the tceq border initiative: how the tceq works with others ...91a6b26a4443eb4673e0... · the good,...

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: environmental issues along the border

TCEQ Environmental Trade FairBorder Track, May 4 2016

Stephen M. Niemeyer, P.E.Border Affairs

Texas Commission on Environmental Quality

Outline

• Background

• Border 101—why care about the border environment with Mexico?

• Colonias

• Air

• Regional Haze

• El Paso Air Quality

• Water

• Rio Grande

• Quantity, Quality

• Waste

• Scrap Tires

• Other

• Fracking

• Emergency Response

• Border Fence April 21 2016 ICE Presentation

Border Background

April 21 2016 ICE Presentation

Map source: “Climate Change and U.S.-Mexico Communities,” in Assessment of Climate Change in the Southwest United States:

A Report Prepared for the National Climate Assessment. 2013. http://swcarr.arizona.edu/chapter/16

Colonias

Source: Texas A&M Health Science Center, https://vitalrecord.tamhsc.edu/colonias-bound-an-expedition-into-health-care-preventative-care/, 2014.

Air

April 21 2016 ICE Meeting

Big Bend National Park—view of Sierra del Carmen in Mexico

Big Bend National Park— Sierra del Carmen View—Visual Range 68 miles

Austin – low visibility from southern winds

Water

April 21 2016 ICE Meeting

Texas border region with neighboring states & Rio Grande Basin

April 21 2016 ICE MeetingSource: Rubinstein, Carlos. “The Price Texas Pays for Mexico’s

Water Debt.” Texas Water Journal. Vol. 6, No. 1 (2015). 1-10

Source: Texas Tribune Photo by: Jessica Lutz

Big Bend National Park

Carrizo Cane (Arundo Donax)

Source: Texas Tribune Photo by: Jessica Lutz

Carrizo Cane – A National Security & Environmental Issue

Waste

April 21 2016 ICE Meeting

Tire Fire in Nuevo Laredo – May 28, 2014Nuevo Laredo Tire Fire—2011

Other

2015 Environmental Trade FairBorder Track

Eagle Ford Shale

Emergency Response

Border Fence

¡Fín!

Stephen M. Niemeyer, P.E.

Border Affairs Manager and Colonias Coordinator

Texas Commission on Environmental Quality

Steve.Niemeyer@tceq.texas.gov

512-239-3610