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State to assign hazardous waste inspectors to 3 border stations

Arizona Capitol Reports Staff//July 20, 2007//[read_meter]

State to assign hazardous waste inspectors to 3 border stations

Arizona Capitol Reports Staff//July 20, 2007//[read_meter]

An effort launched by the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality will monitor Mexican trucks carrying hazardous waste that enter Arizona through three major border crossings — Nogales, San Luis and Douglas.
Three inspectors yet to be hired each will monitor one of the ports of entry.
Mexican law mandates that any hazardous material imported from the United States, which is usually for maquiladoras — U.S.-owned manufacturing plants — must go back to the United States. Additionally, Japanese and Korean-owned and others can bring their waste into the United States.
David Gantz, professor of law and director of International Trade Law Program at the University of Arizona’s College of Law, says all of the waste coming into the United States is because Mexico does not have enough sites there.
“They have a very bad record in terms of setting up hazardous disposal sites. Mexico has the laws, but they don’t enforce them,” he says.
No waste sites here
There are no hazardous waste disposal facilities in Arizona, but trucks travel through the state to get to other states such as California and Arkansas almost daily. New Mexico does not allow hazardous waste from Mexico, and California has strict regulations regarding the hours trucks can get through.
There are no such regulations in Arizona, says Arizona Department of Environmental Quality Communications Director Mark Shaffer.
“It’s a lot more open on the Arizona border. It’s almost like business hours for bringing hazardous waste across, so that’s why we’re doing what we’re doing,” he says.
Shaffer says that in the border crossings no inspections have been taking place, a reason why the agency has pushed for the last several years for funding to hire inspectors.
This year’s budget finally granted the department that money, approximately $100,000.
The Mexican trucks that generally pass through Tucson and Phoenix carry primarily solvents and sludge kinds of material, 95 percent of which comes from American maquiladoras. 
Trucks carrying hazardous material are inspected, but in a different way than a licensed inspector would, says Brian Levin, public affairs liaison for U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
For example, Customs requires a 24-hour notice from trucks carrying hazardous material coming through a port of entry. Trained officers then examine electronic records of the truck coming in. They check everything from the company sending the truck to the actual driver, looking for any suspicious activity. Levin says that if something appears “fishy,” then officials work with the importer to have the material sent to a licensed waste facility, maintaining supervision every step of the way.
Because officers and employees are not trained to physically inspect trucks, they’ve often had to call on ADEQ to send someone over, which can take hours.
Having an inspector present will help with that problem, says Levin. “We’re excited and happy about having those inspectors down here.”
The inspectors assigned by the department will oversee that trucks carrying waste are doing so safely and in accordance with federal law. They will also track amounts, types and the final destination of the material. Finally, they’ll ensure that trucks are traveling to approved sites.
Gantz says that some trucks carrying hazardous material end up taking it to “so-called sanitary landfills,” which are thousands of dollars cheaper than allocated sites.
“It’s a good idea that the state is trying to get involved with this,” says Gantz.

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