| Montreal, 29/08/2002 – The Commission for Environmental Cooperation of North America (CEC) received a submission on 23 August 2002, from Arcadio, Leoncio, Fernanda and Milagro Pesqueira Senday. The Submitters assert that Mexico is failing to effectively enforce its environmental laws with respect to the "El Boludo" mining project on the site called "El Tiro," owned by the Submitters and located in the Municipality of Trincheras, Sonora, Mexico.
According to the Submitters, the company Minera Secotec, S.A. de C.V. has exploited the low-grade placer gold deposit of the "El Boludo" project without complying with several conditions of the environmental impact authorization. The Submitters claim the company is violating the General Law of Ecological Balance and Environmental Protection (Ley General del Equilibrio Ecológico y la Protección al Ambiente-LGEEPA), paragraphs III and IV of Article 15 of the LGEEPA Hazardous Waste Regulations and the Mining Law and its Regulations.
The Secretariat is now reviewing this submission (SEM-02-004) to determine whether it complies with the requirements of Article 14(1) of the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC).
Under Article 14 of NAAEC, the Secretariat may consider a submission from any person or nongovernmental organization asserting that a Party to NAAEC is failing to effectively enforce its environmental law. Where the Secretariat determines that the NAAEC Article 14(1) criteria are met, it may then proceed with a process that can lead to the development of a factual record on the matter. In accordance with Article 15(2) of NAAEC, the Secretariat shall prepare a factual record if the Council, by a two-thirds vote, instructs it to do so.
The CEC 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 CEC Council, the organization's governing body, is composed of the environment ministers (or equivalent) of Canada, Mexico and the United States.
Please visit the Citizen Submission on Enforcement Matters page for more information.
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