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Emission testing of trucks along U.S. - Mexico border will demonstrate new technology, better quantify truck emissions

Release Date: 3/11/2005
Contact Information: Francisco Arcaute, (213) 244-1815

TUCSON - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will provide $200,000 to test air pollution emissions from trucks along the U.S. - Mexico border near Nogales, Ariz.

Other organizations supporting the project include the Mexican government, the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality and Environmental Systems Products. There will be a demonstration of the Nogales project on March 11, at the Nogales border crossing in Arizona after a three-day Border 2012 National Coordinators' Meeting. The meeting is a gathering of U.S. and Mexican environmental specialists who seek innovative ways to decrease air, water, waste and soil pollution along the border.

Four million trucks cross the border each year and is expected to increase. Diesel emissions from these trucks can present a significant public health risk to residents on both sides of the border. The Nogales project will increase understanding of the overall emission impacts and better quantify the nitrogen oxides, particulate matter and air toxic emissions from cross-border commercial truck traffic along the border.

The Nogales project will test state-of-the-art technologies for estimating truck emissions, including heavy duty remote sensing units, opacity testing equipment and portable emission monitors. Remote sensing units, for example, are currently used to instantaneously measure tailpipe emissions from cars using a narrow beam of ultraviolet and infrared light across a roadway. The project will demonstrate the technology on commercial trucks and is expected to run for three weeks.

"We're looking forward to the results of this study to enhance our understanding of the impacts of cross-border truck traffic and to demonstrate new technology," said Laura Yoshii, the EPA's deputy regional administrator for the Pacific Southwest region. "The information will help target opportunities to reduce emissions on both sides of the border."

"SEMARNAT is eager to participate in this important project, since we already know that truck transport is one of the main sources of air pollution. Therefore, we have to look for solutions that tackle problems in wider schemes," said Sergio Sanchez, Director General for Air Quality Management and the Pollutant Registry, SEMARNAT, Mexico's Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources.

"We are very concerned about the potential dramatic increase in air pollution along the border that could be caused by increased commercial truck traffic at the border," said Arizona Department of Environmental Quality Director Steve Owens. "The purpose of this pilot is to establish a basis for evaluating the pollution caused by that truck traffic."

The Nogales project is part of two decades of cooperation between the United States and Mexico to reduce air pollution along the border through the binational "Border XXI" and "Border 2012" programs.

For more information on the EPA's U.S. - Mexico Border 2012 Program, please visit: https://www.epa.gov/region09/border/feature.html .