EXCLUSIVE: Donald Trump, Darrell Issa, and Lee Zeldin are working on a "lasting solution" to “one of the biggest environmental and public health crises” in America
THE LOWDOWN:
For almost a week, Mexico has been “discharging approximately 5 million gallons a day (MGD) of wastewater into the Tijuana River,” according to an IBWC email obtained by the Washington Reporter.
Rep. Darrell Issa (R., Calif.) has been investigating IBWC’s “failure” in oversight of the facility for years.
Lee Zeldin, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), announced that he’ll “be visiting the California-Mexico border in the coming weeks where disgusting Mexican sewage is harming our precious environment in the United States.”
In the wake of the latest report from IBWC, Issa thinks the Trump administration can finally push for a “lasting solution,” he told the Reporter.
For almost a week, Mexico has been “discharging approximately 5 million gallons a day (MGD) of wastewater into the Tijuana River…as they repair a critical junction box that is part of the International Collector project,” according to an email obtained by the Washington Reporter sent by the International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC).
For years, Rep. Darrell Issa (R., Calif.) has investigated what he’s called “IBWC’s failure to oversee the proper maintenance and management of this facility and its unsupported requests for hundreds of millions of dollars in additional funding with no end in sight.” His office noted that Issa has been working on this issue for 20 years.
Following years of oversight by lawmakers like Issa, the Trump administration is taking notice. Lee Zeldin, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), announced that he’ll “be visiting the California-Mexico border in the coming weeks where disgusting Mexican sewage is harming our precious environment in the United States.”
“Permanent solutions must be urgently implemented by Mexico to end decades of their filthy sewage flowing into the U.S.,” Zeldin said.
In the wake of the latest report from IBWC, Issa thinks the Trump administration can finally push for a “lasting solution,” he told the Reporter.
“For decades, the Tijuana sewage crisis has plagued San Diego and we have been stymied by bureaucratic inertia that has kept it that way,” Issa said. “Now, a new administration is taking a leadership approach, and I applaud President Trump and my friend Secretary Zeldin for rejecting the failed status quo, developing decisive action and working towards a lasting solution.”
“An administration willing to bring Mexico to the solution table is consequential. Zeldin gets the problem and is now taking action,” a source noted to the Reporter.
Issa wrote to the IBWC in 2024, criticizing a briefing that “not only gave us no confidence in the initial 2020 cost estimate of $300 million, [but] also admitted that IBWC never engaged in any real cost estimation analysis, and could not provide any clear rationale behind a request for essentially twice as much funding.”
“Finally, we learned that IBWC never reviewed several years of previous maintenance reports provided by the facility contractor,” Issa wrote.
While Issa has led the investigation of IBWC on a national level, San Diego elected officials have also lamented that the Biden administration let Mexico off the hook. San Diego County Supervisor Jim Desmond called this “one of the biggest environmental and public health crises” in America.
“This isn’t just a nuisance — it’s a danger. Our Navy SEALs train just north of this toxic mess,” Desmond said.
