Riviera Maya, Q.R. — American company Vulcan violated its environmental impact agreement at its Sactun company in Riviera Maya said President Claudia Sheinbaum. She says her government is hoping to reach an agreement with the American-based company to avoid going to trial.
On Monday, Sheinbaum broached the topic during her morning press conference saying the Riviera Maya company Calica, now SacTun, violated what was established in its Environmental Impact Statement.
Sheinbaum made the comment after reports that U.S. legislators asked U.S. President Donald Trump, via a letter, to intervene in their favor.
“I would like to inform the congressmen who sent the letter, both to them and to President Trump, that we are going to send a letter clarifying this for them. I asked Alicia Bárcena and she is also meeting with the company to seek alternative solutions,” said Sheinbaum.
On Monday, Sheinbaum clarified that “there was never any expropriation of said lands, which are located on the outskirts of Playa del Carmen. The problem is that the company left the area of exploitation that it had authorized and went to other areas, affecting cenotes and aquifers.
“And despite being informed, they continued the exploitation and that was when former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador decided to change the use of the land, but there is no expropriation.
“It is now a protected natural area where the exploitation of these materials is not permitted because it is seriously affecting the environment.
The company should have adhered to the environmental impact statement it had, no company can violate that statement, but they expanded their exploitation zone,” said Claudia Sheinbaum.
She reiterated that she will continue talks with the company and will send letters to congressmen and the White House so that there is no misinformation and perhaps avoid a legal conflict.
If not, it will be resolved in court. The fact is that “there (in Riviera Maya) exploitation cannot continue due to the environmental impacts caused by this extraction outside the area where they were permitted.”
