Baja California
Governor Sees Dangers in U.S. Stance on Canal Dispute
February 17, 2006 — By Erica Werner, Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Baja California Gov.
Eugenio Elorduy accused the U.S. government Thursday of inaction on a
controversial border canal project, warning of a political backlash in
Mexico if this country fails to act.
"This situation will blow in our faces if it is not attended to by the
U.S government ... This is easy merchandise to be sold and handled by
very antagonistic forces of the U.S. in our border, in my state,"
Elorduy said at a media round-table organized by the Center for
Strategic & International Studies.
"We are astonished as to why the Department of Interior does not look
into this situation and set up a working group to solve this situation,"
he said. "This must not be underestimated. When you get farmers in
Mexico against their water it makes any farmer very mad."
An Interior Department spokesman, though, contended talks must proceed
through normal diplomatic channels, including a meeting set for Friday
between Elorduy and State Department officials.
At issue are plans to line 23 miles of the 80-mile All-American Canal
with concrete starting this year. The canal runs just north of the
eastern portion of California's border with Mexico, directing water from
the Colorado River that runs along the California-Arizona border to
farms in California.
An estimated 67,000 acre-feet of water per year is lost to seepage from
the porous canal that was built in the 1930s, and the project aims to
reclaim that water for American farmers. But Mexican farmers, wetlands
and wildlife depend heavily on the water, leading to strong opposition.
Elorduy, a member of Mexico's business-friendly National Action Party
(PAN), contended that impacts on Mexico have not been studied. His
administration wants a delay until more work can done.
Mexican President Vicente Fox raised the issue with President Bush in
two meetings last year, according to Elorduy's staff, and Elorduy also
discussed the canal with California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in
September. Schwarzenegger promised a thorough review.
But Elorduy said the U.S. government has been unresponsive.
"The Department of the Interior and its secretary, Gale Norton, have
shut themselves out from this topic and do not want to talk about it,"
he said.
Interior Department spokesman Frank Quimby said he was aware of no
current request from Elorduy for a meeting with Norton. He said the
canal would be discussed at a meeting next month between Norton and Jose
Luis Luege Tamargo, Mexico's environment secretary, as well as at
Friday's meeting between Elorduy and Assistant Secretary of State Thomas
Shannon.
"This is an important issue. Interior has been working on it
consistently and constantly with the appropriate Mexican federal
officials. We're going to continue to work on it," Quimby said. "The
appropriate forums are through the treaty-designated diplomatic
channels, and we're following that course."
Mexicans will elect a new president in July and there are state
elections next year. Elorduy's environmental secretary, Enrique
Villegas, said opposition parties were using the plan to stir anti-U.S.
sentiment.
"This is being fed to farmers as something that is one more gesture of
the imperialist government of the U.S.," Villegas said. "This is a topic
that, if not properly addressed, will weaken the perception of the good
relationship that we do have with the U.S."
Construction on the $135 million project, authorized by Congress in
1988, is supposed to begin later this year and wrap up in 2008. A
federal district judge in Las Vegas last week ruled against
environmentalists and Mexican agricultural interests trying to stop the
plan.
Source: Associated Press
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