Policy Studies Journal, Vol. 14, No. 1, September, 1985 DEPENDENCY AND INTERDEPENDENCE IN HAZARDOUS WASTE MANAGEMENT ALONG THE U.S.-MEXICO BORDER Stephen P. Mumme INTRODUCTION Hazardous waste management is usuaiiy approached from an intra- national rather than inter-national perspective. Hazardous wastes, however, are fugitive resources by nature and not easily confined by nationai boun- daries. Where borders meet, hazardous waste managers must negotiate dissimilar social, economic, political, and administrative systems. This is the case along the U.S.-iVlexico border stretching nearly 2,000 miles from the Pacific coast to the Gulf of Mexico. Here, rapid growth in the last twenty years and stark differences in economic development combine to generate a vast range of actual and potentiai hazardous waste problems. It is common to analyze issues in U.S.-lVIexican relations through the optic of dependency theory, in this view, Mexico is bound to the United States by a web of economic, social, and strategic relationships that limit its capacity to exert leverage in binational affairs. According to Mario Ojeda, "the structure of the reiationship prevents Mexico from negotiating problems with the United States on an equal footing and frequently obliges Mexico to accept uniiaterai decisions from Washington without alternative" (Ojeda, 1983:318). Such an assessment of the United States' capacity to exert leverage might lead one to assume that increased interest in hazardous waste reguiation in the United States would translate into increased binational attention to these matters along the U.S.-Mexico border. As the rest of this paper demonstrates, that conclusion is hardly justified. Instead of a dependency relationship defining relations in this sphere, efforts at binational cooperation have been shaped by what Robert 0. Keohane and Joseph S. Nye label "mutual dependence," or interdependence (Keohane and Nye, 1977:8-9). While Mexico is unques- tionably dependent on the U.S. in economic affairs, the United States is dependent on Mexico for environmental quality along the border. Mexico's very econo'mic dependence, in fact, has reinforced a system of domestic priorities favoring economic growth at the expense of environ- mentai quality, with spillover effects on U.S. border communities. While binational progress has been made in this issue-area, Mexico has been able to resist direct U.S. pressure to step up domestic regulation of hazardous wastes and continues to pursue its own national priorities in border development. The foiiowing pages profile this interdependency relationship and some of its implications for bilateral diplomacy and cooperation in hazard- ous waste management. The paper begins with an overview of the range of hazardous waste situations along the U.S.-Mexico border, followed by a 160