03/03/00 -- VICTORY: Mexico Scraps Salt Works Near Whale Sanctuary

VICTORY

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WORLDWIDE FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS

Mexico Scraps Salt Works Near Whale Sanctuary

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3/3/00

OVERVIEW & COMMENTARY

The Mexican government received the message loud and clear from

Mexican and international environmentalists, including letter writing

by this email list's recipients. A salt works project is not

compatible with the largest wildlife sanctuary in Latin America, and

an important breeding area for gray whales. President Ernesto Zedillo

said the government had carefully weighed the merits and drawbacks of

the project, and the deciding factor was the "national and world

importance and the uniqueness of the Vizcaino Biosphere Reserve." It

was determined that ecotourism was a much more appropriate and

desireable development strategy. Local organizing and networking, as

well as international networking in their support, wracks up another

win for the biosphere. Thank you to all that wrote letters on this

matter.

g.b.

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ITEM #1

Title: FOCUS - Mexico scraps salt works near whale sanctuary

Source: REUTERS NEWS SERVICE

Date: March 3, 2000

MEXICO CITY - Mexico yesterday cancelled a Baja California salt works

expansion project that had faced bitter opposition from

environmentalists arguing it posed a threat to Latin America's biggest

wildlife sanctuary.

The project would have created the world's largest salt works at

Laguna San Ignacio, near the Vizcaino Biosphere Reserve, an important

breeding area for gray whales.

The project was headed by salt-exporting company Exportadora de Sal

(ESSA) in which Japan's Mitsubishi Corp. holds a 49 percent stake,

with the Mexican government controlling the remainder.

"It's a definitive withdrawal (of the project)," said Trade Minister

Herminio Blanco, who acts as president of ESSA's board. "Mitsubishi

totally supports the Mexican government's decision."

President Ernesto Zedillo said the government had carefully weighed

the merits and drawbacks of the project, which ESSA said would have

created much-needed jobs in Baja California.

The deciding factor was the "national and world importance and the

uniqueness of the Vizcaino Biosphere Reserve," Zedillo told a news

conference.

"In Mexico, for now, environmental laws have triumphed over economic

criteria," Mexican poet and environmentalist Homero Aridjis told

Reuters.

Environmentalists said the proposed evaporation basins would have

threatened endangered species, including gray whales, sea lions, black

sea turtles and prong-horned antelopes.

The warm water San Ignacio Lagoon is one of only four in the world

where gray whales go to mate and calve after migrating 6,200 miles

(10,000 km) from the Bering Straits down the Canadian and U.S. Pacific

coast each year.

ESSA already operates a smaller salt works nearby, which ships the

bulk of its output to Japan.

The new plant would have involved burrowing out 116 square miles (260

square km) - twice the size of Washington, D.C. It would have sucked

6,000 gallons (22,700 litres) per second of water out of the lagoon,

perhaps affecting local fish hatcheries, critics said.

ITEM #2

Title: Mexico halts Baja salt project

President bows to environmental protests

Source: ASSOCIATED PRESS

Date: March 2, 2000

MEXICO CITY, March 2 - After months of protests by ecological groups,

Mexico's president on Thursday halted plans to expand a huge salt

plant in a southern Baja California lagoon where gray whales breed.

INSET:

'We considered a number of arguments from different people, but the

one we decided on was that the site should be preserved for

ecotourism.'

- JAMES E. BRUMM

Mitsubishi director

THE COMPANY that had proposed the expansion, Exportadora de Sal, S.A.,

or ESSA, said it would not challenge the order.

The San Ignacio lagoon is a winter breeding ground for the gray whale,

a fact environmental groups cited in their opposition to the project.

But President Ernesto Zedillo, pointing to an extensive environmental

study that showed the plant would pose no threat to the whales,

chastised plant opponents for focusing on that issue.

"There are few places in the world like the Vizcaino Reserve," Zedillo

said. "We're dealing with a unique place in the world both for the

species that inhabit it and for its natural beauty, which we should

preserve."

ESSA is a joint venture between Japan's Mitsubishi Corp. and the

Mexican Commerce Ministry.

"Both of us shared the vision that we should not go ahead with the

project," Mitsubishi director James E. Brumm said at a news conference

after Ernesto Zedillo announced his decision. "We considered a number

of arguments from different people, but the one we decided on was that

the site should be preserved for ecotourism."

ESSA is outgrowing its current salt plant, which is the world's

largest salt evaporation facility and is located in the Ojo de Liebre

lagoon just south of the city of Guerrero Negro in southern Baja.

The company planned to construct another $150 million operation near

the San Ignacio lagoon, a pristine site nearby that forms part of the

Vizcaino Biosphere Reserve. The reserve was declared a world heritage

site by UNESCO in 1993.

Environmental groups hailed the decision.

"It has been a very tough fight for five years with one of the richest

companies of the world and the Mexican government," said poet-novelist

Homero Aridjis, president of the environmental Group of 100, the first

of many organizations to denounce the plan.

Joel Reynolds of the New York-based Natural Resources Defense Council,

called this "one of the most important environmental decisions in our

generation, not just for Mexico but for the world as well."

Environmental groups in Mexico and the United States launched an

international campaign to prevent the salt plant's expansion.

Last July, 34 of the world's most distinguished scientists signed a

letter protesting the plant's expansion that appeared in newspapers

across the world, while the Natural Resources Defense Council led a

letter-writing campaign.

The new plant would have created more than 200 jobs. Zedillo said the

government would create special projects and provide compensation for

the communities.

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