Mexico City Hosts International Clean Air Conference March 4-7

Note to Editors: Media representatives are invited to attend the Mobile Sources/Clean Air Conference March 4-7 at the Sheraton Maria Isabel Hotel and Towers in Mexico City. Interviews with speakers can be arranged by calling Birgit Wolff or Kathryn Martinez at the hotel, (52) 52-42-55-55.

Top automobile manufacturers, government officials and environmental agencies will address the air pollution problem in Latin America and around the world at the Fifth Annual International Mobile Sources/Clean Air Conference in Mexico City March 4-7.

Air quality experts, researchers and government analysts will attend the conference at the Sheraton Maria Isabel Hotel and Towers in Mexico City. The three-day conference is sponsored by the National Center for Vehicle Emissions Control and Safety at Colorado State University.

"Mexico City has made tremendous progress in reducing air pollution," said Birgit Wolff, director of the National Center for Vehicle Emissions Control and Safety. "It was selected as the site for this conference based on the forward-looking programs that recently have been introduced to reduce emissions. Participants in the conference will exchange information, learn from each other and build partnerships to help solve shared problems."

The conference will include sessions on three major topics: "Fuels and Technology for Clean Air," "International Clean Air/Vehicle Emissions Strategies" and "Focus Mexico: What We All Can Learn from the Mexico City Effort." Highlights include a session by the winner of the 1995 Nobel Prizein Chemistry, Dr. Mario J. Molina, who will present a talk titled "Integrated Strategy on Mexico City Air Quality Management." Molina, who was named MIT Institute Professor in 1997, has researched the chemistry of air pollution in the stratospheric ozone layer and the lower atmosphere. On March 7, participants will tour the Volkswagen Plant in Puebla, Mexico, and will participate in hands-on demonstrations.

The conference features speakers are from the United States, Mexico, Ecuador, Canada and Germany. Speakers will present research and offer possible solutions related to clean air programs, education, technologies, fuels and health.

The conference is sponsored by the National Center for Vehicle Emissions Control and Safety, a research training center at Colorado State University. The center is in the Department of Manufacturing Technology and Construction Management and part of the College of Applied Human Sciences. For more information on the National Center for Vehicle Emissions Control and Safety or the conference, visit www.ncvecs.colostate.edu.