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 Hawker-Beechcraft "lands" in Chihuahua
The aircraft assembling corporation Hawker-Beechcraft will start operations. to manufacture and assemble aerospace structures in Chihuahua City with a US$10 million investment and generating 250 new jobs in the first stage. The Secretary of Industrial Development, Ernesto Hermosillo, and the Promotion Director, Adan Gomez, said that the arrival of this US Company opens the expectations to have a design center installed at the City in the medium term to assemble the first aircraft at the State.
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Bosch will invest US$90 million in Mexico
With the intention to continue growing in Mexico, Robert Bosch Mexico. will invest US$90 million in 2007 in its plants where auto parts are produced in Ciudad Juarez and Toluca, as well as in the Brakes Division, announced Charles Visconti, Bosch Mexico President. According to the Company, the price of raw materials and the Euro rate of exchange have made components production expensive, and therefore the Company wants to expand its local suppliers' base.
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Fasco Motors plant in Coahuila sold
Fasco Motors Mexico, a subsidiary of the Michigan based Tecumseh Corporation., was partly sold to Regal Beloit Group for around US$220 Million, Tecumseh informed in a press release. Tecumseh has a plant in Ciudad Juarez called Motors Fasco and another one in Piedras Negras, Coahuila, but up to now only the latter is included in the sale package, and therefore locally there have been no consequences from the purchase. Teresa Hess, Tecumseh spokesperson in Michigan, confirmed the operation as well as the fact that the Juarez Plant would not be sold.
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US concerned about CETU in Maquiladoras
The impossibility to deduct temporary imports by maquilador sector, considered in the new Flat Rate Contribution (CETU) to be paid by companies if the Fiscal Reform is approved, would increase operation margins in these companies, according to the American Chamber (AmCham) in Mexico. "The non deductibility of temporary imports is also an important subject for the sector, because they are not considered basic production supplies for companies that work with low operation margins, and therefore it would be convenient to ratify the presidential decree, currently in force, that states a fixed rate for the sector", said Simon Diaz, AmCham Chairman.
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Mexico and Taiwan will make low cost PC's
Mexico and Taiwan entered a technological cooperation agreement. to foster informatics industry. Mexico will participate in the manufacture and distribution, both domestic and international, of products such as low cost computers, that will be competitors in Mexico and Latin America for Intel, AMD and OLPC. Among the equipments to be offered stand out a mini PC with 200 MHz, 128 MB RAM, VGA monitor, hard disk and LAN connectivity for only US$99; a PC from 800 MHz up to 1 GHz with no ventilator with six USB ports, VGA and LAN for US$125; as well as a 4 GHZ server with eight USB ports, hard disk and high speed connectivity for US$250.
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Kimberly Clark starts expansion
Kimberly Clark de Mexico, the largest paper manufacturer in Mexico, informed today. they will start operations in their new plant in the State of Coahuila in the fourth quarter, which will foster their production of tissue paper. Kimberly is investing US$75 million in the facilities at Ramos Arizpe as part of a long term US$350 million investment announced early this year. The investment plan will increase by 8% Kimberly's current capacity to produce tissue paper, with which it manufactures toilet paper, paper tissues, napkins and kitchen towels, Jorge Lara, Finance Director, said.
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O´Donnell to deliver a Build to Suit to MAGNA
Grupo O´Donnell, a leader in the development, acquisition and management. of institutional quality logistics and manufacturing buildings in Mexico, announces the delivery of a 181,475 SF Build to Suit facility to MAGNA (Intier Division) in its O´Donnell Industrial Park Toluca, in Toluca, State of Mexico. O´Donnell Industrial Park is one of the three properties that Grupo O´Donnell owns in Toluca. The property has a 65,000 m2 land lot where, in addition to the Magna´s building, O´Donnell is already developing a speculative building of 223,245 SF (20,740 m2).
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GModelo expecting to increase exports
Grupo Modelo, the Mexican brewery that manufactures the popular. brand Corona, said last Friday they are expecting their exports volume to grow in the second half of this year in a high one digit figure. Modelo, that ships 90% of its exports to the United States, reported last Thursday a 6.5% increase in exports during the second quarter when compared to the same term last year. The increase in the volume of exports "will be basically of a high one digit figure", said Carlos Fernandez, Grupo Modelo Chairman of the Board in a phone conference with analysts.
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ARTICLE OF THE WEEK
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New Standard Enacted in Mexico Regulating Heavy Metals in Soils
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Baker & McKenzie
Environment Newsletter
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 On March 2, 2007, the Mexican Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources ("SEMARNAT") unveiled Mexican Official Standard NOM-147-SEMARNAT/SSA1-2004 ("NOM 147"), which establishes criteria for determining remediation concentrations for soil polluted by arsenic, barium, beryllium, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, mercury, nickel, silver, lead, selenium, thallium and/or vanadium.
Soil remediation has been a complicated matter in Mexico, because for a long time there have been no enforceable standards establishing maximum allowable limits for pollutants in soil.The question of "how clean is clean" has been difficult to answer, and Mexican environmental authorities often applied either internal criteria or international standards for hydrocarbons and heavy metals in soils, which were not enforceable.
The use of international standards posed another difficulty, particularly in the case of heavy metals, because these elements are naturally found in Mexican soil, and some of the maximum allowable levels established by the Dutch standards, for example, were exceeded even by pristine soils in some locations in Mexico.
 NOM 147 attends to the natural characteristics of Mexican soil, and provides an answer to the question of "how clean is clean" by establishing different methods to achieve remedial goals.
The laws that regulate soil pollution / remediation in Mexico are the General Law for the Prevention and Integral Management of Waste ("Waste Law") and its Regulations ("Waste Regulations").While the Waste Law establishes some general principles with regard to soil pollution, remediation and liability, the Waste Regulations provide additional guidelines, but not with the degree of detail as a Mexican Official Standard.
The Waste Regulations that were published in the Official Federal Gazette on November 30, 2006, do establish a general procedure for conducting soil remediation, which may be applied even to those pollutants that are not regulated under a specific standard. It is not clear, however, what would happen if there were to be remediation procedures for a specific pollutant established by a standard that contradicts the Waste Regulations. Legally, the provisions of the Waste Regulations would prevail.
 In addition to NOM 147, the following standards establish technical aspects and criteria for conducting remediation:
- NOM-133-SEMARNAT-2000, Environmental protection- Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) - Management specifications ("NOM 133"), published in the Official Federal Gazette on December 10, 2001, and modified on March 5, 2003.
- NOM-138-SEMARNAT/SS-2003, Maximum allowable limits of hydrocarbonsin soil and specifications for its characterization and remediation ("NOM 138"),published in the Official Federal Gazette on March 29, 2005.
These standards mainly deal with the maximum allowable levels of pollutants in soil, depending on the land use of the same, which, if surpassed, require remediation.
NOM 147 establishes a more complex methodology for determining remediation goals, as seen below.
NOM 147 recognizes the need to establish quantifiable parameters for determining acceptable levels of pollution in soil, in order to determine when remediation is legally required, as well as the required level of clean-up in a specific case. It also establishes a more complex methodology for determining remediation concentration levels, allowing different procedures, depending on the specific circumstances of each case.
 NOM 147 distinguishes two main procedures for conducting site characterization and remediation, based on the extent of pollution.This is similar to what the Waste Regulations do, although the two criteria differ from each other.While NOM 147 determines that in cases of pollution that do not exceed 1,000 m² (caused usually by accidents), a simplified site characterization/remediation procedure may be followed, article 129 of the Waste Regulations states that a simplified procedure may be followed in pollution cases that involve hazardous waste spills that do not exceed 1 m³.
In cases of pollution affecting surfaces smaller than 1,000 m², NOM 147 states that the general remediation criteria may be applied, not requiring any specific studies or procedures of decision-making, which may delay remediation.
In these cases, remediation may follow the total reference concentration parameters established in Table 1, which takes into account a land-use criteria or any of the other methodologies described below.
Table 1.Total concentration levels (CRt) taking into account the use of land
NOTE:
a. In case of several land uses in one location, the predominant use must be the one to be considered.
b. When no land use is established in the environmental and urban development plans, the residential value of the site has to be considered.
In case a pollution occurs that affects surfaces exceeding 1,000 m², it is necessary to know the origin of the spill to the soil and, if the case makes it necessary, any other receiving body. For these cases, a conceptual model must be applied.
The conceptual model is a schematic representation of an environmental system and of the physical, chemical and biological processes that determine the transfer of pollutants from the emission source to the different environmental media (air, water or soil), and from there to the possible receptors of the system represented in the study. It is a tool used for determining the most adequate sampling methodology as well.
 The conceptual model for purposes of NOM 147 must determine the following:
- The source of soil pollution;
- The release mechanisms of the pollutants;
- The transfer mechanisms;
- Exposure routes; and the
- Exposure line (how the pollutant enters into organisms, such as by ingestion).
The conceptual model must be updated and supported by information obtained from different studies and analyses that take place during the drafting of said model, as well as by site characterization.The process comes to an end when the goal concentration is determined or when, in accordance with NOM 147, remediation is not required.
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For more information regarding the above subject, please contact Federico Ruanova-Guinea from the Tijuana Office or J. Raúl Félix-Saul from the Juarez Office.
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MEXICO'S WEEKLY HEADLINES
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| » Lenovo will install plant in Mexico |
| » Gains of Carso Group fall |
| » Toyota's Tundra´s chassis will be produced in Mexico |
| » Peñoles Industries construct Aeolian park in Sonora |
| » Goldman Sachs will invest US$210 million in Santelisa |
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