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No obstante lo anterior, el citado proceso se inicia, segn dicha resolucin, con una
auditoria de evaluacin ambiental practicada el 23 de junio del 2006, emitindose sin
, 1 procedimiento alguno, la resolucin MARN-No.3249-779-2006 por medio de la cual se
resuelve revocar la Resolucin MARN-No. 474-2002 de fccha 15 de octubre del ao 2002
por medio de la cual se otorg originalmente, permiso ambiental a COMMERCE GROUP
CORPORA nON, para desarrollar el proyecto COMMERCE GROUP CORPORATION
PLANTA SAN CRISTOBAL, lo cual pone en evidencia la falta de seguridad jurdica, al no
aplicarse el debido proceso establecido en la Ley.
Ante esta situacin, se considera violentado el principio constitucional de audiencia y al
debido proceso, emitiendo una resolucin sin ms tramites, ni diligencias sobre los hechos
y cuestiones juridicas que se controvierten, mucho menos se hace mencin en sta, de los
argumentos principales de mi poderdante, lo cual evidencia que en ningn momento se le
concedi el derecho dc audiencia, que an la misma ley del Medio Ambiente, lo establece
en su Art.93 lit. d). 2. RETA?-DAC(ON EN RESOLUCON SOLICITADA
Con fecha 3 de noviembre de dds mil cinco, se solicit 'la Auditora correspondiente a fin
de rendir un nueva fianza de cumplimiento ambiental a favor del Ministerio del Medio
Ambiente, con el objeto de mantener garantizado.. dicho permiso ambiental, tal como lo
establece la ley del Medio Ambiente, por lo que .oJteniendo respuesta alguna COn fecha 31
d mayo de 2006 se present nueva solicitud s6hr,e este a~pc~to, llevndose esta a cabo
hasta el 23 de junio de 2006 o sea OCHO MESES DESPUES de haberse realizado la
primera solicitud; posteriormente mediante escrito presentado a esa institucin con fecha 4
de septiembre de 2006, se solicit nuevamente resolucin oportuna sobre la solicitud
originalmente presentada el da 3 de noviembre de 200S,l en donde se ~ce referencia al
infonne de cumplimiento de las medidas ambientales, a~ como las medid~que la empresa
esta tomando para la prerrvacin del medio - ambiente, an no (habiendo iniciado/ su
funcionamidnto, y la promesa de utilizar tecnologa de punta, que pennita alcanzar el ms
alto nivel de seguridad ambient'!!ltodo ello, al iniciarse actividades; por lo que con ?1Ucha
extraei51 se recibi la noti libacin en refereJcia en donde prod~cto de tales peticiones se
resuelve! revocar la resolucin MARN-No. 474-2002 de fecha 15 de octubre del ao 2002 o
sea que se dio respuesta ONtE MESES DES PUES, lo cual pone de manifiesto que dicho
Ministerio no tena ningn inters en resolver dicha peticin, por cuanto la misma no\haba
incurrido en ninguna de las faItas consideradas en la ley del Medio Ambientc.
3. FALTA DE FUNDAMENTOS~EGALES PARA LA SANCJO)'l:
La resolucin de la cual se recurre, no tiene ningn fundamento legal, dado que segn el
Art.64 de la Ley de Medio Ambiente, la revoccion de permis6s ambieftales solo procede
por la negativa del titular del penniso ambiental a cumplir con las condiciones establecidas
en ste; y por violacin de las normas tecnicas de calidad ambiental y las de
aprovechamiento racional y sostenible del recurso.
Dicha resolucin nicamente se fundamenta en una auditoria de Evaluacin Ambiental,
practicada el 23 de junio de 2006, as como en dictamen tcnico evaluado por el Ingeniero
Jorge Palma y revisado por el Ingeniero halo Andrs Crdova, en donde textualmente dice:
,,
.' ..
Se recurre ante vuestra autoridad, a fin de evitar la violacin a los mismos derechos
constitucionales corno al debido proceso, lo cual conlleva a violentar el principio de
seguridad jurdica de parte del Estado, al no aplicarse la nonnativa legal vigente, en los
trminos en que esta lo manda, sino con base a otros criterios, que
G) PETICIONES CONCRETAS:
PIDO, respetuosamente
HONORABLE SALA:
a) Admitirme la presente demanda;
le Deras
FULL TRANSLATION
TRANSLATION
309-2006
The foregoing notwithstanding, this process is initiated, according to said resolution, with an
environmental assessment audit carried out on June 23, 2006. Without any procedure
whatsoever, MARN Resolution No. 3249-779-2006 was issued, revoking MARN Resolution
No. 474-2002 dated October 15, 2002, which originally granted an environmental permit to
COMMERCE GROUP CORPORATION to carry out the project for the COMMERCE GROUP
CORPORATION SAN CRISTOBAL PLANT, which demonstrates the lack of legal certainty,
inasmuch as the due process established by Law was not applied.
Given this situation, the constitutional principles of entitlement to a hearing and to due process
are considered to have been violated, since a resolution was issued without any formalities or
proceedings regarding the disputed facts and legal issues, much less mentioning my clients
principal arguments, showing that at no time was it granted its right to a hearing, which is even
established in Art. 93 d) of the Environmental Law itself.
2. DELAY OF REQUESTED RESOLUTION
On November 3, two thousand five, the respective Audit was requested in order to have a new
environmental performance bond issued in favor of the Ministry of Environment and Natural
Resources, for the purpose of maintaining the environmental bond for said environmental permit,
as provided for by the Environmental Law. Since a response had not been received, a new
request was submitted with respect to this issue on May 31, 2006, which was not completed until
June 23, 2006, i.e., EIGHT MONTHS AFTER having submitted the first request. Later, a
written request was submitted to that institution on September 4, 2006, once again requesting the
timely resolution of the request originally submitted on November 3, 2005, in which reference
was made to the compliance report regarding environmental measures, as well as to the steps that
the company is taking to preserve the environment, even without having begun operations, and to
the promise to utilize the latest technology that would allow the highest level of environmental
safety to be achieved, all upon the start of operations. It was therefore very surprising to receive
the referenced notification in which the end result of these requests is to revoke MARN
resolution No. 474-2002 dated October 15, 2002, i.e. the response was given ELEVEN
MONTHS LATER, which demonstrates that that Ministry had no interest in deciding on said
request, since it did not have any of the deficiencies considered in the Environmental Law.
3. LACK OF LEGAL BASES FOR THE PENALTY:
The appealed resolution has no legal basis, given that, according to Art. 64 of the Environmental
Law, revocation of environmental permits is appropriate only when the holder of the
environmental permit fails to comply with the conditions it establishes, and for violation of the
technical regulations on environmental quality and the regulations on rational, sustainable use of
resources.
Said resolution is based only on an Environmental Assessment audit carried out on June 23,
2006, as well as on the technical report assessed by Engineer Jorge Palma and reviewed by
Engineer Italo Andrs Crdova, which reads, verbatim:
On the date of the environmental audit, the processing plant for the COMMERCE GROUP
CORPORATION SAN CRISTOBAL PLANT project was not in operation which
demonstrates that if the company was not operating there was not any sort of environmental risk.
It notes as well that included among the findings was the non-compliance in monitoring of air
and ground emissions, spills and noise levels, and because of these circumstances
recommendsconducting the respective measures in the closure of operations and
rehabilitation Plan, with emphasis on repairing damages caused during the operational phase,
therefore demonstrating that this is based not on the infractions and sanctions provided for in the
Environmental Law, but rather on other types of considerations, since those mentioned
previously would only be valid if the company were operating.
In this respect it has definitely been demonstrated that most of the points mentioned above are
not applicable, given that the company, since the last date on which it was granted the respective
environmental permit, has not been in operation and, consequently, has not caused any damage,
has not obtained any profit, and has not repeatedly violated said Law, given that most of the
demands of the Ministry of Environment can be fulfilled only when that project is in operation.
Moreover, the administrative procedure indicated in the Law clearly establishes the infractions
and the applicable penalties, and none of these provides for revocation of environmental permits,
much less for cessation of the project and prevention of its operations.
4. EXCESS AUTHORITY
In accordance with the appealed resolution, in addition to revoking the environmental permit, the
closing and preventing of the company from operating is ordered, which is not within this
Ministrys purview, since the granting and/or revocation of permission to operate is within the
authority of the Ministry of Economy and, consequently, the Ministry of Economy would have to
order the closure of said companys operation.
E) ESTIMATED AMOUNT OF THE ACTION:
The appealed resolution entails the loss of more than ONE HUNDRED ELEVEN MILLION
U.S. dollars invested to date in said project by my clients, in addition to the closure of a source of
employment that had existed for several years, without that project having been implemented
yet, i.e., without optimal exploitation of the mine having been achieved.
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