5/29/1997 202

NAFTA COMMISSION TO INVESTIGATE DEWATERING OF SAN PEDRO RIVER

NAFTA's Commission for Environmental Cooperation has ruled in favor of a petition by the Southwest Center asking for an international investigation into the dewatering of the San Pedro River. The request was made following repeated refusals by the U.S .Army to analyze the impacts of expanding Fort Huachuca on the river. Numerous studies demonstrate that aquifer drawdown has created a "cone of depression," drawing water out of the river. Hydrologists predict that the San Pedro may completely dry up within a decade.

This is the first time the Commission has agreed to investigate an environmental problem in the United States. The Commission has yet to issue a final decision on a second petition by the Southwest Center charging that the military is circumventing U.S .environmental laws by failing to analyze its effects on the San Pedro. The Commission ordered E.P.A. to respond to the charges (the first time it has ordered the U.S. to respond to environmental charges) but has not yet ruled on the agency's evasive answer.

Both petitions where filed on behalf of the Southwest Center by Earthlaw (Denver) and are available on Earthlaw's home page:

http://www.envirolink.org/orgs/elaw/

Earthlaw previously petitioned the Commission on behalf of the Southwest Center and Forest Guardians to rule that the Salvage Rider violated NAFTA requirements that member nations obey their own environmental laws. The Commission refused.