Brazilian officials are optimistic that a recent Supreme Court ruling to uphold a ban on imports of used tires and retreads will end a dispute with Europe over the prohibition because it is grounded in environmental and public-health concerns. In an 8-to-1 vote, Brazil’s Supreme Court last month endorsed the government’s position that such imports create environmental and health threats by boosting the number of tires discarded in landfills and illegal dumps and creating breeding grounds for disease-carrying mosquitoes. Though the text of the decision is not slated to be released until the end of the month, a summary on the Supreme Court’s web site said the tribunal found “the importation of used tires must be prohibited because it results in...
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Environmental stewardship has become a lightning rod in the debate here about a bid by a faction of Miskito Indians to gain independence for their Atlantic coast region. Leaders of the Miskitos’ separatist movement claim one of their key goals is to exert more responsible local control over the impoverished region’s rich natural resources. But government officials argue a main reason for the rift is the refusal of some Miskitos to comply with regulations aimed at protecting sea turtles, fisheries and forests. The Miskitos declared independence from Nicaragua on April 19 in hopes of transforming the country’s two Atlantic Autonomous Regions into what they call the Communitarian Nation of Mosquitia. Their leaders assert that with the central government in charge, gold, timber and fishing interests...
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Chilean officials are scrambling in the wake of a decision last month by the country’s Supreme Court to block government environmental approval of a US$500 million coal-fired thermoelectric plant in Region 5, just west of Santiago. Insisting that Chile’s energy supplies will not keep pace with demand, officials are saying openly that they will try to revise laws to get around the court’s unanimous June 22 decision. The Supreme Court ruling upheld a January appeals-court decision that the Regional Environmental Commission (Corema) had acted illegally when it granted an environmental permit for the 270-megawatt Campiche plant. The Chilean company AES Gener has been building the power station in Puchuncaví, north of Valparaiso, and thus far has completed 40% of the work...
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