| Montreal, 18/12/2007 – On 13 December 2007, the Secretariat of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) issued a determination requesting a response from Mexico to submission SEM-07-005 (Drilling Waste in Cunduacán), submitted to the Secretariat on 26 July 2007, by the Tabasco Human Rights Committee (Comité de Derechos Humanos de Tabasco), the Asociación Ecológica Santo Tomás and the community of Los Aguilares (the “Submitters”). The Submitters assert that Mexico is failing to effectively enforce its environmental laws with respect to a drilling waste treatment and disposal project in Cunduacán, Tabasco.
On 12 September 2007, the CEC Secretariat determined that the submission did not satisfy all the admissibility criteria under Article 14(1) of the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation. On 4 October, the Submitters filed a revised submission with the Secretariat, including additional information regarding the disposal project’s alleged failure to obtain an environmental impact authorization and take measures to prevent soil contamination before beginning drilling waste disposal in Cunduacán in September 2004. In the revised submission, the Los Aguilares community notified the Secretariat of its decision to withdraw from the submission process.
On 12 December, the executive director of the Secretariat, Felipe Adrián Vázquez Gálvez, gave notice of his decision to recuse himself from all matters regarding this submission. Mr. Vázquez Gálvez did not take part in developing the determination announced today.
Mexico has up to 60 days to submit its response. Thereafter, the Secretariat will review the submission in light of Mexico’s response to determine whether it warrants developing a factual record.
For further information, visit the CEC citizen submission website.
|
