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As you know, I have had the experience, as you have, of talking 

 to everyone from Mayor Wilson to Mayor O'Conner to Mayor 

 Golding about the problems at the border between San Diego and 

 Tijuana, which are manifest, and you and I as Califomians both 

 know that. So we will continue. It is not just, as the chairman 

 knows, the Texas or New Mexico border. It is also the California 

 border, and we are paying strict attention to that. 



Mr. Brown. As you know, I have been interested in environ- 

 mental research for many years. We do not have adequate environ- 

 mental research in our own country. If we attempt to apply envi- 

 ronmental standards to Mexico, we are going to be in even worse 

 trouble. I think our first step is going to have to be to strengthen 

 our expertise to understand first what the problems are, then what 

 the solutions are. 



Ambassador Kantor. Exactly. 



Mr. Brown. The research has to be aimed at the regulatory func- 

 tion here, as our own EPA's research is to a large extent, but then 

 it must go beyond that. Here's where we can help to contribute to 

 the economic development of Mexico, by assisting them with long- 

 range applied research which we have supported for agriculture, 

 for example, in our country, and for health. 



Mexico is on the verge of developing a first-rate capability to do 

 that. We have set up, through legislation about a year ago, a bina- 

 tional research foundation to continue to support that. It is ex- 

 tremely weak and inadequately funded. 



I want to suggest to you that we might tie together these efforts, 

 which go back a long way. We still have a research and develop- 

 ment cooperative agreement with Mexico that goes back to the 

 Nixon administration that has never been used. We have this pro- 

 posal that is in the law now for a foundation to support binational 

 research. We have a need to provide research in connection with 

 NAFTA. All of these ought to be brought together to assist not only 

 in enforcing the agreement, but to stimulating the economic devel- 

 opment of Mexico. 



Isn't that so, Mr. Ambassador? 



Ambassador Kantor. It certainly is. As you know better than I, 

 as chairman of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology — 

 you have worked on this for years — we need to tie these various ap- 

 proaches together in a meaningful way. 



We have to start with border cleanup, as the chairman referred 

 to. That's going to be a daunting task, especially the funding part. 

 Not the identification; the problems are obvious. Border cleanup, 

 establishment of commissions, better enforcement of law, and ac- 

 cess to the courts in Mexico, and then tjdng in these various ap- 

 proaches, whether it be applied research or using experts to deter- 

 mine whether or not we are really harmonizing up. That is so im- 

 portant — I know you would support this, harmonizing standards 

 up, not only in the environment but in worker standards and safe- 

 ty, as well. 



The Chairman. I thank the gentleman. 



The gentleman is very correct, Mr. Ambassador. As I mentioned, 

 we need to use existing facilities. To begin with, there is this Good 

 Neighbor Environmental Board that will include representatives 

 from Tijuana to Brownsville but for which the members are yet to 



