Subject: Case Study - Whales stall proposed Mexico salt mine (fwd)
Mike Williamson (pita@www1.wheelock.edu)
Wed, 22 Apr 1998 08:47:32 -0400 (EDT)
"Mother, Mother Ocean, I have heard your call,
Wanted to sail upon your waters, since I was three feet tall"
Jimmy Buffett
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---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 20 Apr 1998 07:28:39 -0400
From: Dagmar Fertl <Dagmar_Fertl@mms.gov>
Reply-To: Marine Mammals Research and Conservation Discussion
<MARMAM@UVVM.UVIC.CA>
To: MARMAM@UVVM.UVIC.CA
Subject: newsclip - Whales stall proposed Mexico salt mine
Whales stall proposed Mexico salt mine
April 17, 1998
By Environmental News Network staff
(ENN) -- Scientific institutions from Mexico and the United
States are conducting an environmental impact study to
see if a proposed salt mine in Baja California would disrupt one of
the last gray whale breeding habitats in the world.
The Mexican government and Mitsubishi Corp. would like to
construct a salt mine in the San Ignacio Lagoon. Environmental
organizations are opposed to the project because they fear the
mine would disrupt the ecological balance of the region, which
includes historic mating and birthing grounds for gray whales.
In response to growing concern about the potential impacts of the
salt mine, Mexico and Mitsubishi have agreed to halt development
of the project until the completion of an environmental impact
study.
After the study concludes in the summer of 1999, a panel of
prominent scientists will review the results and make their
recommendations.
According to Joaquin Ardura, technical vice president of
Exportadora de Sal, S.A. (ESSA), "If the environmental authorities
say no to the project, we will not continue with it. We will give
respect to the decision, to the final decision from the authorities."
Although the gray whale was removed from the U.S. endangered
species list two years ago and populations are said to be thriving
worldwide, localized pollution along their 12,000-mile migration
route and human overfishing continues to reduce the quality of its
habitat, said Jean-Michel Cousteau, son of the late Jacques
Cousteau.
"Here, California gray whales enjoy a safe refuge for mating and
giving birth," Cousteau said. "The proposed project threatens to
disrupt the delicate ecological balance among the mangroves,
birds, whales and other species in the lagoon."
In 1954, the San Ignacio Lagoon was declared a sanctuary by the
Mexican government. In 1988, the area surrounding the lagoon
was set aside as the El Vizcaino Desert Biosphere Reserve. The
area, of which the lagoon is a part, is a World Heritage Site.
Cousteau, upon return from a recent visit and study of the lagoon,
said that the proposed project is "incompatible with the goal of
preserving wildlife in and around the Sebastian Viscayno
Biosphere Reserve and World Heritage Site, of which San Ignacio
is an important part."
However, ESSA has said that the project is unlikely to harm this
ecosystem, and will in fact draw new wildlife to the area through
the creation of wetlands.
From ESSA's perspective, San Ignacio is an ideal location for the
what it considers to be "a model sustainable development project
that takes renewable resources -- sea water, wind and energy
from the sun -- to create a mineral vital to human life and in high
demand around the world."
The proposed mine includes more than 116 square miles of
evaporation ponds, pumps and processing works, a pier and
improvements to the nearby town of Abreojos, which would
supply the workforce of 200 needed to operate the facility.
Even though Joel Reynolds, senior attorney and director of the
Marine Mammal Protection Project for the Natural Resources
Defense Council, doesn't believe that there is a current international
need for a new salt mine, he said that "if economic development is
the issue, there are many other locations where Mitsubishi may
build their facility."
Reynolds said that the elements needed for a salt mine include lots
of sun and salt flats, elements that can be found all over the world
in places like Australia, France and, of course, Mexico.
However, ESSA says there are few places in the world suitable
for salt production, and the conditions needed to produce
salt by solar evaporation are extremely rare.
To produce salt, ESSA says they need: vast, barren salt flats or
desert plains to accommodate shallow ponds impermeable soils to hold
water so it can evaporate high temperatures and windy conditions to
speed evaporation safe access for ships a natural salt-water source
Reynolds believes that ESSA has decided to locate the facility at
San Ignacio because it has a plant 150 kilometers north of San
Ignacio in the town of Guerrero Negro, which would make it
cheaper than operating a mine at a more distant site.
"If we have learned anything in the last century," Cousteau said, "it
is that many development activities have long-term environmental
impacts far beyond the ability of humans to foresee, or to limit."
"The issue is much bigger than whales," he said. "My concern is
that with the proposed workforce will come a population increase
that will disrupt the delicate ecological balance of the area. There
is potential for huge human impact on populations of fish, birds,
geese and marine species as well as on the Mangrove forest on
which so many species depend."
"I have come to the conclusion that major developments such as
that planned for San Ignacio Lagoon are fundamentally
incompatible with protecting wild places and species," Cousteau
said. "It is time to err on the side of prudence, and not at the
expense of the future."
ESSA says their experience in the similar facility in Guerrero
Negro does not indicate any reduction in the fishing industry and it
appears that the only change in tourism has been positive, based in
part on improvements in the basic travel infrastructure and
available services.