Cross Border Transportation and Environmental/Health Issues

Dr. Henry Van
Visiting Professor of Civil Engineering
The University of Texas at El Paso

This seminar took place on February 24, 2021.

Abstract: In this presentation, Dr. Henry Van discussed Cross Border Transportation and Environmental/Health Issues in the El Paso/Juarez Metroplex area, focusing on multifaceted, complex challenges involving very congested traffic with long wait times going from Mexico to the U.S. or vice versa. The border crossing in the El Paso/Juarez area is the same as the other major border crossings in Nogales, San Diego, and Matamoros. Critical transportation problems cause significant financial losses to major manufacturers operating in Mexico transporting products bound for the United States. Commercial and automobile traffic congestion also causes air pollution at the crossings which has become a significant health issue for people living adjacent to these border crossings.

Bio: Dr. Van has over 30 years’ experience developing and implementing environmental, health and safety (EHS) strategies as an executive for several domestic and multinational energy, consulting firms, and manufacturing companies. He has worked in 30 countries with Georgia Tech, and major oil/gas, electricity, and manufacturing companies. He has also been involved in studying environmental issues along the El Paso/Juarez international border involving Rio Grande water quality studies, and air pollution impacts. He began to work on border environmental issues in 1980 in the El Paso/Juarez Metroplex area. He managed all transportation and environmental, health and safety issues for a U.S. global medical company in Juarez for seven years. Dr. Van holds a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Microbiology from The University of Texas at El Paso, a Master’s and Ph.D. in Environmental Science in Engineering from the University of Oklahoma. He is trilingual in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.

View the Cross Border Transportation and Environmental/Health Issues Webinar