Скачать или смотреть Environmental ‘time bomb’ in the richest Mexican metro area / ENGLISH SUBTITLES

A large steel complex located within one of the most densely population Monterrey neighbourhoods generates massive amounts of pollutants but the owners have no plans to relocate

By Bernardo Pérez Lince

When Mexican industrialist Roberto Garza Sada decided the venue for his new bottle caps factory in 1942, he chose a remote location several kilometers away from Monterrey City.
At that time the Mexican Nuevo León state capital had roughly half a million inhabitants.
Nowadays, the site have become a massive steel complex surrounded by one of the most densely population neighbourhoods within Monterrey metropolitan area, which has over five million citizens.
The facilities currently owned by Italian Argentine capital firm Ternium generated in 2019 more than 1,100 tonnes of pollutants in the area, according to reports from the Mexican Federal Environmental Agency (Semarnat). One-third of the emanations were suspended particulates, a very serious threat to the human health.
2.5 and 10 microns particulate matter, known as PM2.5 and PM10 respectively, are derived primarily from combustion, such as the kind Ternium performs on a massive scale, leading to numerous health problems in humans and animals.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), these pollutants are able to travel deeply into the respiratory tract, affecting lung function and worsening medical conditions such as asthma and heart disease.
Meanwhile, the Centro Mario Molina, an organization headed by the Mexican Nobel Prize laureate Mario Molina, concluded in a recent study that heavy industries should be urgently relocated from the Monterrey central city neighbourhoods, owing to its high pollutant emissions, being the steel industry one of them.
Reports from the official Environmental Monitoring Integral System (SIMA) demonstrate that the area Ternium complex is located in is one of the most polluted across the whole Monterrey metropolitan area. Most part of the year, the levels measured overpass the PM2.5, PM10 recommended safe limits.
476 out of the 1,131 tonnes generated by Ternium Monterrey industrial site in 2019, were nitrogen oxides, greenhouse gases commonly known as ‘NOx’ which generate smog and acid rain.
“The NOx are not of big concern because their levels aren’t so great, the problem is that they become particulate matter,” said environmental expert Gerardo Mejía.
“Combustion generates smoke and gases which over time forms PM2.5 and then they are a our big problem,” he added.
That is to say, NOx are doubly dangerous, contributing to Global Warning and also to the generation of the most serious pollutant affecting Nuevo León’s capital.
Monterrey metro area is the richest of Mexico,
with a per capita income of $1,500. However, it is also the country’s most polluted city and PM2.5 emissions are the key issue.
The Ternium local complex NOx emissions in 2019 equalled 5% of the whole Nuevo León state emissions of such pollutant that year.
“There are studies which clearly identify that steel industry is one of the main PM2.5 sources in Monterrey metropolitan area. Ternium is the largest player,” said environmental management expert Rolando Ibarra.
In spite of several request for an interview with a representative, the company declined to comment on the matter.
However, the Nuevo León official responsible por Sustainable Development efforts Manuel Vital said that the state government is urging the company to install emissions control filters.
There are no plans either official or private for Ternium to relocate its facilities away from the most densely populated areas of Monterrey, he added though.
The Ternium steel complex is located next to the largest state local public teaching facility, the Nuevo León Autonomous University (UANL), which holds dozens of sports venues, including the Estadio Universitario, where events such as a Queen Concert and some 1986 World Cup games took place.
Football and Baseball stadiums as long as the largest local Olympic facilities are also located within that area.

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