Several communities in the Sierra Negra region in Mexico are opposing a hydroelectric project that will be built in the limits of Zoquitlan, Coyomeapan and Tlacotepec, and supply electricity to the mines of Mexican ferroalloys producer Minera Autlan.
Local communities complain that the project will contaminate natural resources, harming local rivers, trees and animals.
Martin Barrios, president of the Human Rights Commission for the Tehuacan Valley, said the project will dry local rivers within a 7-kilometer distance, harming plants, aquatic and wild life. He also argued the project should also affect some 160,000 habitants of local communities.
Barrios said Semarnat, the country’s secretariat of the environment and natural resources, gave a conditional permission for the project in 2012 based on the nation’s electric industry law, by which local populations should be consulted. Barrios said local communities weren’t consulted so far over the past four years.
A Mexican media report said the project is valued at MXN 500 million ($27.3 million).