Dominga’s arguments begin in the Supreme Court

The arguments for the Dominga case in the Supreme Court, which were to begin on November 24 and were postponed, finally began on Monday, with the possibility of live follow-up.
The Third Chamber of the highest court will hear the arguments of the lawyers representing Oceana, the Association of Fishermen and Shellfish farmers of Los Choros, indigenous communities belonging to the Chango people and neighbors of the localities of the commune of La Higuera who seek the definitive rejection of the Andes Iron project.
The lawyers of Alianza Humboldt will ask the Supreme Court to declare the illegality of the judgment of the First Environmental Court, maintaining the rejection of the initiative of Andes Iron, and thus conclude with more than four years of judicial disputes.
Greenpeace
“With the support of the citizens, we will continue working so that Dominga does not see the light. We will maintain the follow-up to the next steps of the project and we are very attentive and waiting for the arguments in the Supreme Court, “explains the national director of Greenpeace, Matías Asun.
To continue making the conflict visible, the environmental NGO carried out an urban intervention using the technique of ecological graffiti, which consists of spraying water under pressure on a rigid plate, which allows to make a mark similar to graffiti, durable and clear, but removing dirt from the ground with water pressure. The action was allusive to Dominga and was reflected in the north side of the Costanera Center mall, in the commune of Providencia.
From the NGO warned that “we will reach the last consequences in order to protect this threatened ecosystem and that interventions like this one intend to verify that we are following each step of the case and we remain very attentive to the allegations and definitions that occur in the Supreme Court.”
Second time
It will be the second time the Supreme Court will review the case. In September 2019, the Court ruled that the rejections delivered at the regional and ministerial level were legal, dismissing the company’s arguments. In addition, the highest court then ordered the Environmental Court of Antofagasta to review the technical aspects of the environmental assessment, which, according to the lawyers of Alianza Humboldt, was not carried out.
In 2017, both the Coquimbo Environmental Assessment Commission and the Committee of Ministers defined the rejection of the Dominga port mining project, arguing that it presented a deficient baseline of the marine environment, underestimated its area of influence and did not characterize the navigation routes, technical shortcomings of deep risk for one of the most biodiverse marine ecosystems of the entire Humboldt Current. Faced with these rejections, Andes Iron appealed and prosecuted the case.
“These allegations are probably the last of this Dominga cycle, which if it is closed for a favorable ruling for us, would end up rejecting the project. In this act the Supreme Court will hear the arguments and then has to resolve them, finally. That could take a few months, probably four, five more months,” Costa previously said in an interview with El Mostrador.

Original source in Spanish

Related Posts

Add Comment