Ahead of EPA Administrator Zeldin’s Visit to San Diego, Rep. Mike Levin & Mayor Paloma Aguirre Called on the Trump Administration to Use Funding to Address Cross-Border Sewage Pollution & Demand No Funding Cuts
San Diego, CA—Today, Rep. Mike Levin (CA-49) and Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre called on the Trump Administration use Congressionally appropriated funds to address the cross-border sewage pollution and environmental crisis at the Tijuana River Valley. Ahead of EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin’s visit to the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant on Tuesday, they urged him to commit to no cuts to funding dedicated to clean-up efforts in the region.
“For decades, tens of billions of gallons of raw sewage, polluted stormwater, and trash have flowed from Mexico, down the Tijuana River, and into the Pacific Ocean. This pollution has had a devastating impact on public health, our local businesses, and the environment,” said Rep. Levin. “We can’t allow Administrator Zeldin or anyone in the Trump Administration to talk about solving this crisis while proposing cuts to the very agencies responsible for the solution. DOGE and House Republicans have already targeted funding for the IBWC, which operates the plant. You can’t say you support a solution and then gut the resources required to get it done. So, I look forward to Administrator Zeldin’s visit. But what matters most is what happens after he leaves. We need action. And we need to fix this in a bipartisan way—once and for all.”
Rep. Levin and the Democratic Members of the San Diego Congressional Delegation secured over half a billion dollars to upgrade the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant and secured commitments from Mexico for clean-up on its side of the border. The use of this funding was delayed by the first Trump Administration and the Biden Administration. It is now threatened by the second Trump Administration’s slash-and-burn approach to government programs that address pollution and help keep our air and water clean. Rep. Levin and Mayor Aguirre will make clear that funds to address this crisis cannot be caught up in the Trump Administration’s haphazard cuts.
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