<P> Both the United States and Mexican governments claim to be committed to environmental protection, yet environmental policies have not always been enforced. ⁠ ⁠ However, maquilas are required to be certified and to provide an environmental impact statement . In Mexico, most maquiladoras are global players that use international standards for waste treatment and disposal that exceed Mexican requirements and that require any waste generated to be re-exported . Although the La Paz Agreement signed by Mexico and the United States in 1983 requires hazardous waste created by United States corporations to be transported back to the United States for disposal, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reports that only 91 of the 600 maquiladoras located along the Texas - Mexico border have returned hazardous waste to the United States since 1987 . This is likely due to the fact that most maquiladoras are factories that perform sewing and assembly of consumer products and many of the materials that are considered hazardous are incorporated into those products . </P> <P> Maquiladoras offer showers and sanitary facilities to workers that often lack running water, thus reducing waste . The United States Geological Survey, the state of California, and the Imperial County Health Department--among others--have all asserted that the New River, which flows from Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico near the Mexico--United States border into California's Salton Sea, is "...the dirtiest river in America ." </P> <P> The EPA's US--Mexico Border 2012 Program has an extensive plan to help with environmental issues along that border . </P>

According to the text which of these are items are not associated with the maquiladoras