Submitted by Baron Von Partlow, Leon Benham, Lance Rodgers, Daron A. Case, Esq.
February 28, 2020
President Donald J. Trump
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20500
Subject: Take Mexico to The Hague for Violation of International Treaty
Dear Mr. President:
We are a coalition of citizen-based NGO’s with a focus on the cross-border sewage crisis, addressing transboundary sewage flows from Mexico into the Tijuana River Valley (TRV) on U.S. side of the border, where the cities of San Diego and Imperial Beach have ongoing declarations of emergency in connection therewith.
Thank you, Mr. President, for signing last month the USMCA trade deal with Mexico and Canada that earmarks $300 million dollars for remediation efforts to help address the continuous flow of sewage and toxic waste from Tijuana that contaminates beaches in the South Bay of San Diego County. While our local, regional and state elected officials grandstand to claim credit for the $300M per USMCA, the region is getting pummeled with sewage from Mexico at historic levels averaging 50 million gallons per day during the last several weeks, and over 20 billion gallons of sewage contaminated effluent flowing from Tijuana since October of last year.
The sewage spills from Mexico constitute international acts of environmental and biological terrorism, adversely affecting the health and safety of Border Patrol agents who work in the TRV, military personnel who train in our waters, citizens who use our beaches, and the economies of the coastal cities of Coronado and Imperial Beach that are based predominately on tourism. Mexican sewage spills are a matter of national security as there is a new multi-billion dollar Navy SEAL Coastal Campus on the Silver Strand in Coronado situated 2 miles from the international border and mouth of the Tijuana River where sewage and toxic waste enters the ocean contaminating marine ecosystems and closing our beaches.
It has become clear that while the $300M per USMCA is an excellent start to develop relevant infrastructure on the U.S. side of the border, the transborder sewage crisis will continue in perpetuity as Mexico continues dumping millions of gallons of sewage on us every day. Therefore, we are respectfully calling on you, Mr. President, to provide direction to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to take Mexico to the International Court of Justice at The Hague to enforce the International Treaty of 1944 and subsequent Minute Orders which expressly prohibits the intentional dumping of sewage from Mexico into the United States. While we understand this decades old crisis did not start on your watch, it can be solved on your watch.
Thank you in advance for your consideration of this request.
Most respectfully and sincerely,
Baron Von Partlow
Founder, Stop the Poop
Leon Benham
Founder, Citizens For Coastal Conservancy
Lance Rodgers
Founders, Citizens Against Sewage
Daron A. Case, Esq.
Founder, Coronado Residents Against Poop
