to improve forecasts for North America.

The signing ceremony kicked off a three-day workshop on the North American Ensemble Forecast System (NAEFS). The NAEFS is based on conducting more than 60 model predictions per day using the Canadian and NOAA global "initial conditions" required to predict the evolution of weather systems.

These initial conditions are obtained from large datasets of observations from many sources, including surface stations, aircraft, and satellites. Ensemble systems require the use of supercomputers due to the enormous number of calculations needed to produce forecasts and deliver results from forecasts on a real-time basis.

The Meteorological Service of Canada and NOAA have been working together to develop NAEFS since early 2003. The National Meteorological Service of Mexico became involved with the system in October 2004.

Public Comment Sought

The Board of Directors of the Border Environment Cooperation Commission (BECC) and the North American Development Bank (NADB) is conducting a 60-day public comment period prior regarding decisions on the recommendations contained in its "business process review" report.

In 2002, U.S. President George W. Bush and President Vicente Fox agreed on a comprehensive review of the specific procedures used by the BECC and the NADB. The review was to focus on the designing, certifying/approving, financing and implementing of environmental infrastructure projects in the shared border region of both countries. The review is part of a broader effort to improve the ability of the BECC and the NADB to address the needs of communities in the U.S.-Mexico border regions.

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Information is available at both institutions' websites, http://www.nadb.org and http://www.cocef.org. Comments should be addressed to the "Board of Directors of the Border Environment Cooperation Commission and the North American Development Bank" and provided in writing by 5:00 p.m. CST on February 15, 2005.

Comments can also be sent by email to [e-mail].

Edward M. Ranger is the only U.S. environmental attorney licensed to practice in Mexico. He can be contacted at [e-mail].