How the new North American trade pact may lead to a sewage cleanup of the Tijuana River Valley

Local economic and government officials Tuesday praised the new United States-Mexico-Canada deal as a way to further boost the San Diego-Tijuana cross-border economy. But an environmental concern — the runoff of raw sewage that often flows from Tijuana and fouls beaches from Imperial Beach to as far north as Coronado — might end up being one of the agreement's most significant measures.

"It adds specific language that will be helpful for the Tijuana River Valley pollution issue," said Paola Avila, vice president of business affairs at the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce, who has tracked the progress of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, known as USMCA. "It's a tremendous win for us."

Avila said the deal includes funding for the Environmental Protection Agency's Border Wastewater Infrastructure Program that provides funding for wetlands areas 62 miles north and south across the U.S.-Mexico border.

"They haven't announced the dollar figure yet," Avila said, but details are expected to be released by Thursday. "I'm hearing it's somewhere in the $200 million figure ... It doesn't necessarily mean it will all go to the Tijuana River Valley — that's not a guarantee — but it's certainly known that's one of the areas with the biggest problems and needs."

Millions of gallons of raw sewage, heavy metals and other contamination routinely spill from Tijuana into San Diego. According to a lawsuit filed by California in 2018 against the federal government, toxic water pollution from Mexico shuttered beaches in the San Diego area on more than 500 days in the last three years.

Baja California operates a set of pumps on the Tijuana River that divert flows out to the Pacific on a daily basis. However, the system is easily overwhelmed, even by light rain.

The current pact — the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA — did not include a specific environmental chapter. Instead, Avila said, it had a side agreement "that was hard to enforce."

But the USMCA includes a chapter dealing with the environment, as well as individual chapters dedicated to customs and small- and medium-sized businesses.

"We already viewed NAFTA as a good thing for our region," Avila said. "USMCA is an improvement and now these revisions put in further improvements. This is a step in the direction that we wanted."

According to the Smart Border Coalition, $52 billion of goods are exchanged through the ports of entry in the San Diego-Tijuana region each year. Some 46 million cars carrying 106 million travelers, as well as 2 million cargo trucks, pass through the regional ports annually.

"We've been pushing for this modernized trade agreement and now it's here, in a way that sets up San Diego to win big," San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer said in a statement. "More free trade and less pollution at the border — it's what San Diego needs and it looks like it's what San Diego is going to get."

USMCA is expected to be ratified by the U.S. House of Representatives in a vote next week and by the U.S. Senate next month. President Donald Trump agreed to the deal late last year. Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador signed off on it Tuesday afternoon in Mexico City and Canada's government is expected to ratify the deal once it is approved by the U.S.

The pending agreement "will provide greater investor certainty and it means that cross-border corridors like that of San Diego-Tijuana can continue to flourish," said Duncan Wood, director of the Mexico Institute at the Washington D.C.-based Wilson Center.

While there are multiple ports of entry along the U.S.-Mexico border, San Ysidro is the busiest land border crossing in the Western Hemisphere. About 70,000 vehicles and 25,000 pedestrians cross the border at San Ysidro's PedWest facility every day.

But Wood said one provision of the NAFTA replacement could pose "potential irritants" down the road.

During negotiations Mexico balked at a provision giving parties the ability to file complaints to ensure labor laws under USMCA are being enforced, arguing inspections of manufacturers and industry facilities violated national sovereignty. If a complaint was deemed valid, it could potentially shut down the production of the manufacturer in question.

Mexican government officials said Tuesday the agreement makes no specific reference to inspections but a House Ways and Means outline released Tuesday morning said the agreement establishes "Labor Attachés that will be based in Mexico and will provide on-the-ground information" about Mexico's labor practices.

"If you have, let's say, an administration here in the United States that wants to punish Mexico, or a sector or company that feels as though they cannot compete against a Mexican competitor, then they could launch a complaint and, therefore, an inspection based upon the rules of this modification to the agreement," Wood said.

The new agreement does not include a chapter for energy but Avila said USMCA includes language that will enshrine Mexico's energy reform law that opened private sector investment into the country's oil, natural gas and renewable energy markets.

López Obrador, a left-wing populist, has often railed against energy reform, but Avila said, "He's a pragmatist and realized that was something he would have to give on. There were some things he held firm on and others he gave in to. (Energy) was one of them."

San Diego-based Sempra Energy is the parent company of Mexico-based energy company IEnova that has invested $8.8 billion in assets and projects in that country's energy sector. Just 7 percent of households have access to natural gas.

"Energy is fundamental to modern life and the USMCA is a positive step forward in energy trade for two of the United States' largest trading partners," Sempra spokeswoman Paty Ortega Mitchell said in an email. "Mexico expects a significant increase in its natural gas imports in the next five years and Mexico will continue to benefit from U.S. investments to build out its energy infrastructure."

IEnova is also preparing to decide whether to add an export component to its liquefied natural gas, or LNG, facility in Ensenada that could offer a direct and less expensive route for cargo ships sending LNG to destinations in Asia that are keen to switch from coal to natural gas.

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