The Mayor of Coronado and Councilmember John Duncan are headed on Jan. 7 to Washington D.C. to talk to members of both the U.S. House and U.S. Senate about the importance of receiving funding for the cross-border sewage pollution crisis.
Mayor Richard Bailey and Duncan are part of the subcommittee created earlier in 2023 to lead the Tijuana sewage issue, both expressing deep concerns and interest in trying to find a resolution to this almost century-long catastrophe.
Around an additional billion dollars is needed in order to fix the problem, says Bailey, and that is what they are going to ask for with this trip.
Whether they receive it or not is another story.
These visits to D.C. are not new, as Bailey himself has been going back and forth across the country at least once a year, if not a few times a year, since late 2017.
Previously, it had been Bailey and former Councilmember Whitney Benzian leading the efforts in going to the country’s capital for the sewage issue before Duncan became appointed to the subcommittee after being elected to city council.
Spreading the word
This issue isn’t really well known by many members of Congress and its national implications aren’t known either.
Mayor Richard Bailey
“This issue isn’t really well known by many members of Congress and its national implications aren’t known either,” Bailey says. “And so, that’s what our job really is.”
Bailey and Duncan plan on discussing its impact on not just the environment, but also local economies, families, the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents and U.S. Special Forces when meeting with representatives all across the board.
“National readiness is a big one,” Bailey says in terms of national implications. “The U.S. government spends roughly a billion dollars to open up the special warfare facility right down on the border of Imperial Beach and Coronado, and they have to change up their operations when there are sewage impacts.”
Bipartisan issue
So, it’s important for Bailey and Duncan to get bipartisan support on this issue as there are changes in leadership and changes in committee assignments with both chambers controlled by the two different parties, Bailey says.
“You’re trying to hit a moving target between the potential funding paths and also the changing members of Congress,” Bailey says.
Being able to communicate with key members on key committees related to the environment and the State Department and border security is the most effective strategy, Bailey argued.
“We can hopefully go to a handful of key members that can then raise this issue to their colleagues who also sit on that same committee,” Bailey says, “It’s a never ending quest. You develop allies that are willing to help make your priority their priority.”
That is what Bailey credits the success to securing funding for this issue back in 2020 when they received $300 million under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.
Duncan agrees.
It’s so important to work hard to get bipartisan support to get this supplemental funding bill through.
Councilmember John Duncan
“It’s so important to work hard to get bipartisan support to get this supplemental funding bill through,” he says.
And this is the time to do it.
“This is a real critical time because Congress is debating on a number of spending bills and potentially supplemental funding bills,” Bailey says to The Coronado News.
Mayor Bailey and Councilmember Duncan will be flying out Sunday and will be in back-to-back meetings with members of Congress until they return to Coronado on Wednesday, Jan. 10.
