SAN IGNACIO LAGOON (fw originally by DIAN HARDY)

[Guest guest]

This should have been up at GREEN VIBES a week ago. Dunno what happened...-

Paul.

 

> -

> Sunday, February 27, 2000 3:10 PM

> SAN IGNACIO LAGOON

>

>

> > Feb. 25, 2000, 9:08PM

> >

> > Bid for salt facility on Mexican lagoon leads to whale of a fight

> > By DUDLEY ALTHAUS

> > Copyright 2000 Houston Chronicle

> >

> > SAN IGNACIO LAGOON, Mexico -- With a chill wind frothing the water's

> > surface, tourists and locals alike peer from their boats, their eyes

> > sweeping the wide but shallow bay for signs of gray whales.

> >

> > Wintering geese bounce in the shoreline water. Herons, egrets and other

> > birds swoop in solo or by the twos and threes to feed in the shallows.

> > Desert brush shimmies in the persistent breeze. The setting sun paints

the

> > distant mountains across the lagoon a mellow gold that slowly darkens to

> an

> > angry maroon.

> >

> > And then come the whales: Spouts of mist shoot 10 feet from the sea's

> > surface. A portion of an animal's back glances briefly from the water,

> then

> > disappears again. A tail rises here, a fin over there. The upper half of

a

> > whale, 15 feet of flesh, shoots like a vertical pillar of stone from the

> > dark water as the animal scans its surroundings.

> >

> > This protected place, tucked about halfway down the Pacific Coast of

> > Mexico's Baja California peninsula, is the last untarnished winter

refuge

> of

> > the gray whale, a once-endangered mammal that journeys to these southern

> > waters each year from Alaska to mate and give birth.

> >

> > For six years now, a company jointly owned by the Mexican government and

> the

> > Japanese industrial conglomerate Mitsubishi has proposed to build a

> > sprawling salt-producing facility on the shore of the lagoon. The

project

> > would be the largest of its kind in the world.

> >

> > And, for nearly as long, a sometimes unwieldy alliance of local

fisherman,

> > Mexico City intellectuals and lawyers as well as several well-funded

U.S.

> > environmental groups have beaten back the effort. They fear the project

> will

> > damage the whales' habitat and bring the demise of a rural way of life.

> >

> > In the process, the proposed saltworks has been caught up in public

> > wrangling. It's all part of a changing Mexican landscape in which

> citizens'

> > groups, sometimes with the aid of international counterparts, have

elbowed

> > their way into an expanding circle of political players.

> >

> > " The country has never had this kind of open debate, " says Joaquin

Ardura,

> > the technical director of the salt company, Exportadora de Sal, known as

> > ESSA. " It's something new. These are all steps toward more open

politics. "

> >

> > Now, ESSA officials say, the company will make another try at getting

> > government approval for the San Ignacio Lagoon project soon, perhaps

> within

> > the next few weeks. The new proposal will include enhanced environmental

> > safeguards for the whales, Ardura says.

> >

> > While the Mexican authorities have sided with the project's opponents in

> the

> > past, environmentalists say this time may prove otherwise.

> >

> > " This year will be decisive, " says Homero Aridjes, the Mexico City poet

> and

> > environmental gadfly who first marshaled Mexican and foreign opponents

for

> > protests against the proposed facility. " Sometimes governments approve

> > unpopular projects during a president's last year in office. "

> >

> > President Ernesto Zedillo, who railed against environmentalists and

other

> > " anti-globalization " citizens' groups at last month's convention of

> > government and business leaders in Davos, Switzerland, leaves office in

> > December. He will be replaced by the winner of the July 2 presidential

> > election.

> >

> > In his Davos speech, Zedillo argued that economic development, led by

> > industries like the ESSA saltworks, offer poor countries such as Mexico

a

> > chance to become prosperous. He said that only when the countries become

> > more affluent can they afford to worry about things like the

environment.

> >

> > But economic growth brought by the 6-year-old North American Free Trade

> > Agreement, which will drop most duties and other trade barriers between

> > Mexico and the United States and Canada by 2009, has so far largely

failed

> > to improve Mexico's threatened environment.

> >

> > Ardura and other ESSA executives say that the proposed saltworks would

> bring

> > badly needed jobs to a remote and impoverished corner of Mexico. Citing

> > studies by a host of prominent whale experts that the company has hired,

> the

> > executives insist that the operation would not harm the whales.

> >

> > But opponents offer several arguments against the project.

> >

> > They say that building the saltworks in one of Mexico's most

ecologically

> > fragile areas would irreparably harm the gray whales' nursery deep in

the

> > lagoon.

> >

> > They say that industrial development, no matter how carefully planned,

> would

> > expose one of the most pristine coastlines in North America to

population

> > growth and environmental degradation.

> >

> > They say that allowing development at the lagoon would make a mockery of

> > environmental statements by government officials.

> >

> > And, they say, if the San Ignacio Lagoon can be developed, any place

can.

> >

> > " This is a most transcendental precedent, " says Alberto Szekely, a

Mexico

> > City lawyer and career Mexican diplomat who is representing the

coalition

> of

> > environmentalists opposed to the San Ignacio project. " The future of

> > environmental justice will depend on (it). "

> >

> > The proposed saltworks would occupy 116 square miles of natural salt

flats

> > at the head of the San Ignacio Lagoon. The lagoon is part of a whale

> > sanctuary declared by the Mexican government in the 1970s and, as such,

is

> a

> > legally protected area.

> >

> > The lagoon and a surrounding swath of central Baja are included in the

> > Vizcaino Biosphere Reserve, the largest in Latin America. The biosphere

is

> > home to bighorn sheep and a host of other endangered or " threatened "

> animals

> > and plants.

> >

> > " That should mean something, " says Mark Spalding, a professor of

> > international environmental law in San Diego who is advising the

> > International Fund for Animal Welfare and the National Resources Defense

> > Council, the two U.S. organizations that are largely bankrolling the

> > opposition to the saltworks.

> >

> > " Does that just go away because someone wants to invest and create a few

> > hundred jobs? The big picture here is environmental policy, " Spalding

> says.

> > " Even if the saltworks by itself had no impact directly, we still have

to

> > answer the question of what are the indirect impacts. "

> >

> > Spalding and other environmentalists liken the current effort to stop

the

> > saltworks at San Ignacio to the binational opposition against the

planned

> > nuclear waste disposal site at Sierra Blanca, in the borderlands of West

> > Texas. The dump proposal was scrapped last year after bitter debate.

> >

> > Although environmentalists seek to protect dozens of animal and plant

> > species by halting the saltworks, the whale is their most formidable

> weapon.

> >

> > " The gray whale is the animal superstar of Mexico, " says Serge Dedina, a

> > University of Arizona geographer who published a book this year on San

> > Ignacio. " There is no other animal that has generated as much support. "

> >

> > ESSA has a facility near the village of Guerrero Negro, about 85 miles

> north

> > of San Ignacio, where it produces salt by pumping sea water into large

and

> > very shallow holding tanks in the table-flat desert.

> >

> > As the sea water evaporates in the desert sun and wind, the increasingly

> > saline residue is pumped into ever shallower ponds until, finally, a

thick

> > crust of salt and a solution of brine remains. The salt is collected by

> > large machines akin to road graders, cleaned and loaded on vessels for

> > export.

> >

> > Although it accounts for only 4 percent of world salt production, the

> > Guerrero Negro facility is the largest saltworks in the world. About 80

> > percent of the 7 million tons of salt that ESSA produces annually at

> > Guerrero Negro is exported, much of it to Japan. The salt, which is

mostly

> > used in industry, generates about $80 million in revenues each year for

> > ESSA.

> >

> > Because ocean-going freighters cannot dock in the shallow waters at

> Guerrero

> > Negro, the salt produced there has to first be sent by barge to a nearby

> > island for loading on the vessels.

> >

> > Once fully operational in 10 to 20 years, the San Ignacio facility would

> > produce about the same amount of salt as Guerrero Negro does now,

company

> > officials say.

> >

> > They say the San Ignacio works would dramatically lower costs because

> > ocean-going ships could load at a nearby pier.

> >

> > While such salt production is a largely natural process,

environmentalists

> > say the noise of the extraction pumps and the brine residue that is

> returned

> > to the sea have a detrimental impact on the whales and other sea life.

> They

> > blame brine contamination for the deaths last year of endangered sea

> turtles

> > near Guerrero Negro.

> >

> > Company officials point out that nothing grows on the salt flats near

the

> > lagoon now and say that the evaporation ponds in Guerrero Negro attract

> > waves of wading birds and other wildlife.

> >

> > To reduce noise levels, ESSA proposes to use electric pumps at San

Ignacio

> > instead of the diesel pumps employed at Guerrero Negro. The salt

produced

> at

> > the new facility would be loaded onto ships from a milelong pier near

the

> > village of Punta Abreojos, which is outside the lagoon.

> >

> > But environmentalist say the saltworks' evaporation ponds could alter

the

> > flow of rainwater runoff into the bay. And local fishermen fear that

> pumping

> > large quantities of water from the lagoon would alter its ecosystem.

They

> > also complain that the pier would be built atop prime lobster and

abalone

> > fishing beds.

> >

> > Both the company and the environmentalists have produced conflicting

> studies

> > on the project's impact, with prominent scientists from the Scripps

> > Institute in San Diego hired by the company concluding that the

operation

> > would pose no threat to the whales.

> >

> > The growing whale population in the lagoons surrounding Guerrero Negro,

> > where salt has been produced since the late 1950s, would seem to bolster

> > that argument.

> >

> > " I have never seen a whale harmed by the saltworks, " says Juan Lopez,

who

> > works as a whale-watching guide at Ojo de Liebre Lagoon, which is

> surrounded

> > by the Guerrero Negro saltworks. " If the salt affects them, then why are

> > they coming here more than any other place? "

> >

> > Local opponents of the San Ignacio project say that the fate of the

> whales,

> > although used to rally public support in Mexico and abroad, is not the

> only

> > issue.

> >

> > " Maybe the whales won't be so affected by the saltworks, " says Manuel

> > Gardea, a university-trained fisheries expert who is a member of a

> > cooperative that fishes the San Ignacio lagoon and runs a tourist camp

> > during whale-watching season. " But (the saltworks) will change the

> > atmosphere here completely. "

> >

> > To remind them of what they fear most, environmentalists and San Ignacio

> > Lagoon residents look to Guerrero Negro.

> >

> > Raw and ugly, the town looks like mining communities the world over. A

> > single paved street connects ESSA's offices and houses to the main

> highway,

> > which cuts north through the desert to the U.S. border at Tijuana. Since

> > salt production began here 43 years ago, Guerrero Negro's population has

> > burgeoned from a few hundred souls to more than 13,000 people.

> >

> > Many of the ESSA employees and their families live in small houses

> arranged

> > in neat blocks near the headquarters offices. A company store sits

across

> > from the main gate of the saltworks.

> >

> > But the rest of the population lives in thrown-together houses that line

> the

> > town's dusty and rubble-strewn side streets. Small groceries, cheap

> hotels,

> > seedy bars and other businesses crowd the main street.

> >

> > Workers from the saltworks, their clothes worn and their faces lined by

> the

> > desert sun, share the sidewalks with eco-tourists and U.S. senior

citizens

> > who arrive in recreational vehicles.

> >

> > Like most Baja California communities, Guerrero Negro announces itself

> miles

> > outside town by the litter that lines the highway. Scattered by the

desert

> > winds, plastic bags hang in the cactuses, brush and low trees. Paper,

soda

> > cans and plastic bottles pepper the roadsides.

> >

> > In contrast, Punta Abreojos, where the San Ignacio saltworks would be

> > headquartered, is a sleepy village of humble houses and stores that

hasn't

> > changed much since its founding 52 years ago. The town hugs a small cape

> at

> > the end of a 65-mile-long unpaved road, whose rocks and ruts challenge

> even

> > the sturdiest vehicles.

> >

> > Most of Punta Abreojos' 1,000 residents belong to a handful of extended

> > families. People don't lock their doors. The town's fishermen leave all

> > their tackle, including expensive radio gear, in their boats overnight

> with

> > little concern about thievery.

> >

> > " There will be more money, but also more crime and more vice, " says

Marcos

> > Parra, the beefy 44-year-old owner of a small general store across the

> > street from the beach where the village fishing boats are docked.

> > " Everything will change here. That's what progress brings. "

> >

> > To persuade local residents to support the San Ignacio saltworks, ESSA

has

> > promised to improve the village's quality of life by spending large sums

> on

> > local schools, roads and other public works. Company executives claim

that

> > more than 200 jobs, many of them going to locals, would be created.

> >

> > Steady jobs and better schools prove a sore temptation to some who live

> > along the shores of the San Ignacio Lagoon.

> >

> > " A lot of people here want the project, " says Gloria Rousseau, who owns

a

> > small general store on one of Punta Abreojo's two main streets. " People

> are

> > going to benefit. There will be a lot of work. People here don't care so

> > much about the whales, because they don't make money off of them. "

> >

> > But leaders of the Punta Abreojos fishing cooperative complain that the

> > economic advantage of the saltworks for the village will be more than

> offset

> > by the potential damage to the local fishing areas.

> >

> > " What good are all of those things if we don't have the products that

our

> > families have lived off of for 50 years? " asks Jorge Solorio, 41, the

> > cooperative's president, of ESSA's promises of plenty.

> >

> > " We see the whole thing as very risky, " Solorio says. " We know it is

going

> > to affect us. "

> >

> > For now, the fishermen at Punta Abreojos and those all along the shore

of

> > the San Ignacio Lagoon see the environmentalists as their best hope for

> > stopping the project. But their alliance with outsiders, especially U.S.

> > groups, makes them increasingly uneasy.

> >

> > " We aren't foolish. We know that they are using us as a banner, " says

> Manuel

> > Gardea, the fisheries expert.

> >

> > " But we have a common final objective. We all don't want this project.

But

> > for us, the final objectives is that the resources be exploited

properly. "

> >

> >

> > Fair Use Notice: This document may contain copyrighted material the use

of

> > which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owners.

> > Copyright material may only be used for not-for-profit, educational use

on

> > the Web which constitutes a fair use of the material (ie. as provided

for

> in

> > section 107 of the US Copyright Law). If you use copyright material for

> > purposes that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the

> owner.

> >

> >

> >

> >

> > Gray whales with Winston

> > http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/Jungle/1953/index.html

> > Save the Whales

> > http://www.homestead.com/savethewhales/index.html

> >

>

>

>

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