With just days left in his term, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador added another complication to the ongoing dispute over Vulcan Materials Co.’s limestone quarry and port near Platja del Carmen when he declare an area including the site as protected. natural space
The Sept. 23 declaration covers more than 200 square miles in Quintana Roo and specifically prohibits activity that includes the extraction of construction materials. While speaking to reporters, López Obrador called the extraction of gravel from the area an ecological disaster.
“There is no way we will allow them to destroy our territory,” he said in Spanish.
A Vulcan Materials representative said by email that the move violates Mexico’s commitments under U.S. trade agreements, including the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) that came into effect in 2020.
“This illegal measure will have a chilling and long-term effect on US-Mexico trade and investment relations,” the Birmingham, Ala.-based company said in a statement. “This action robs us of our land use and we intend to defend ourselves using all available legal avenues.”
Map courtesy Official Journal of the Federation of MexicoVulcan subsidiary SAC TUN, which operated the 6,000-acre facility, said in a statement earlier this year that it always acted in accordance with Mexican law and went beyond legal requirements to minimize its environmental impact. He alleged that the López Obrador government wants the site for tourism purposes.
Mexican police and soldiers seized the facility in March 2023 amid a dispute between Vulcan and Mexican cement supplier CEMEX over use of the port. Vulcan said at the time that a lease allowing CEMEX to use the port had expired and had not been renewed.
Vulcan filed an arbitration case with the World Bank’s International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes over the seizure, and the case has been moving slowly. Earlier this month, the court hearing the case ruled on the admissibility of new evidence. Although Vulcan Chief Executive Officer J. Thomas Hill said last year that he expected a resolution by 2024, it is unclear how far the arbitration will be decided. The company did not share an updated expectation when asked by a reporter.
After the seizure, López Obrador said Mexico offered Vulcan about $383 million for the property, although the company valued the property at $1.9 billion and did not accept the offer.
