Green groups ask Canada-based body to assess Mexican LNG project

Houston (Platts)--5May2005

Mexican and international environmental organizations have asked the North
American Commission for Environmental Cooperation to assess the environmental
impact of an LNG project proposed by ChevronTexaco in the Coronado Islands.
The groups filed a "citizens' submission" with Montreal-based CEC on Tuesday,
claiming the Mexican government has failed to enforce environmental
regulations by authorizing the project, a CEC spokesman told Platts Thursday.

They allege that construction of an LNG plant in this archipelago off the
coast of Baja California Sur threatens the survival of the largest nesting
colony of a seabird -- the Xantus's murrelet -- as well as other flora and
fauna there, according to a report by Mexican newspaper El Financiero, as
monitored by the BBC. The CEC will review the submission and ask Mexico's
government to respond to the allegations, and based on the response the CEC
could begin an intensive fact gathering process that would take some two years
to complete, the spokesman said.

Although the CEC has no say on the project's future, it can "shine a spotlight
on information that could put pressure on the government involved," the
spokesman noted. A ChevronTexaco spokesman said the company just wanted "to
emphasize that the petitions filed with the CEC concern the government of
Mexico" and not the company. 

Regarding the process possibly delaying the plant's construction, he said the
company had yet to set a timetable for the project. "We believe that the
permits complained of were issued in full and complete compliance with all
applicable laws, and that there has been no failure by the government of
Mexico to follow and enforce the processes and procedures for granting the
permits required under its laws," the spokesman said in a later statement.
"ChevronTexaco is committed to mitigating any potential environmental impacts
in compliance with permit conditions and in consultation with the appropriate
government agencies. Every effort is being made to minimize potential
environmental impacts to wildlife..."

Arturo Moreno, coordinator of the Greenpeace energy and climate change
campaign, said ChevronTexaco wants to build the facility inside Mexican
territory to evade US environmental regulations, according to El Financiero's
report. By authorizing the project, the Mexican government is allowing "a
flagrant violation of Mexico's environmental regulations" and has erred in the
application of environmental legislation, he was quoted as saying. The LNG
plant could alter the ecosystem through discharges of chlorinated water,
Moreno said, noting that in the US such discharges are prohibited because of
their toxic and fatal effects. "Chevron-Texaco could not have chosen a worse
location," said Alfonso Aguirre, director of the Islands Ecology and
Conservation Group, in the El Financiero report. "They have 10 species of
plants and animals that are found nowhere else on earth." The Los Angeles
Audubon Society, Biological Diversity Centre, and the American Bird
Conservancy are among the groups requesting the CEC to act.

This story was originally published in Platts Natural Gas Alert
http://www.naturalgasalert.platts.com

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