Mexican Environmental Group Files Complaint with Commission for Environmental Cooperation

Local environmental group Pro San Luis Ecológico has filed a complaint against the Mexican government under the North American Free Trade Agreement's Commission for Environmental Cooperation for violating a Mexican court ruling by authorizing —for a second time— the Cerro de San Pedro gold/silver mining project of Metallica Resources' Mexican subsidiary Minera San Xavier.

The Commission's web site states:

The Submitter asserts that Mexico is failing to effectively enforce its environmental laws with respect to the authorization of an open-pit mining project in the town of Cerro de San Pedro, San Luis Potosí. In submission SEM-07-001 (Minera San Xavier), the Submitter asserts that in April 2006 the Secretariat of the Environment and Natural Resources (Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales—Semarnat) violated a Mexican court ruling by authorizing—for a second time— the gold and silver mining project by Minera San Xavier, the Mexican subsidiary of Canadian company Metallica Resources Inc. The Submitter asserts that in 2000 it successfully filed an appeal that led to a judicial decision canceling the original authorization and requiring Semarnat to consider guidelines established by the court. The Submitter asserts that Semarnat failed to comply with the court’s ruling in reauthorizing the project.

The complaint is available here in the original Spanish.