Energy and Environmental Politics in Post-Corporatist Mexico

No government that is serious about environmental protection will imitate the Mexican model. The undrinkable waters and defiled deserts of Mexico's northern border towns and the poisoned air of its capital city are infamous. But there are noticeable changes in Mexican politicians' and lawmakers' attitudes toward the country's environmental ills, in no small part because of changing public attitudes toward these problems. As Mexico's political system becomes more open and democratic, policy elites are increasingly attentive to environmental problems, as ordinary citizens, and especially urbanites, vent their frustration at the ballot box. Perhaps ironically, Mexico's hydrocarbon industries are potential leaders in the nascent environmental reform process. Inducements for better environmental behavior by the oil and natural gas industries are new, municipal and federal environmental regulations, stepped-up enforcement, and local and cross-border markets for Mexico's gas.