| Montreal, 8/09/2005 – On 30 August, the Academia Sonorense de Derechos Humanos, AC and Domingo Gutiérrez Mendívil (the Submitters) filed a submission with the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) of North America asserting that Mexico is failing to effectively enforce a number of provisions and official standards of Mexican environmental law on air pollution prevention, monitoring, enforcement and control in the city of Hermosillo, Sonora.
In submission SEM-05-003 (Environmental Pollution in Hermosillo II), the Submitters assert that Mexico is failing to take actions to prevent air pollution in areas under state and municipal jurisdiction, to establish and keep up-to-date a national air quality information system, and to devise state and municipal urban development plans indicating the zones in which polluting industrial facilities may be sited. The Submitters allege that these actions are required by the Mexican Constitution, Mexico's federal General Law of Ecological Balance and Environmental Protection (Ley General del Equilibrio Ecológico y la Protección al Ambiente—LGEEPA), rules on air pollution adopted under the LGEEPA, the federal General Health Law, a number of Mexican Official Standards on air pollution, and the environmental protection and public safety laws for the State of Sonora. The authorities cited by the submission as responsible for allegedly failing to effectively enforce environmental law are the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat), the Office of the Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection (Profepa), the executive branch of the government of the State of Sonora, the State Department of Urban Infrastructure and Environment, and the Municipality of Hermosillo.
The Secretariat of the CEC will now analyze the submission to determine whether it meets the requirements of Article 14 of the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC).
The CEC citizen submission mechanism allows citizens to play an active "whistleblower" role in matters relating to environmental law enforcement. Pursuant to NAAEC Article 14, any citizen or nongovernmental organization may file a submission where it believes that a NAFTA partner is failing to effectively enforce its environmental law. After reviewing the submission, the CEC may investigate the matter and publish a factual record of its findings.
For more information, please visit the CEC's Citizen Submissions on Enforcement Matters page. |
