| Montreal, 30/01/2006 – On 26 January 2006, Mr. Carlos Alvarez Flores ("Submitter") filed with the Secretariat of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) of North America a citizen submission asserting that Mexico is failing to effectively enforce its environmental laws with respect to a site contaminated with heavy metals, located at the Ex Hacienda El Hospital in the municipality of Cuautla, Morelos.
In submission SEM-06-001 (Ex Hacienda El Hospital), the Submitter asserts that Mexico is failing to effectively enforce certain provisions of its environmental laws with respect to a site contaminated with lead, chromium, cadmium, nickel and molybdenum, which allegedly has harmed the health of residents of the community of Ex Hacienda El Hospital. The Submitter asserts that the site cleanup actions previously undertaken do not ensure that the soil and shallow aquifer are free of heavy metals contamination. The Submitter further asserts that the draft restoration plans and proposals submitted to the authorities fail to note the existence of drainage lines from the facilities previously leased by the allegedly responsible company, Basf Mexicana, S.A. de C.V., asserting that this constitutes an environmental crime. He states that the environmental authority is aware of the seriousness of the soil contamination based on various analyses conducted on the land. The Submitter further states that he filed a citizen complaint (denuncia popular) with the Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection (Procuraduría Federal de Protección al Ambiente—Profepa), which was not admitted within the period provided by the General Law of Ecological Balance and Environmental Protection (Ley General de Equilibrio Ecológico y la Protección al Ambiente—LGEEPA). He asserts that Profepa was notified in his citizen complaint of the disposal within the community of equipment scrap contaminated with heavy metals, in violation of the General Law for Waste Prevention and Comprehensive Management (Ley General para la Prevención y Gestión Integral de los Residuos).
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. |
