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Border 2025's Gulf Task Force

One of the three task forces of the Four-State Regional Workgroup in the binational Border 2025 Program, the Gulf Task Force includes the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas and the contiguous Mexican municipios.

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The Gulf Task Force is one of three sub-regional groups in the Four-State Regional Workgroup in the U.S.-Mexico Border 2025 Environmental Program (successor to Border 2020), which is a partnership among the U.S. EPA, Mexico’s SEMARNAT (the counterpart to EPA), the ten border states in the two countries, and U.S. border tribes. The Gulf Task Force covers Cameron, Hidalgo, Willacy, and Starr Counties in Texas and the Municipios of Matamoros, Valle Hermoso, Reynosa, Miguel Alemán, Camargo, and Rio Bravo in Tamaulipas.

Gulf Task Force Co-Leaders

James "Jim" Darling                                                                 Region M Chair,

Mario Alberto Lopez Hernandez                                        Alcalde de Matamoros, Tamaulipas

Committees of the Gulf Task Force

The Gulf Task Force has the following five subject-specific committees. Each committee has a U.S. co-facilitator and a Mexican co-facilitator.


Committee U.S. Co-Facilitator(s) Mexican Co-Facilitator

Water Committee

Mark Vega                                              McAllen Public Utilities Board 


Jose Antonio Segovia                                          Comisión Internacional de Límites de Agua 

Waste Committee
Art Rodriguez
Health Dept., City of Brownsville

Teresa Trevino,                                                      Asociación de Ambientalistas del Noreste de Tamaulipas 


Environmental Health and
Environmental Education

Beatriz Tapia
UT Health Science Center San Antonio, Regional Academic Health Center in Harlingen

Melisa Gonzales,                                            Lower Rio Grande Development Council 


Guillermo Villasana
Instituto Tecnologico de Matamoros 

Emergency Preparedness

Ricardo Saldaña
Emergency Management Coordinator, Hidalgo County

Luis Enrique Ortega,                                        Procuraduria Federal de Protección al Ambiente - Matamoros 


The Gulf Task Force committees have met periodically, established their priorities related to the goals and objectives of the Border 2025 Program (successor to Border 2020), and developed projects to address those priorities.

Additional Information about the Gulf Task Force

Other Information about the Border Region