| Montreal, 27/02/2006 – On 16 February 2006, the Secretariat of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) received Mexico's response to submission SEM-05-003 (Environmental Pollution in Hermosillo II), filed with the Secretariat on 30 August 2005 by Academia Sonorense de Derechos Humanos, AC and Domingo Gutiérrez Mendívil (the Submitters).
The Submitters assert that Mexico is failing to effectively enforce a number of provisions and official standards under Mexican law with respect to the prevention, monitoring, oversight and control of air pollution in the city of Hermosillo, Sonora.
Mexico, in its response, maintains that the submission should have been dismissed because it did not meet some of the requirements of Article 14 of the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC). As to the contents of the submission, Mexico asserts that, according to their information, unpaved roads are the source of 78 percent of suspended particle emissions and that this priority was addressed by the paving of approximately 28 hectares of streets in Hermosillo. Mexico states that pollutant monitoring has been implemented at the federal level since 1988 and that the Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (PRTR) is in process. It states that it uses the available pollution control mechanisms including the Uniform Environmental License (Licencia Ambiental Única—LAU), the Operating License (Licencia de Funcionamiento) and the Annual Release and Transfer Report (Cédula de Operación Anual—COA), and that it inspects and monitors air pollution sources. The state government of Sonora administers the environmental impact assessment procedure, issues operating licenses, inspects and monitors pollution sources, acts in coordination with other levels of government, and has implemented an air quality assessment and improvement program. Finally, Mexico states that the Municipality of Hermosillo has various relevant mechanisms including environmental impact assessment, response to environmental complaints, and an environmental contingency plan.
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 submit to the Secretariat a claim alleging that a NAFTA partner is failing to effectively enforce its environmental law.
The Secretariat is currently analyzing the submission in light of Mexico's response, to determine whether it will recommend the development of a factual record to the Council pursuant to Article 15(1) of the NAAEC.
For more information, please visit the CEC's Citizen Submissions on Enforcement Matters page. |
