MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -U.S. construction firm Vulcan Materials said on Tuesday it planned to defend itself using all available legal avenues after Mexico declared land that contains a company-run limestone quarry and port on the Riviera Maya as a nature reserve.
Late on Monday, Mexico’s government decreed that a vast tract of land stretching from Playa del Carmen to Tulum to be a protected natural reserve, including Vulcan’s operations.
Outgoing President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has long criticized Vulcan’s activities as damaging to the environment, and officials ordered a halt to limestone quarrying by Vulcan’s Calica unit two years ago.
Vulcan, meanwhile, has accused the Mexican government of illegally expropriating its local investments and is demanding more than $1.5 billion in compensation via arbitration mediated by the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID).
On Tuesday, Vulcan called the move a “new violation” of Mexico’s commitments to regional trade agreements, including the USMCA North American trade pact, and said it will have a chilling and long-term effect on U.S.-Mexico trade and investment.
(Reporting by Anthony Esposito; Editing by Kylie Madry and David Alire Garcia)
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