borderlines UPDATER 20 March 1998
CEC Director Resignation Inspires Speculation, Concern among Environmentalists
Editor: George Kourous
Assistant Editor/Reporter: Tina Faulkner
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CONTENTS:
1. CEC Director Resignation Inspires Speculation, Concern
2. Have Domestic Political Pressures Tarnished the Agency's Credibility?
3. Contacts for Further Information
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RESIGNATION OF CEC DIRECTOR INSPIRES SPECULATION, CONCERN
The second week of February, Victor Lichtinger, executive director of the North American Commission on Environmental Cooperation (CEC) resigned, despite the fact that he had recently signed a contract to continue with the organization for another three years. The CEC was charged by the NAFTA side agreements to temper the impact of increased trade on the North American environment by facilitating binational cooperation and public participation in the protection of the environment in all three NAFTA countries.
The official reason for the Lichtinger's move was his desire "to pursue other opportunities, "but events leading up to the announcement have sparked speculation among environmentalists and others who monitor the NAFTA-created institution that the resignation was a product of the domestic political pressures to which the ostensibly supra-national CEC is frequently subjected. Those pressures, some environmentalists worry, will whittle away the institution's effectiveness as time goes on.
Many activists think Lichtinger was forced out because the governments of the three NAFTA countries-- especially the United States-- thought he was interpreting the CEC's mandate too broadly. "Things were going on we don’t understand. Somehow [Lichtinger ] was told to get out of office, because he was aggressive to the governments," said Dick Kamp of the Arizona based Border Ecology Project (BEP), an active participant on [the] CEC's citizen advisory board.
Kamp thinks that Lichtinger and his staff did the best possible job given the weak support they received in Washington, Ottawa, and Mexico City. "So you have a situation where you have a commission that was starting to do a really good job under this 'mother may I' agreement," he said. "Following through increasingly strongly on complaints and figuring out ways to actually address problems."
Indeed, despite the institution's lack of enforcement or judgment powers, under Lichtinger's leadership the CEC had moved to side-step institutional deficiencies by acting as a vocal monitor of government compliance with environmental law in Mexico, Canada, and the United States. Late last year, for example, the institution released an embarrassing factual record on the government sanctioned construction of a cruise ship pier in the delicate coral reef ecosystem surrounding the island of Cozumel, Mexico. And in November 1997, the organization released a report stating that the bodies created under NAFTA are not living up to their mandate to protect the North American environment.
The CEC maintains that Lichtinger's departure was unrelated to his outspokenness. "I think Victor always thought a healthy tension on issues was a positive thing," said Rachel Vincent, spokesperson for the CEC. "But he had completed his first [three-year term] and had entered his second. His first mandate period was one of a lot of growth, and everyone thought he did a good job. But it was a good time to leave. He had reached a level of success with the commission and it was time to move on. I think [that] was Victor's stance, and it is the hope of the Secretariat that the new executive director would be allowed the same autonomy to pursue a work program that enables us to be neutral, open, transparent and responsive. It is important for the integrity of the institution as a whole that the Secretariat not be bogged down by any partisan interests. I think we have and will continue to balance the wishes of the countries successfully, but more importantly, we will continue to treat the needs of North America in its environmental entirety."
CEC Secretariat Director Janine Ferretti, a Canadian, has been appointed interim Executive Director until a successor to Mr. Lichtinger is found.
Interestingly, according to CEC press releases applicants for the now-vacant executive director position must "support[] the North American Free Trade Agreement." It is not clear why support for NAFTA is a prerequisite for the job. The CEC was created in part to ensure that the expansion of free trade under NAFTA occurs in an environmentally sustainable way. Most North American environmentalists who support the institution assess that the CEC should not be used to subordinate environmental concerns to an overarching goal of expanded trade, but rather to place trade and the environment on an equal footing.
2) HAVE DOMESTIC POLITICAL PRESSURES TARNISHED THE AGENCY'S CREDIBILITY?
Many Environmentalists Suspect Behind the Scenes Binational Bickering
Another twist is that Lichtinger's resignation came just a day after he fired U.S. CEC director Greg Block for allegedly leaking institutional information to the U.S. government. (There are two directors, one Canadian and one American, who report to the executive director. Victor Lichtinger is a Mexican national.) Because the CEC is charged with influencing international environmental policy, not national security, Lichtinger's accusation has been widely perceived as a smoke-screen designed to veil binational infighting. "[Lichtinger] wasn’t quitting-- he was being fired," believes Kamp. "Leaking information to the government doesn't fit the profile of Greg Block. So you have to ask a question: Why was [Lichtinger] using Greg as a fall guy?"
Mark Spalding, Research Fellow at the Center for US Mexican Studies at UC San Diego, reports there has been speculation that Block may have been removed in order to compensate the Mexican government for the removal of their national director. "My gut feeling is that-- if the rumors are true that it was the USEPA [U.S. Environmental Protection Agency] which was forcing Victor out -- Mexico might have suggested to Victor "If they are going to push you out, we're going to take the U.S. director out too," said Spalding. "Now that's all speculation, and I have absolutely no basis for it, [but] we know that was a part of what happened with BECC [last year]. It became more palatable for the Mexicans to get rid of the Mexican manager if the US manager also left."
The CEC's Vincent disagrees with the 'eye-for-an-eye' theory. "That's the first time I've heard that," she said. "Victor Lichtinger was the one who terminated Greg Block's contract, he fired him due to an internal investigation. And it was not until the following day that Mr. Lichtinger resigned. Those are the facts. In terms of a relationship between the two, and a relation with any other institutions binational or trinational, that is pure speculation."
But despite CEC assertions to the contrary, the general feeling among those who monitor the organization's activities is that there was more to Lichtinger's resignation than meets the eye.
The turnover at the CEC does not augur well for the institution’s ability to function autonomously in the future. The agreement that established the CEC gave it very limited powers. The Secretariat cannot initiate investigations or issue factual records on citizen complaints against NAFTA countries unless authorized to do so by a governing council made up of the environment ministers from each country. Because they are beholden first to their government and secondly to the CEC, the influence domestic political pressure has upon those ministers is significant. Empowered only to issue factual records on alleged violations of environmental law, not judgements, the institutional vulnerability which Lichtinger's and Block's departures hint at is a credibility-damaging blow the CEC can ill afford. Essentially, the organization's greatest asset is its reputation as an impartial and a-political entity.
The CEC has often been used by environmentalists to point out where the NAFTA environmental side agreements fell short of the mark. Unfortunately, such logic also lends itself well to the arguments of those who would rather not have environmental side accords attached to international trade agreements at all. And a Congress already questioning the effectiveness of the CEC may be further discouraged from continuing funding in the wake of these recent upheavals.
Environmentalists like Kamp, however, argue that the problem is not so much the institution as the domestic political context which affects its operation. "When [congress persons] Miller and Gephart say the Clinton administration was holding the CEC hostage and keeping it from doing its job in order to chase after fast track, and this is a good reason not to go after fast track, they are right," he said.
With Lichtinger's resignation, it appears that the forces that wish to curtail the CEC's broad interpretation of its mandate have gained a talking point. "We've got a problem here in that we're going to have a potentially weaker institution," warned Spalding.
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CONTACTS FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:
Rachel Vincent, CEC Secretariat Public Relations Officer
(514) 350-4308
Email: rvincent@ccemtl.org
http://www.cec.org
Bonnie Piper, USEPA Public Affairs Officer
(202) 260-4366
http://www.epa.gov
Brigita Gravitis, Environment Canada International Affairs Branch Director
(819) 953-9461
http://www.ec.gc.ca
Lic. Jose Luis Samaniego Leyva, Coordinador de Asuntos
Internacionales,
SEMARNAP
(5) 628-0650
http://www.semarnap.gob.mx