LatinNews Daily - 20 September 2024

*Mexico’s economy (SE) and environment (Semarnat) ministries have announced that the government will appeal a ruling by an international tribunal in favour of US deep-sea exploration company Odyssey Marine Exploration. The ruling of the tribunal, which is administered by the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), obliges Mexico to pay US$37.1m in compensation to Odyssey for denying permission for a marine dredging project off the state of Baja California Sur on Mexico’s Pacific coast. According to the government, this amount represents around 1.18% of the amount originally claimed by the company in the arbitration. Odyssey began arbitration proceedings against Mexico under the North America Free Trade Agreement (Nafta) – replaced in 2020 by the current US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) - after Semarnat denied it an environmental permit in 2018 for a marine dredging project to extract seafloor critical minerals. According to the statement from the SE and Semarnat, during the arbitration process Mexico argued that the project affected an ecologically sensitive site inhabited by loggerhead sea turtles, blue and grey whales, and sea lions, among other creatures. It also claimed that the marine dredging techniques that Odyssey wanted to implement had not been put into practice anywhere in the world. “The government of Mexico reiterates that it will not allow projects that favour minority groups to the detriment of our natural resources to continue to be prioritised,” reads the statement. Odyssey has celebrated the ruling which it states “validates our position that… Semarnat wrongfully denied our environmental permit”.