Ecobreves – MEXICO: Protest Against Toxic Dump on Border

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

MEXICO CITY, Dec 16 2006 (IPS) - Raúl Contreras, municipal president of the Mexican city of Sonoyta, on the U.S. border, told Tierramérica that he would not grant a construction permit for a controversial toxic waste dump. Mexico's federal authorities gave the green light to a dump that would hold 45,000 tons of industrial waste, located less than 100 km from the border with the U.S. state of Arizona, and along the border of an Indian reservation. But it is up to the municipal authorities to decide on a change in land-use rights, indispensable for finalizing the project.

“On May 30 the former municipal administration denied the permit for land use. And I (in office since September) am not thinking about opening the case. I see it as something already resolved,” said Contreras.

“These projects that are dangerous because of their environmental or health effects should be subject to public opinion. They can't be done behind the community's back,” he said.