Two environmental groups report a surge in U.S. exports of used lead-acid batteries to Mexico, and suggest it might be the result of U.S. companies skirting tough new standards north of the border on airborne lead. In a joint study released June 14, Occupational Knowledge International, a San Francisco organization, and Fronteras Comunes in Mexico City say U.S. exports of used lead-acid batteries to Mexico more than doubled from 2009 to 2010. The exports began to spike in 2008, after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency tightened national air-quality standards for airborne lead. The battery shipments reached 237,389 metric tons last year—up from almost zero in 2006. The study notes regulation of battery recycling plants is considerably weaker in Mexico than in...
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Six weeks after authorities in Chile’s Aysén region approved the environmental-impact study for the US$10 billion, five-dam HidroAysén hydroelectric project, an appeals court in Puerto Montt on June 20 issued a temporary suspension order putting the controversial project on hold. The suspension will allow the courts to decide on three lawsuits filed by several politicians, environmental groups, and citizen organizations. The suits concern the adequacy of the company’s water rights; the weighing of critical information—such as the risk of global-warming-related river inundations—in the environmental evaluation; and the legitimacy of authorities’ approval of project plans containing several illegal elements. The lawsuits were originally filed in Coyhaique, Aysén’s capital, but were transferred to Puerto Montt after three Aysén judges were...
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Chile’s lower house is poised to approve a ban on shark finning following unanimous approval of the measure in April in the Chilean Senate. Fishing crews engaged in finning catch sharks, remove and stow the fins and throw the sharks back into the water to die. The practice allows crews to avoid clogging cargo space with shark carcasses, reserving it instead for what’s most valuable—the fins, which fetch exorbitant prices in Asian markets. But it also permits staggering numbers of sharks to be killed, a wholesale slaughter that in some regions has reduced shark populations by up to 90%. The Chilean bill, which reflects similar measures approved or under consideration in other countries where shark finning occurs, requires fishermen who catch shark to return...
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A publicity stunt by Greenpeace and other non-governmental organizations opposing a planned mega-development on the Baja California coast of the Sea of Cortez has prompted an angry exchange of words with Mexico’s environment ministry, which has accused the groups of openly defying the law. To boost their campaign against the proposed resort, which the Spanish developer Hansa Urbana wants to build north of Cabo Pulmo National Marine Park, the environmental groups floated a buoy 15 meters (49 feet) wide off the beach on June 5. A sign attached to the 2-ton buoy, which resembles a life ring, read “Let’s Save Cabo Pulmo.” Environmental groups have made the battle over the proposed development, called Cabo Cortés, the centerpiece of their opposition to the...
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