Environmental Impact Assessment of Transporting Hazardous Waste Generated by Maquiladora Industry in U.S.-Mexico Border Region

Abstract

Hazardous waste shipments from U.S.-owned industries in the northern part of Mexico near the border with the United States are a growing problem. Today, the Mexican Environmental Agency requires all U.S. industries to return the waste produced by their plants to the United States. Currently, there is no database on the amount of hazardous waste transported from these firms, the pattern of shipments (from what origins to what destinations), and the nature of the risks to the population and environment along the shipment routes. In addition, there is a growing need to develop a risk assessment model and framework to focus on the transport of hazardous waste in the United States–Mexico border region, given the anticipated changes resulting from implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement. Results of the data collection and analysis task and the risk assessment model formulation task are presented. The methodology is demonstrated in a case-study area of the United States–Mexico border region, namely, the Arizona-Sonora border area, and should be a valuable tool for evaluating various transport risk management scenarios of importance to the border area.