The Mexican Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) has agreed to open the country’s sole nuclear power plant to an independent audit, a move environmental activists have been demanding for years. Commission Director Alfredo Elías Ayub promised to solicit bids for the audit following reports that last November, an industry-backed international inspections unit found serious problems at the Laguna Verde plant in Veracruz state. (See “Temperature rises in nuclear-plant debate”—May ’00.) Inspectors from the World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO), which comprises representatives of 18 atomic power stations around the world, reportedly found irregularities in 63 of 72 areas of activity checked at the plant. Subsequently, the nonprofit Union of Concerned Scientists of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the private Large and Associates, a nuclear consulting...
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There’s no denying that green businesses in Latin America are multiplying. One has developed a solar coffee-drying system that cuts operating costs and production losses for specialty coffee processors. Another prepares tree fibers for use in the manufacture of auto dashboards and seats—an alternative to conventional polymers. Still, such companies often need outside financing. And while many investors have mandates to fund green ventures, often they don’t know where to find them. To team up the two sides, the Washington, D.C.-based World Resources Institute (WRI) is holding the New Ventures Investment Forum in Rio de Janeiro, on Sept. 25 and 26. The matchmaking event is a first in the region, according to New Ventures Director Patricia Londoño. It will pair Latin American...
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A U.N. report on Latin America’s environment blames poverty and poor income distribution for the ongoing degradation of resources in the region. Titled “GEO Latin America and the Caribbean: Perspectives on the Environment,” the report caps a five-year evaluation initiated by the U.N. Environment Program’s (UNEP) Global Environmental Outlook project. Poverty is both the cause and the effect of environmental deterioration in Latin America and the Caribbean, a vicious circle that makes income redistribution a priority for the region, UNEP Regional Director Ricardo Sánchez said in releasing the report in June. The report also recommends greater public participation in conservation efforts. Since the U.N. Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, public environmental awareness has improved dramatically, but not enough to stem the...
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Chalk one up for Mexico in its long-running legal dispute with U.S.-based Waste Management over trash collection in Acapulco. But the fight might not be over yet. In a decision last month, a panel of the World Bank’s International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) ruled it had no jurisdiction in the case, Waste Management, Inc. vs. The United Mexican States. The U.S. company filed the $60-million-dollar suit in 1998, alleging that the municipality of Acapulco had failed to pay for services rendered between 1995 and 1997 by Acaverde, a Waste Management subsidiary. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) gives foreign companies the right to sue host-country governments in the Washington D.C.-based ICSID for harming their...
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