NACEC to review Molymex II submission in light of Mexican response

In its submission (SEM-00-005), tendered under Article 14 of the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC), Academia Sonorense de Derechos Humanos, et al. allege that in the case of the Molymex plant, the Mexican Government has failed to enforce effectively environmental impact requirements of its General Environmental Law (LGEEPA) and an Official Mexican Standard for Environmental Health relating to air emissions. The air emissions from the plant, which produces molybdenum trioxide through a roasting process, allegedly cause damage and loss to human health and the environment of the town of Cumpas, in the northern Mexican state of Sonora.

In its response regarding the environmental impact requirements, Mexico asserts, among other things, that the Mexican Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat) is legally prevented from requiring Molymex to file an environmental impact statement because the relevant LGEEPA provisions came into effect 11 January 1982, and Molymex began operating in 1979.

The Mexican response argues that because the environmental impact assessment is a preventive procedure, it must take place prior to the establishment of industrial sites and that the LGEEPA may not be applied retroactively. However, with regard to the Molymex expansion project, which took place in 1998, Mexico agrees that the environmental impact requirements were applicable at that time, and explains how those requirements were in fact applied.

With regard to the plant's air emissions, Mexico's response indicates that Molymex obtained an operating license which was renewed on several occasions, most recently on 29 November 2000, and that the license establishes a set of rigorous conditions for the operation of Molymex.

Overall, Mexico asserts that the information contained in its response demonstrates that there is no failure to effectively enforce environmental law in this case. (For further information on this file, please consult the registry entry SEM-00-005).

Article 14 of the NAAEC provides that the NACEC Secretariat may consider a submission from any person or nongovernmental organization asserting that a Party to the NAAEC is failing to effectively enforce an environmental law.

Where the Secretariat determines that the NAAEC Article 14(1) criteria are met, it shall then determine whether the submission merits requesting a response from the Party named in the submission. If the Secretariat considers that the submission, in light of any response provided by that Party, warrants the development of a factual record, the Secretariat may so inform the Council, in accordance with Article 15. The Secretariat shall prepare a factual record if the Council, by a two-thirds vote, instructs it to do so. Publication of the resulting factual record also requires a two-thirds vote by Council.

NACEC was established under NAAEC to address environmental issues in North America from a continental perspective, with a particular focus on those arising in the context of liberalized trade. The NACEC Council is composed of the environment ministers or the equivalent of Canada, Mexico and the United States.