| Montreal, 2/10/2007 – On 25 September 2007, the Secretariat of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) received Mexico’s response to the submission filed with the Secretariat on 5 February 2007, by Pro San Luis Ecológico (the “Submitter”). The Submitter asserts that Mexico is failing to effectively enforce its environmental law in authorizing an open-pit mining project in the municipality of Cerro de San Pedro, San Luis Potosí.
In submission SEM-07-001 (Minera San Xavier), the Submitter asserts that in authorizing the environmental impact of the mining project, the Secretariat of the Environment and Natural Resources (Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales—Semarnat) violated a court order that required conducting an expanded environmental analysis of the project. It further asserts that, even though the environmental impact statement (EIS) anticipates significant impact on the Cerro de San Pedro environment, the project was authorized without observance of the criteria, restrictions, and principles of the applicable environmental law.
On 29 June 2007, the Secretariat requested a response from Mexico in relation to the assertion of alleged non-compliance with the court order and also in relation to the assertion of failure to observe the criteria, restrictions, and principles of Mexican law governing the issuance of environmental impact authorizations.
In its response, Mexico states that an administrative tribunal determined that Semarnat’s authorization was compliant with the court order. Concerning the assertion of alleged failure to enforce the law in authorizing the project, Mexico explains that the project is conditional to the implementation of environmental impact mitigation programs; it states that the project meets the siting restrictions and asserts that the EIS contains correct figures on water availability and the project’s use of explosives. Mexico emphasizes that in issuing the authorization it observed the principle of sustainable development, but argues that the precautionary principle is not binding because it has not been incorporated into the General Ecological Balance and Environmental Protection Act (Ley General del Equilibrio Ecológico y la Protección al Ambiente—LGEEPA).
In accordance with Article 14(3)(a) of the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC), Mexico requested that the Secretariat proceed no further in processing the submission, asserting that the matter is the subject of pending judicial and administrative proceedings. Furthermore, it requested that the information provided by Mexico in this regard be kept confidential.
The citizen submissions mechanism of the CEC enables the public to play a whistle-blower role on matters of environmental law enforcement. Under Article 14 of the NAAEC, any person or nongovernmental organization may file a submission with the Secretariat alleging that a NAFTA partner is failing to effectively enforce its environmental law.
The Secretariat of the CEC will now analyze the submission in light of Mexico’s response. It will then notify the Council as to whether or not the submission warrants the preparation of a factual record pursuant to NAAEC Article 15(1).
For more information, please visit the CEC's Citizen Submissions on Enforcement Matters page. | 
