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Help the Tohono O’odham Indigenous Peoples of Sonora, Mexico Join the O’odham in their fight to stop the proposed hazardous waste dump! CONTACT THE MEXICAN and U.S. GOVERNMENTS TODAY! Alfonso Flores, Mexican Secretary of the Environment The Mexican Embassy – Washington D.C. Tel: +52 5556 243334 Tel: (202) 736-1000 E-mail: alfonsoflores@semarnat.gob.mx The Mexican Consulate in San Francisco The Mexican Consulate in Tucson Tel: (415) 354-1700 E-mail: contucmx@mindspring.com United States Environmental Protection Agency, Region IX Wayne Nastri (415) 947- 8021 DON’T LET THE MEXICAN
GOVERNMENT TURN TRADITIONAL O’ODHAM SACRED SITES AND SONORA
COMMUNITIES INTO A DUMPING GROUND FOR HAZARDOUS WASTE! Read letter from environmental justice and Indigenous groups to Mexican government O’odham statement in English and Spanish For more information, contact:
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Stop the Proposed CEGIR Hazardous Waste Dump Near Quitovac! The Mexican government, led by the federal Environment and Natural Resources Secretariat (SEMARNAT), and a company called CEGIR/Centro de Gestion Integral de Residuos S.A., have been quietly planning to put a hazardous waste dump in O’odham territory, close to the sacred site of Quitovac. Just a few miles southwest of the Sonora state border with Arizona and close to the beach resort of Puerto Peñasco, this project has been conducted with no involvement of the Indigenous O’odham communities in decision-making processes. Under the Border 2012 program, a bi-national program for the U.S.-Mexico border region, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is working with Mexico to promote this type of facility, ignoring the impact on the traditional O’odham communities and their culture, traditions, sacred sites and spiritual well-being. The site would potentially treat and separate up to 45,000 tons of hazardous waste materials annually, including asbestos, organochlorides, and waste sludge from industries. To date, SEMARNAT has approved all permits except the land-use permit, which requires the local municipality's approval. The community had not been informed of the plan or any health risks and dangers associated with such a scheme prior to this approval. The proposed site would:
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