A Triumph for Baja Whales and Wildlife! Mexico Cancels Salt Plant!

International Marine Mammal Project

"Five years after the Grupo de los Cien [Group of 100] first denounced the plan to build the world's largest saltworks on the shores of Laguna San Ignacio, the president of Mexico has been forced to cancel the project in the face of widespread international opposition. The last pristine breeding and calving ground of the gray whale has been saved. This landmark victory over Mitsubishi and the Mexican government will influence the course of environmental protection in Mexico for years to come."

- Homero Aridjis, Grupo de los Cien

In a stunning move, Mexico's President Ernesto Zedillo announced on March 2, 2000 that he was canceling the salt-works planned for the shores of San Ignacio Lagoon, a part of El Vizcaino Reserve, the largest wildlife refuge in Latin America. This wilderness treasure has also been designated a Whale Sanctuary and an International Biosphere Reserve by the United Nations. Earth Island Institute and many other Mexican and US environmental organiza-tions, who had campaigned for five years to halt the building plan, were jubilant at the news.

Two giant corporations, Mexico's federally owned Exportadora de Sal, S.A. de CM (ESSA) and Japan's Mitsubishi Corporation, had proposed to build an industrial salt extraction plant on the shores of Baja California's San Ignacio Lagoon - the last undeveloped gray whale birthing lagoon in the world.

The proposed salt plant and its attendant piers, conveyer belts, evaporation ponds, roads, and buildings would have covered 116 square miles. Conveyer belts, carrier vessels, pipelines, heavy trucks, bulldozers, and pumps sucking water from San Ignacio Lagoon would have generated enormous quantities of toxic brine and other pollutants, as well as industrial levels of diesel fumes, fuel spills, and raucous noise. The new plant also threatened to attract thousands of additional people, miles of new roads, and further industrial development to the Lagoon area.

To those of you who joined us in urging President Zedillo and the Mitsubishi Corporation to halt the plant, we thank you. Your combined efforts have been vindicated!

Particularly important was the work of Mexican environmental organizations, such as Grupo de los Cien, Pro Esteros, and fifty other groups, who labored to protect San Ignacio Lagoon.

Earth Island Institute's International Marine Mammal Project's campaign to persuade Mitsubishi and the Mexican government to immediately terminate the project has been a great success. Our victory once again proves that grassroots support can make the important difference in protecting our wild heritage of whales and wildlife. For now, San Ignacio Lagoon has been saved, but much remains to be done to safeguard gray whales and Baja wilderness for future generations.

A Short, Sad History of ESSA/Mitsubishi's Guerrero Negro Salt Plant
ESSA and Mitsubishi jointly run an existing salt plant about 100 miles north of San Ignacio Lagoon. For years, rumors have come from local people that the Guerrero Negro plant was harming the gray whale lagoon of Ojo de Liebre, used to barge salt to ocean-going carriers. Thanks to a coalition of Mexican environmental groups that filed suit in early 1999, the truth is now coming out:

• 1995: Because of strong public and scientific opposition ESSA/Mitsubishi's proposal for building a new salt plant at San Ignacio Lagoon is rejected by the Mexican environmental agency. In an unprecedented step, however, the govern-ment, under heavy pressure from the companies, agrees to reconsider the salt plant and a new environmental impact analysis.

• 1995: An inspection of the existing Guerrero Negro saltworks by the govern-ment found 298 violations of Mexican environmental laws. Of these, 79 were considered by the government agency as "serious threats to the environment. ESSA and Mitsubishi were charged to clean up the violations. The results of this "environmental audit" were kept secret by ESSA/Mitsubishi and the Mexican envi-ronment agency. It was revealed only by a 1999 court order won by the Mexican environmental coalition suing the government.

• December 1997: A die-off of more than 100 endangered sea turtles brought a government inspection team to Ojo de Liebre. For the first rime, they were able to confirm the rumors of water pollution. Government scientists concluded that the turtles died from salt poisoning caused by a brine spill from the saltworks. ESSA! Mitsubishi continue to deny any spill, despite the scientific studies that have documented their culpability.

• May 1998: While the government inspection ream was still investigating the December 1997 die-off of sea turtles, yet another toxic brine spill killed hundreds of thou-sands of fish and other marine life in a channel adjacent to the ESSA/Mitsubishi salt-works.

• Spring 1998: 287 highly toxic heavy-duty batteries were discovered by divers on the bottom of Ojo de Liebre Lagoon, dumped by ESSA/Mitsubishi employees from the array of lighted buoys which mark the channel for their salt barges. When a battery expired on a buoy, work-ers simply tossed them overboard into the lagoon waters and put in a new battery.

• March 1999: A coalition of fifty Mexican environmental groups filed crim-inal complaints against the government of Mexico for failure to enforce environmen-tal and anti-pollution laws against the ESSA/Mirsubiahi saltworks.

• May 1999: The Mexican government determined that 134 of the 298 environ-mental violations noted in 1995 had still not been rectified. Again, the information was withheld from the public, until obtained by Mexican environmentalists by way of a court order.

• December 1999: At last, the Mexican Attorney General's Office for Environ-mental Protection issues fines against ESSA/Mitsubishi for polluting Ojo de Liebre Lagoon in Baja and requires the companies to catty our remedial actions.

• March 2000: Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo permanently cancels the second proposal to build a massive salt-works at San Ignacio Lagoon. Environ-mental groups in Mexico and the U.S. have won a great victory after live years of hard work. ESSA/Mitsubishi proposes to spend $50-60 million to upgrade the existing saltworks at Guerrero Negro and Ojo de Liebre Lagoon, including the installation of a toxic brine diffusion sys-tem. Environmental groups are wary of this proposal and will seek a full environ-mental review of the proposed upgrade, to prevent further damage to the lagoons and surrounding desert habitat.

Friendly Whales and Rare Antelope
El Vizcaino Reserve, Mexicali, which en compasses San Ignacio Lagoon and surrounding desert country of Baja, is the largest wildlife reserve in Latin America, and has been designated an international Biosphere Reserve by the United Nations.

More than 560 species of plants are known with-in the reserve. Baja's northernmost stand of mangrove, a salt-water tolerant tree, fringes the coast of San Ignacio Lagoon. Rare species of wildlife include a population of the endangered Sonoran pronghorn, peregrine falcon, golden and bald eagle, osprey, and several spe-cies of endan-gered sea turtle. Bottlenosed dolphins are often seen in the waters of San Ignacio Lagoon.

Perhaps the most amazing and fragile bio-logical treasure is the "friendly" gray whales of San Ignacio Lagoon. Each year, gray whales migrate from the Arctic waters off Alaska and Siberia to San Ignacio Lagoon, the shallow lagoons of Baja, to give birth to young calves. Only in San Ignacio Lagoon, which is the most undeveloped lagoon in Baja, will gray whales over 30 feet long come up to small boats, piloted by Mexican guides, and seek our humans, allowing themselves to be touched, rubbed, and patted. Female grays will often bring their shy young calves, who learn to approach the boats and be touched by people.

This rich array of wildlife and plants now needs our help to survive - the wild desert and coastal ecosystem of El Vizcaino is at stake.

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THE LETTER THAT WAS SENT TO PRESIDENT ZEDILLO:

26 Environmental and Animal Welfare Groups Urge President of Mexico to Halt the Baja Salt Plant

Dear President Zedillo:

We are writing so you out of our deep concern for the preservation of the land, waters and wildlife of the Vizcaino Biosphere Reserve, and the environmental threats posed by the proposed ESSA/Mitsubishi Corporation salt plant on the shores of San Ignacio Lagoon.

We urge you to withdraw plans for the industrial salt extraction plant as San Ignacio Lagoon. We strongly feel this area should be protected as an international treasure, preserving its wild nature unimpaired for future generations. We hope you will work with us to increase protection for El Vizcaino and to develop sustainable and compatible alternative economic plans to assist the people of Baja while preserving the fragile desert and marine environments.

We know in the United States, where the modern idea for National Parks and Wildlife Refuges was born, that we do not get a second chance if important ecological areas are destroyed. There are many places where nations can produce industrial salt - there is only one San Ignacio Lagoon, and it cannot be replaced. A massive industrial salt extraction plant has no place within the protected boundaries of El Vizcaino, the largest wildlife reserve in Latin America.

Signed by: Earth Island Institute; Earthtrust; American Society for she Prevention of Cruelty to Animals; American Cetacean Society; Animal Protection Institute; Animal Welfare Institute; Center for Whale Research; Cetacean Society International; Defenders of Wildlife; Dolphin Connection; Environmental Investigation Agency; Friends of the Earth; Greenpeace Mexico; Grupo de los Cien; Humane Society of the United States; In Defense of Animals; International Wildlife Coalition; Marine Mammal Fund; Greenpeace Foundation; National Parks & Conservation Association; Pacific Orca Society; People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals; Performing Animal Welfare Society; Rainforest Action Network; Sierra Club; Whale & Dolphin Conservation Society.

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An Open Letter to the Members of the World Heritage Committee

Dear World Heritage Committee Members:

Many of us have worked to establish and support the outstanding work of the United Nations to preserve the Earth's Cultural and Natural Heritage through the efforts of the World Heritage Bureau and Committee. Our most precious monuments and natural inspirations for all humans are identified, recorded, protected, and celebrated through the work of the Bureau and Committee. During the Committee's upcoming meeting in Kyoto, the fate of El Vizcaino Biosphere Reserve and San Ignacio Lagoon, Baja, Mexico, will be under consideration. We strongly urge you to include this area on the List of World Heritage in Danger.

Indeed, we are deeply concerned about the integrity of the World Heritage List and protected areas around the world. El Vizcaino is the largest wild refuge in Latin America. Its unique blend of bountiful coastal ecosystems and interior desert, coupled with the spectacular annual migration of the world's gray whale population to give birth to their young in San Ignacio and other lagoons, are of international importance. A clear and unified approach to sustainable development is needed to protect the integrity and uniqueness of this World Heritage Site.

Sincerely yours,

David R. Brower
Raymond F. Dasmann, Ph.D.
Russell E. Train
Edgar Wayburn, MD

What You Can Do:

• Write to Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo and thank him for his courageous cancellation of the proposed ESSAlMirsubishi saltworks at San Ignacin Lagoon. Urge him to take additional steps to clean up the existing salt plant at Guerrero Negro (near Ojo de Liebre Lagoon). Also urge him to help protect and promote the local fishing community and eco-rourism at San Ignacio Lagoon:

  President Ernesso Zedillo
  Mexican Embassy
  1911 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
  Washington, DC 20006

• Letters can also be sent to the Mitsubishi Corporation. Thank them for agreeing to drop their plans for building the saltworks as San Ignacio Lagoon, and urge them to concentrate on cleaning up their Guerrero Negro saltworks:

  Mr. James Brumm
  Executive Vice President
  Mitsubishi International Corporation
  520 Madison Avenue
  New York, NY 10022

For Further Information:

• Check Earth Island's website for updated information on this and other important environmental issues: <www.earthisland.org>

• More than fifty Mexican grassroots environmental organizations have teamed up with Natural Resources Defense Council and International Fund for Animal Welfare to oppose the saltworks at San Ignacio Lagoon. Find out more information from their website: <www.save-bajawhales.org