New GDAE report: U.S. Ethanol Expansion Cost Mexico Billions in Higher Import Prices

GDAE, 5/16/12

GDAE study estimates that ethanol added $1.5-$3.2 billion from 2006-11

How much have U.S. ethanol policies pushed up corn prices? And how much has these higher prices cost developing countries dependent on imports for their staple foods? According to a new Working Paper by Timothy A. Wise, Research and Policy Director at Tufts University’s Global Development and Environment Institute (GDAE), it cost Mexico between $1.5 and $3.2 billion from 2006 and 2011, when U.S. corn ethanol production expanded dramatically and food prices rose to alarming levels.

The Working Paper, “The Cost to Mexico of U.S. Corn Ethanol Expansion,” was released today in Mexico City on the eve of a key meeting of vice ministers of agriculture from the G-20 countries. They meet to set the G-20 agenda on food security in advance of the G-20 summit June 18-19 in Los Cabos, Mexico.

“Mexico is the chair of the G-20,” notes Wise. “The government has the opportunity to take a strong lead in that powerful body to address the underlying causes of the food crisis. Curbing the expansion of biofuels is crucial to that effort. Mexico bans the use of corn for ethanol to protect food security. Our study shows that Mexicans themselves have suffered from less restrictive U.S. biofuels policies.”

Mexican wind energy boom plays out on gusty shores

Reuters, 3/14/15

On an arid plain where sudden gusts of wind can rip roofs off buildings and knock over tractor trailers, Mexico is building a new engine for its energy future. Surrounded by towering turbines in every direction, the town of La Ventosa – which means “the windy place” in Spanish – is at the heart of a wind power boom in the country.

Mexico, the world’s 14th biggest economy, still punches well below its weight in terms of wind energy, ranking 24th on the planet in installed capacity last year, according to the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC). But the market is growing fast. By the end of this year, the national wind energy association expects Mexico to jump to number 20 on the list, which is dominated by wealthy European nations, the United States, China and India.

“We’re talking about the largest growth in wind power projects anywhere in the world,” President Felipe Calderon said recently near La Ventosa at the opening of Latin America’s largest wind park owned by Spanish company Acciona SA, a long row of turbines whirring behind him.

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Op-ed: Mexico’s secretary of economy: We deserve a seat at trade table

The Dallas Morning News, Bruno Ferrari, 5/4/12

While governments and the public have been concentrating on challenges to global financial recovery, a historic economic alliance has been budding in meetings held around the world. The alliance is called the TPP, for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, an ambitious accord to promote a significant expansion of trade among Pacific nations, and this week Dallas hosts the 12th round of TPP negotiations.

What exactly is the TPP? It is composed of nine nations — the United States, Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia , New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. Their aim is to create a free-trade zone that not only eliminates tariff and nontariff barriers to goods and services but also develops regional supply chains to speed the production, sale and movement of goods, coordinates regulatory regimes, helps small- and medium-sized firms export more, and ensures state-owned enterprises compete fairly with private companies.

The TPP negotiations are the most important trade talks in the world, and the TPP accession process requires consensus. The United States should take the lead to give Mexico a seat at the table.

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Pemex admits a “critical need” for technology from Repsol [In Spanish]

El País, 4/26/2012

The increase in the participation of Pemex in Repsol and its interest in forming an alliance with the Spanish company have to do with Pemex’s “critical need” to acquire technology for deep-sea oil exploration like the one developed by Repsol. Pemex acknowledged this in response to an information requirement made by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), who asked Pemex to explains the reason for its alliance with Sacyr and its increase of 9.8% in participation within Repsol.

Washington was worried that Pemex would use its alliance with Repsol to invest jointly in the search for petroleum in Cuba. A letter sent by the Office of Global Security Risk of the SEC that was sent to Pemex in October 2011 was recently revealed. The document warned Pemex that Repsol “has operations in Cuba, an office in Iran and contacts in Syria.” In this respect, SEC demanded from Pemex an explanation to a possible “reputation damage” in its relationship with Repsol.

New graphs from JOIN – Agencia Ciudadana de Noticias

Jovenes Informados: Agencia Ciudadana de Noticias, 4/25/12

The Mexico based Group ‘JOIN: Agencia Ciudadana de Noticias’ has releasedthe latest graphs in its ongoing series “México rumbo al 2012, por un voto mejor informado”. 

According to the group, their graphs are based on publicly available information and are intended to inform the public on current issues in Mexico that will impact the upcoming presidential election.  This issue contains graphs focused on three types of development in Mexico: Social, Economic, and Sustainable.

The graph on Social development, containing data on poverty in Mexico, can be viewed here.

The graph on Economic development, containing data on Mexican salaries, GDP, and the prices of basic consumer goods can be viewed here.

The graph on sustainable development, containing data on the quality of water, deforestation and biodiversity in Mexico can be viewed here.

In a Change, Mexico Reins In Its Oil Monopoly

The New York Times, 4/23/12

For seven decades, Pemex, Mexico’s state-owned oil monopoly and a mainstay of the government’s revenue, regulated itself — which is a polite way of saying it could do pretty much as it pleased.

No authority challenged the wisdom of investments like the billions it has spent here in the Chicontepec oil field to extract just a trickle of petroleum even as private companies have pulled torrents from similar shale rock in Texas and North Dakota. The company’s safety procedures went largely unscrutinized as it joined the oil majors drilling in deepwater areas of the Gulf of Mexico. And the company faced no serious consequences for not keeping its promises to raise output or operate more efficiently.

But in the last few years, that has begun to change. The tiny National Hydrocarbons Commission, created by the Mexican Congress in 2008 to increase regulatory oversight of the company, is proving to be a surprisingly sharp thorn in Pemex’s side.

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Mexico raises alert for Popocatepetl volcano

Reuters, 4/17/12

Mexican authorities raised the alert level for the Popocatepetl volcano near to Mexico City on Monday after it started spewing red-hot fragments of rock.

The lava dome of Popocatepetl, some 50 miles to the southeast of the capital, started to expand on Friday, Mexico’s National Center for Disaster Prevention said.

This change in activity in the 5,450 meter (17,900 foot) volcano could provoke big explosions capable of sending incandescent fragments out over considerable distances, as well as ash showers, the center said in a statement.

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Mexico’s Calderon criticizes Argentina’s YPF plan

Reuters, 4/17/12

Mexico’s President Felipe Calderon criticized his Argentine counterpart Cristina Fernandez on Monday for planning to seize control of the country’s leading energy company YPF.

Calderon said Fernandez’s plan would damage chances for future foreign investment in Argentina and hurt YPF’s controlling shareholder, Spain’s Repsol, in which Mexico’s state oil monopoly Pemex holds a 10-percent stake.

Fernandez earlier on Monday drew swift warnings from key trade partners after she said she would seek to expropriate Spanish company Repsol’s (REP.MC) 51 percent stake in Argentina’s YPF (YPFD.BA).

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Mexico Emulates Neighbor California With 35% Clean Climate law

Clean Technica, 4/15/12

Joining world leaders in climate laws, Mexico just passed new legislation that catapults the poor neighbor to the south of the U.S. to a leadership role on a par with its northern neighbor, California.

Mexico’s General Law on Climate Change was just passed by an 128-10 overwhelming vote in its 500 member Chamber of Deputies, and moves to the Senate. Since that body passed a preliminary version already, its chances of becoming law look excellent. Just as investment in clean energy soared in California following passage of its clean climate laws starting in 2006 with the first Renewable Energy Standard and following up with AB32, its climate law.

California’s 33% clean energy by 2020 target received enough offers from solar and wind developers to make 100% of its energy from these two sources, for example. Mexico boasts the same abundant solar and wind resources and could easily achieve the same goals as California.

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Car-saturated Mexico City lets bicycle riders rule the roads on Sunday mornings

The Washington Post, 4/11/12

Mexico City

Hey, honey, let’s go bicycling with the kids through downtown Mexico City! Just a few years ago, these would have been the words of a lone madman.

In one of the world’s biggest cities, bicycle riding is today a popular way to get around, especially on Sunday mornings, when city hall shuts major throughways to auto traffic and gives the right of way to tens of thousands of cyclists (and a bunch of Rollerbladers and joggers and dogs, too) who wend their way down grand commercial avenues and hard-bitten byways in a leisurely 14-mile loop.

When Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard began the Sunday morning rides five years ago — known as Muevete en Bici — his critics (heck, even some of his friends) thought it was a publicity stunt. Ebrard famously commutes to work once a month by bike and drags his staff along.

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