Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Social Environmental Conflicts in Mexico pp 145–182Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

The Gray Side of Green Growth: Environmental Regulation and the Industrial Pollution of the Santiago River

  • Chapter
  • First Online:

Part of the book series: Environmental Politics and Theory ((EPT))

Abstract

McCulligh examines environmental regulation in the case of industrial pollution in the Santiago River, whose trajectory from Lake Chapala to the outskirts of the Metropolitan Area of Guadalajara has become an open sewer for one of the most important industrial corridors in the country. McCulligh observes that, even though environmental legislation has been strengthened in the neoliberal era, and even though governmental agencies place much emphasis on environmental matters in official discourse, this has not led to control of water pollution in the Santiago River. Her research explores how environmental laws and standards are designed and applied in Mexico to ensure the predominance of private sector interests, reflecting the overriding priority to create favorable conditions to attract and retain foreign direct investment. In a carefully documented analysis of the standards for effluent quality and the inspection of wastewater discharges, she demonstrates that there is no real government control over industrial pollution in the Santiago River, and she debunks the myth that transnational corporations are self-regulating and that they comply with their own standards, which are supposedly higher than those required by Mexican law.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    Standard-setting (normalización) refers to the processes of elaboration of both Official Mexican Standards (Normas Oficiales Mexicanas, NOMs), which are obligatory standards issued by government bodies, and Mexican Standards (Normas Mexicanas, NMXs), for which compliance is voluntary and which are developed either by a government agency or by a private organization (specifically by a national standard-setting organization). In Mexico, the procedures related to standard setting are established in the Federal Law on Metrology and Standardization (Ley Federal de Metrología y Normalización).

  2. 2.

    Official Mexican Standard, NOM-001-SEMARNAT-1996, which establish the maximum permissible limits of contaminants in discharges of wastewater to national waters and goods.

  3. 3.

    Interview, September 26, 2013.

  4. 4.

    Since 1997, Mexico has been divided into 13 hydrological-administrative regions (RHAs), which are groupings of several river basins. The Santiago River is the natural continuation of the Lerma River at its outlet from Lake Chapala ; however, given low lake levels, it has been common in recent years that the only outflow from the lake to the Santiago River has been as a result of water pumped through a pumping station near the headwaters of the river in Ocotlán.

  5. 5.

    http://calderon.presidencia.gob.mx/2012/03/diversas-intervenciones-en-la-inauguracion-de-la-planta-de-tratamiento-de-aguas-residuales-el-ahogado/, consulted October 2014.

  6. 6.

    Statement made during the forum “Despojo y Violaciones de Derechos Humanos en Jalisco ,” October 25, 2013.

  7. 7.

    I have employed the definitions of INEGI, where small companies are those with 11–50 employees, medium-sized companies those with 51–250 employees, and a large company or factory is one with 251 employees or greater. Not all the installations included in the database discharge directly to the Santiago River or one of its tributaries; factories located in urban areas may be connected to municipal wastewater systems.

  8. 8.

    http://www.beta.inegi.org.mx/app/mapa/denue/default.aspx, consulted July 2016.

  9. 9.

    According to information from the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry of the USA, http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/healthguidelines/phenol/recognition.html, consulted August 2012.

  10. 10.

    http://www.diputados.gob.mx/LeyesBiblio/regla/n25.pdf, consulted October 2014.

  11. 11.

    Interview, José Domingo Morales, PROFEPA , March 27, 2014.

  12. 12.

    Based on the public version of inspection visits of CONAGUA , http://www.gob.mx/conagua/documentos/derechos-y-obligaciones-de-los-usuarios-ante-una-visita-de-inspeccion.

  13. 13.

    Interview, José Antonio Rodríguez, May 7, 2015.

  14. 14.

    Interview, Luis Miguel Rivera, October 10, 2013.

  15. 15.

    The cause of the minor’s death was the center of an important polemic, in which there were insinuations that the death had been the result of drug abuse or that the child had died poisoned by his own mother. The original toxicological study was upheld in March 2010, with the recommendation from the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH), which concluded that Miguel Ángel, “presented acute arsenic poisoning as a result of the highly polluted condition of the Santiago River ” (CNDH 2010). Even at the time of the incident, despite the controversy around the death, public indignation regarding the condition of the river led to public and media pressure on environmental and health authorities to respond, open up to public participation, and develop feasible action plans to initiate the cleanup of the Santiago River.

  16. 16.

    Interview, Yolanda Pica Granados, IMTA , September 11, 2013.

  17. 17.

    http://www.dof.gob.mx/nota_detalle.php?codigo=5297396&fecha=29/04/2013, consulted October 2014.

  18. 18.

    CONAGUA , PROFEPA , the National Forest Commission, the National Institute of Ecology and Climate Change , and the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas .

  19. 19.

    Interview, Norma Munguía, SEMARNAT , May 19, 2014.

  20. 20.

    Cámara Nacional de la Industria de Aceites, Grasas, Jabones y Detergentes.

  21. 21.

    Access to the minutes of COMARNAT meetings from January 2007 to the end of 2013 was possible in response to an access to information request, folio 0001600082414. This request can be consulted on the Web site www.infomex.org.mx.

  22. 22.

    Interview, December 13, 2013.

  23. 23.

    The Occupational Health and Safety Administration, a US federal agency.

  24. 24.

    Biochemical oxygen demand measures the quantity of oxygen required for or consumed during the microbiological decomposition of organic matter in water . It is normally measured in milligrams per liter (mg/l) of oxygen consumed in 5 days at a constant temperature of 20 °C in the dark. http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/natlinfo/indicators/methodology_sheets/freshwater/biochemical_oxygen_demand.pdf, consulted November 2014.

  25. 25.

    This change was published in the Federal Duties Law (Ley Federal de Derechos) in provisional article six, published in the Official Gazette of the Federation on November 13, 2008. http://www.diputados.gob.mx/LeyesBiblio/ref/lfd/LFD_ref36_13nov08.pdf, consulted November 2014.

  26. 26.

    Interview, June 13, 2014.

  27. 27.

    In 2010, Celanese requested an increase to the volume assigned in its discharge permit from CONAGUA , in order to discharge a volume of 3,156,753 cubic meters of wastewater per year (Permit 08JAL133533/12FMOC12).

  28. 28.

    Information provided by CONAGUA in response to access to information request folio 1610100157614.

  29. 29.

    A toxicity test is a procedure to determine the toxicity of a chemical, effluent, or water sample using living organisms. A toxicity test measures the level of effect on the test organism exposed to a specific chemical, effluent, or water sample.

  30. 30.

    http://www.huntsman.com/corporate/Media%20Library/a_MC4EE584E6EFA7273E040EBCD2C6B19E9/Sustainability_MC4EE584E6F477273E040EBCD2C6B19E9/Reports_MC4EE584E71627273E040EBCD2C6B19E9/files/2013%20Report_%C6%92%C6%92.pdf, consulted December 2014.

  31. 31.

    Interview, January 16, 2014.

References

  • Alimonda, Héctor (2011). “La colonialidad de la naturaleza: Una aproximación a la ecología política latinoamericana.” In Héctor Alimonda (ed.), La naturaleza colonizada: Ecología política y minería en América Latina. Buenos Aires: CLACSO, pp. 21–58.

    Google Scholar 

  • AYMA Ingeniería y Consultoría (2003). Estudio de monitoreo y modelación de la calidad del agua de los ríos Santiago y Verde del estado de Jalisco. Guadalajara: Comisión Estatal de Agua y Saneamiento (CEAS).

    Google Scholar 

  • Behre, Christopher (2003). “Mexican Environmental Law: Enforcement and Public Participation Since the Signing of NAFTA’s Environmental Cooperation Agreement.” Journal of Transnational Law & Policy 12 (2), pp. 327–343.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brand, Ulrich (2012). “Green Economy—The Next Oxymoron? No Lessons Learned from Failures of Implementing Sustainable Development.” GAIA 21 (1), pp. 28–32.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brenner, Neil, Jamie Peck and Nik Theodore (2010). “Variegated Neoliberalization: Geographies, Modalities, Pathways.” Global Networks 10 (2), pp. 182–222.

    Google Scholar 

  • CEAS—Comisión Estatal de Agua y Saneamiento, Jalisco (2005). Estudio y Diagnóstico en la Cuenca Baja “El Ahogado” y Monitoreo de la Laguna Cajititlán. Guadalajara: CEAS.

    Google Scholar 

  • CEAS-AYMA—Comisión Estatal de Agua y Saneamiento, Jalisco and AYMA Ingeniería y Consultoría (2006). Identificación y Caracterización de Fuentes de Contaminación de las Cuencas Directa del Río Santiago entre los Municipios de Ocotlán y Tonalá, y Directa del Río Zula. Guadalajara: CEAS.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chicago Tribune (1898). “Waterfall of Juanacatlán.” The Chicago Daily Tribune, March 10. Available at: http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1898/03/10/page/8/article/waterfall-of-juanacatlan.

  • CNDH—Comisión Nacional de los Derechos Humanos (2010). Recomendación No. 12/2010, sobre la omisión de cumplimiento de las normas de medio ambiente en agravio de V1. Mexico City: CNDH.

    Google Scholar 

  • CONAGUA—Comisión Nacional del Agua (2005). Programa Hidráulico del estado de Jalisco. Mexico City: CONAGUA.

    Google Scholar 

  • ——— (2009). Programa Hídrico Visión 2030 del Estado de Jalisco. Mexico City: SEMARNAT.

    Google Scholar 

  • ——— (2010). Descubre una cuenca: río Santiago, Guía para educadores. Mexico City: SEMARNAT.

    Google Scholar 

  • ——— (2011). Agenda del Agua 2030. Mexico City: SEMARNAT.

    Google Scholar 

  • ——— (2014a). Estadísticas del agua en México, edición 2013. Mexico City: SEMARNAT.

    Google Scholar 

  • ——— (2014b). Programa Nacional Hídrico 2013–2018. Mexico City: SEMARNAT.

    Google Scholar 

  • De Loza, Isaac (2014). “Peña Nieto inaugura planta de Agua Prieta.” El Informador, July 22. Available at: http://www.informador.com.mx/jalisco/2014/539689/6/pena-nieto-inaugura-planta-de-agua-prieta.htm.

  • DOF (Diario Oficial de la Federación) (2010). Acuerdo por el que se fijan plazos para que la Comisión Federal de Mejora Regulatoria resuelva sobre anteproyectos y se da a conocer el Manual de la Manifestación de Impacto Regulatorio. Mexico: DOF. Available at: http://www.dof.gob.mx/nota_detalle.php?codigo=5153094&fecha=26/07/2010.

  • El Informador (2010). “Descartan industriales que contaminación de Río Santiago sea por sus descargas.” Informador, February 13. Available at: http://www.informador.com.mx/jalisco/2010/178452/6/descartan-industriales-que-contaminacion-de-rio-santiago-sea-por-sus-descargas.htm.

  • Escobar, Arturo (1995). Encountering Development: The Making and Unmaking of the Third World. New Jersey: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Estrada Cortés, Jesús and Agustín del Castillo (2008). “Retrasan otros seis meses saneamiento en el río Santiago.” Público, April 24. Guadalajara: Grupo Editorial Milenio.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gandy, Matthew (1999). “Rethinking the Ecological Leviathan: Environmental Regulation in an Age of Risk.” Global Environmental Change 9, pp. 59–69.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gobierno de México (2013). Plan Nacional de Desarrollo 2013–2018. Available at: http://pnd.gob.mx/.

  • Greenberg, James, Thomas Weaver, Anne Browning-Aiken and William L. Alexander (2012). “The Neoliberal Transformation of Mexico.” In Thomas Weaver et al. (eds.), Neoliberalism and Commodity Production in Mexico. Colorado: University Press of Colorado, pp. 1–31.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greenpeace México (2012a). Ríos Tóxicos. Mexico City: Greenpeace México, A.C. Available at: http://www.greenpeace.org/mexico/Global/mexico/report/2012/Rios_Toxicos.pdf.

  • ——— (2012b). Metales pesados y contaminantes orgánicos en descargas de aguas residuales de la empresa Huntsman, en Atotonilquillo. Greenpeace. Available at: http://www.greenpeace.org/mexico/Global/mexico/report/2012/Mexico_Huntsman_MX-12002l.pdf.

  • Harvey, David (2005). A Brief History of Neoliberalism. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • IMTA—Instituto Mexicano de Tecnología del Agua (2011). Actualización del estudio de calidad del agua del Río Santiago (desde su nacimiento en el Lago de Chapala, hasta la Presa Santa Rosa). Mexico City: IMTA.

    Google Scholar 

  • INEGI—Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía (2015). Encuesta Intercensal 2015. Mexico City: INEGI. Available at: http://www.beta.inegi.org.mx/proyectos/enchogares/especiales/intercensal/.

  • Ioris, Antonio A. R. (2015). “Theorizing State-Environment Relationships: Antimonies of Flexibility and Legitimacy.” Progress in Human Geography 39 (2), pp. 167–184.

    Google Scholar 

  • León, Osvaldo (2011). “Entrevista a Boaventura de Sousa Santos. Economía verde: la conciencia máxima del capitalismo.” América Latina en movimiento 468–469, pp. 7–9.

    Google Scholar 

  • Liverman, Diana and Silvia Vilas (2006). “Neoliberalism and the Environment in Latin America.” Annual Review of Environment and Resources 31, pp. 327–363.

    Google Scholar 

  • López, Miguel Ángel and Blanca Nelly Flores (2010). “Industria.” In Blanca Jiménez, María Luisa Torregrosa and Luis Aboites (eds.), El agua en México: cauces y encauces. Mexico City: Academia Mexicana de Ciencias.

    Google Scholar 

  • McCarthy, James and Scott Prudham (2004). “Neoliberal Nature and the Nature of Neoliberalism.” Geoforum 35, pp. 275–283.

    Google Scholar 

  • Navarro, Mina Lorena (2015). Luchas por lo común. Antagonismo social contra el renovado cercamiento y despojo capitalista de los bienes naturales en México. Mexico City and Puebla: Bajo Tierra/Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla.

    Google Scholar 

  • OECD—Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (2011). Towards Green Growth: A Summary for Policy Makers May 2011. Paris: OECD.

    Google Scholar 

  • ——— (2013). OECD Environmental Performance Reviews: Mexico 2013. Paris: OECD.

    Google Scholar 

  • Paz, María Fernanda (2012). “Deterioro y resistencias: conflictos socioambientales en México.” In Darcy Tetreault, Heliodoro Ochoa and Eduardo Hernández (eds.), Conflictos socioambientales y alternativas de la sociedad civil. Tlaquepaque, Mexico: ITESO, pp. 27–47.

    Google Scholar 

  • ——— (2014). “Conflictos socioambientales en México: ¿Qué está en disputa?” In María Fernanda Paz and Nicholas Risdell (eds.), Conflictos, conflictividades y movilizaciones socioambientales en México: Problemas communes, lecturas diversas. Cuernavaca and Mexico City: UNAM-CRIM/MAPorrúa, pp. 13–58.

    Google Scholar 

  • ProMéxico (2011). “Mexico, Committed to the Environment.” Negocios ProMéxico 4 (xii-2011/i-2012). Available at: http://www.promexico.gob.mx/archivos/promx_Magazine/17/pdfFile_17_NE_1211.pdf.

  • Santos, Boaventura de Sousa (2009). Una epistemología del sur: la reinvención del conocimiento y la emancipación social. Mexico City: Siglo XXI.

    Google Scholar 

  • SEMARNAT—Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (2011). Evaluación de Instrumentos Normativos del Sector Ambiental. Mexico City: SEMARNAT. Available at: http://biblioteca.semarnat.gob.mx/janium/Documentos/Ciga/Libros2011/CD001056.pdf.

  • STPS—Secretaría de Trabajo y Previsión Social (2006). Casos de éxito 2006, Tomo 3, Sistemas de Administración de la Seguridad y Salud en el Trabajo. Mexico City: STPS. Available at: http://www.stps.gob.mx/bp/secciones/dgsst/publicaciones/casos_exit/libro%20casos%20de%20exito%203.pdf.

  • Tetreault, Darcy, Cindy McCulligh and Rodrigo Flores (2010). “La exigibilidad de los derechos ambientales en México: el caso del Río Santiago.” In Enrique Valencia (ed.), Perspectivas del universalismo en México. Guadalajara: Fundación Konrad Adenauer, Universidad de Guadalajara e ITESO, pp. 121–132.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tetreault, Darcy, Heliodoro Ochoa García and Eduardo Hernández (eds.) (2012). Conflictos socioambientales y alternativas de la sociedad civil. Tlaquepaque, Mexico: ITESO.

    Google Scholar 

  • Toledo, Víctor Manuel, David Garrido and Narciso Barrera Basols (2015). “The Struggle for Life. Socio-environmental Conflicts in Mexico.” Latin American Perspectives 204 (42) (5), pp. 133–147.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tortajada, Cecilia (2002). “Abastecimiento de agua y manejo de descargas residuales en México: un análisis de las políticas ambientales.” In Patricia Ávila (ed.), Agua, cultura y sociedad en México. Zamora, Michoacán: El Colegio de Michoacán.

    Google Scholar 

  • Velazco, A. (2012). Incumplen ley federal el 20% de las empresas que realizan descargas en el Santiago: Conagua. La Jornada Jalisco, March 27. Mexico: Editora de Medios Michoacán.

    Google Scholar 

  • Whitehead, Mark, Martin Jones and Rhys Jones (2006). “Spatializing the Ecological Leviathan: Territorial Strategies and the Production of Regional Natures.” Geografiska Annaler. Series B, Human Geography 88 (1), pp. 49–65.

    Google Scholar 

  • World Bank (2012). Inclusive Green Growth: The Pathway to Sustainable Development. Washington: The World Bank.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Colectivo Ecologista Jalisco, Guadalajara, Mexico

    Cindy McCulligh

Authors
  1. Cindy McCulligh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Autonomous University of Zacatecas, Zacatecas, Mexico

    Darcy Tetreault

  2. Colectivo Ecologista Jalisco, Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico

    Cindy McCulligh

  3. Autonomous University of Chapingo, Morelia, Michoacán, Mexico

    Carlos Lucio

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

McCulligh, C. (2018). The Gray Side of Green Growth: Environmental Regulation and the Industrial Pollution of the Santiago River. In: Tetreault, D., McCulligh, C., Lucio, C. (eds) Social Environmental Conflicts in Mexico. Environmental Politics and Theory. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73945-8_5

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation