AUSTIN – The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the North American Development Bank formally signed an agreement Thursday to establish a first-of-its-kind binational fund to finance continuous air monitoring throughout the El Paso Air Basin.

TCEQ Commissioner Bobby Janecka signed the agreement during a virtual signing ceremony Thursday afternoon, with NADBANK Managing Director Calixto Mateos-Hanel and the honorable Javier Corral Jurado, Governor of the state of Chihuahua.

The new fund will foster air quality projects throughout the region, with particular focus on reestablishing air monitoring stations in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, where generating reliable data has suffered from sporadic funding and aging equipment.

“Air quality is directly tied to economic opportunity,” Janecka said. “Improving air monitoring in the region helps safeguard public health, a key ingredient to prosperity.”

The binational agreement was formed under the aegis of the Joint Advisory Committee, created in 1996 by Mexico and the U.S. under the La Paz agreement, and represents a major step forward in ongoing efforts to reduce transboundary air pollution and ensure access to air quality data.

NADBANK and TCEQ have made initial investments in the fund, and public and private sector stakeholders have begun to contribute to the program, which is managed by NADBANK and the JAC.

TCEQ also helps serve the needs of border residents through the TCEQ Border Initiative, and its participation in Border 2020, which outlines areas for environmental cooperation between the two nations.