A Tough Month for the Environment in Mexico Angelica Enciso L. - La Jornada
go to original September 4, 2014

Pemex, the state oil company, has stated that the Hondo River gasoline spill came from a bungled attempt to illegally tap into the oil pipeline — most probably by organized criminal gangs. (World.Mic)

Within one month, four environmental 'accidents' were recorded in Mexico: two oil spills and two of toxic chemicals, the international organization Greenpeace highlighted, also noting that 70 percent of Mexico's rivers have some degree of contamination.

In an analysis of President Enrique Peña Nieto's government, the environmental organization said that in 20 months, an extractive model regarding natural resources has been consolidated, using the promise of economic growth that has not arrived, and the government has showed its contempt for the environment.

It noted that oil spills occurred in the towns of Cadereyta, Nuevo León, and Huimanguillo, Tabasco, while cyanide was spilled in the town of El Oro, Durango, and 40 million liters [10,566,882 US gallons] of toxic substances were spilled into the Sonora and Bacanuchi rivers in Cananea, Sonora, from the Buenavista del Cobre mine, a subsidiary of Grupo Mexico.

Greenpeace said that these cases are the tip of the iceberg of the opacity under which the mining industry operates in Mexico, "where lax laws allow them to pollute, in exchange for paltry fines as compensation for the damage."

It added that these facts reveal poor watershed management, poor supervision of industries by the National Water Commission (Conagua) and lax laws and penalties.

Read the rest at Mexico Voices

Mexico Voices is a blogging endeavor aimed at raising the awareness of U.S. citizens regarding the destructive impact of the U.S. economic policy and the War on Drugs on Mexico — on its people, their economic and physical security and their human rights, on the nation’s dysfunctional justice system, and on the rule of law and Mexico’s fragile democracy. Visit the website at MexicoVoices.blogspot.mx.

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