Final Report

SCERP Project Number: AQ94-OF-7

Principal Investigator: Jan Hartman
University of Texas at El Paso

Goal: To train paint and body shop owners in Cd. Juárez in the use and record keeping of less polluting products to reduce VOCs in the airshed.

Rationale: El Paso and Cd. Juárez share a common airshed and must work binationally to reduce VOC production caused by activities such as auto paint and body work. Training materials in Spanish will be helpful to other border cities encountering similar air contamination.

Approach: The project was a binational effort focusing on paint/body shop owner training. The purpose was to reduce the ozone-related volatile organic compounds (VOCs) produced by the numerous paint and body shops that operate without emission controls throughout Juarez. The Center for Environmental Resource Management (CERM) at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) was responsible for coordination of the project and development of project materials. The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) assisted in coordinating the participating agencies in Mexico including: Direccion Municipal de Desarrollo Urbano y Ecologia, Instituto Technologico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM), Procuraduria Federal para la Proteccion del Medio Ambiente (PROFEPA), and Instituto Nacional de Ecologia (INE).

Status: Completed

PRETRAINING ACTIVITIES

May 1995
CERM (Jan Hartman) worked with Direccion Municipal de Desarrollo Urbano y Ecologia (Abraham Aguino) and Environmental Defense Fund (Carlos Rincon) to arrange VOC reduction training.

June - July 1995

 
• Met with technical advisors from ITESM, Monterrey to coordinate efforts.
• Finalized content, materials with environmental officials from PROFEPA (Ing. Quim. Pilar Leal, subdelegate), CERM at UTEP (Jan Hartman), Environmental Defense Fund (Carlos Rincon), EL Paso City County Health and Environment District (Jesus Reynosa), INE (Dr. Paramo), Junta Municipal de Agua y Saneamiento (Biol. Francisco Nunez), Direccion General de Comercio Municipal (Ing. E. Bravo).
• Ordered booklets for training.
• Met with Canacintra (Juárez section of the Camara Nacional para la Industria de la Transformacion - the small industry national chamber of commerce), officials re outreach, logistics of workshop at their site.
• Met with Juárez media to arrange paid, donated advertisements. (El Diario newspaper, radio Globo FM 98).
• Began preliminary discussions with Gilberto Porras, chair of paint and body shop owner subcommittee at Canacintra.

 
• Briefed Mexican regulators and technical advisors (INE, PROFEPA, ITESM, Ecologia).
• Proofed, edited booklets- met with vendor (Promarketing and Comercial Industrial Printers) several times re content, graphics, color spread. Ordered 5000 booklets.
• Ads placed El Diario to prepare citizens for overall approach to cleaner air, negotiated PSA's with Globo FM radio.
• Met with EDF staff re training specifics, negotiated training with Canacintra in September or early October.
• Contacted technical adviser in Chihuahua, (Dr. Albert Bustani, Dr. Aurelio Alvarez) - sent copies of materials, government guidelines. Met with PROFEPA, Junta, Ecologia, and University representatives to insure training is consistent with government policy, regulations.
• Arranged pre and post conference scheduling of public officials (INE, PROFEPA).

 
• Worked with EDF/CERM staff to finalize training plans. Date of training October 4, 1995.
• Arranged for 500 invitations (printing at Commercial Impresora, Lic. Argumedo).
• Arranged for 300 posters for Canacintra employees to distribute.
• Added evaluation/follow-up component. PROFEPA, INE, and other environmental leaders from Mexico City will meet twice a month in Juárez to call on paint and body shop owners who attend the training.
• Coordinated information from solvent/paint vendors National Paint Corporation (U.S.), Dupont (Dallas and Juárez), APS Warehouse, Inc (Armando Azcarate and George Yturralde) and Sherwin Williams (Juárez) for demonstration materials, list of reduced VOC content materials, equipment (guns). Contacted Juan Alvidrez, Dupont as possible speaker.
• Arranged travel for INE (Mexico City) and ITESM (Monterrey) speakers; hotel accommodations at Villa del Sol, Juárez.
• Finalized agenda.
• Ordered invitations for training.
• Made arrangements for hotel, airlines, for INE and ITESM speakers.
• Arranged letters of transit for paint supplies to be transported.
• Received overheads from INE delegate Jorge Sarmiento, made copies, inserted into notebooks.
• Continued briefing input process with Biologo Maria del Pilar Lopez Marco, delegate to PROFEPA. Several meetings held.
• Prepared diplomas with signatures from PROFEPA, Ecologia, and Canacintra.
• Ordered 300 notebooks, collated materials.
• Printed invitations, arranged distribution.
• Obtained invitation list of paint and body Shop owners from Canacintra committee, addressed 300 invitations.
• Arranged last minute details for workshop: ground transportation for guests, invoices prepared, registration procedures for trainees, final logistics at Canacintra.

A planning committee for future small group trainings was formed: Carlos Rincon, Environmental Defense Fund; Abraham Aquino, Direccion Municipal de Desarrollo Urbano y Ecologia; Gilberto Porras, committee chair of paint and body shop owners at Canacintra; Octavio Chavez, ITESM; and Jan Hartman, project manager CERM, UTEP. This group met several times, evaluating further training needs and strategies. The next trainings will be in small groups of about 30 for three days in November and groups of about 10 people in December. Additional training for the whole group will occur in January; EDF and Ecologia will meet with owners who were not present at the initial training to give them one-on-one updates.

November 1995
The first series of small group meetings were conducted on November 29, 30 and December 1. The planning committee focused on compliance with INE VOC emission reporting and record keeping. In the four hour session, the forms for small businesses were reviewed. The form for larger businesses was discussed in depth. The small group meeting format insured allowance for questions and answers, of which there were many. Canacintra personnel were on hand to explain how they would assist the workshop participants with forms and procedures.

JANUARY 31, 1996 - TRAINING

The El Paso Independent School District offered its classroom facilities for a hands-on meeting for El Paso and Juarez paint and body shop owners. Held at the Technical Center in El Paso, the vocational classroom featured a painting booth equipped with all EPA approved components. This model was especially important as it introduced lower cost booths ($12-$20K vs. $40-$70K). Vendors, technicians and trainers were on hand to explain financing and general use.

The following day, the Paso del Norte Air Quality Task Force met at the Vocational Technical Center to be updated on the VOC training and to offer their continued support. The binational Task Force is made up of governmental (EPA, Juarez City Planning Department, Direccion de Ecologia, Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission, New Mexico Environment District, Los Alamos National Laboratories, El Paso City County Health Department), corporate (Asarco, EDM), NGO's (Environmental Defense Fund, Physicians for Social Responsibility), academia (UTEP, NMSU, Universidad de Autonoma de Cd. Juarez) and interested citizens.

APRIL 17, 1996 - TRAINING

The final training was held at Canacintra in Juarez with Jorge Sarmiento (INE) and Dr. Aurelio Alvarez from Instituto Tecnologico de Estudios Superiores concluding what they had begun in October. Held from 4-8, the training reinforced different methodologies for reducing VOC concentrations. The following day, a closing meeting of the planners and presenters (Sarmiento and Alvarez) was held to evaluate strengths and weaknesses of the program.

Strengths

 
• A basic training manual in Spanish has been produced and available to interested parties
• A model is in place which can be replicated in other areas of Mexico
• A model is in place which can be replicated to other industries regulated for air contaminants (e.g., dry cleaners, printers, fueling stations)
• A synergistic project was identified: Octavio Chavez received funds to conduct a GIS of air contaminant sources in Juarez, including paint and body shops
• An emissions inventory for paint/body shop owners is on file at Direccion de Ecologia
• A significant "task force" is in place within the paint and body shop owners who are members of Canacintra, the Mexican Chamber of Commerce - ongoing problem solving occurs here
• Concomitantly, the Air Quality Task Force was successful in completing a three year goal of creating an Air Quality Management District (approved June 1996 by the U.S. State Department and INE). This joint advisory council will make recommendations to the Air Quality Work Group under the La Paz Agreement, especially in areas outlined below.

• Economic incentives to use less polluting supplies/equipment would be helpful (emissions trading, others have been discussed)
• Less polluting paints, solvents etc. still remain high priced
• Large scale equipment such as painting booths remain prohibitively expensive (>U.S.$10,000 ).

100 paint and body shop owners received initial training in regulatory and technical aspects of VOC reduction in October. Three follow-up sessions were held in November in groups of about 30 participants each to review initial training materials and for intensive study of the Emissions Inventory forms needed for licensing by INE. Forms for both small (five employees and under) and large companies were thoroughly reviewed each session. Further training occurred in a state-of-the-art paint and body training school (at The El Paso ISD Technical Center), with final training at Canacintra.

• a basic manual has been assembled
• an emissions inventory is on file with Direccion de Ecologia
• 100+ paint and body shop owners have been trained in filling out the paperwork for emissions inventory/licensing; using less polluting paints and solvents.

A Steering Committee is in place to continue work towards VOC reduction. This group is also beginning the process of establishing a regional VOC standard. (Presently Mexico uses standards set by the United Nations chartered World Environment Organization.) Members of the Steering Committee include:

Federal Government (INE) - Jorge Sarmiento
State Government - SEMARNAP
Local Government - Direccion de Ecologia - Abraham Aquino; Direccion Municipal de Desarrollo Urbano y Ecologia - Gerardo Tarin
NGOs- Carlos Rincon, the Environmental Defense Fund
SCERP - Jan Hartman, University of Texas at El Paso and Octavio Chavez, ITESM
Academia - Dr. Aurelio Alvarez, ITESM
Wholesale suppliers - Sherwin Williams
Private sector - Mr. Gilberto Porras, Canacintra, Paint and Body Shop Committee

Other Personnel: Jorge Sarmiento, INE, Mexico City
Dr. Aurelio Alvarez, ITESM, Monterrey
Juan Alvidrez, Dupont Paint, Juárez and Dallas, Texas
Dr. Carlos Rincon, the Environmental Defense Fund, El Paso, Texas
Ing. Abraham Aquino, head of the air quality section, Direccion Municipal de Desarrollo Urbano y Ecologia, City of Juárez
Dr. Octavio Chavez, ITESM, Juárez
Mr. Gilberto Porras, chair of paint and body shop committee, Canacintra
Ing. Javier Ybarra, PROFEPA

Last updated 7/1/99