VZCZCXYZ0010
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHDG #1319/01 3421546
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 081545Z DEC 09
FM AMEMBASSY SANTO DOMINGO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0101
INFO WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE
RHMFIUU/CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL
RUEHKG/AMEMBASSY KINGSTON
RUEHOT/AMEMBASSY OTTAWA
RUEHPU/AMEMBASSY PORT AU PRINCE

UNCLAS SANTO DOMINGO 001319 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SENV EAGR DR
SUBJECT: Critical UNDP Report Spells Finis for Cement Factory Near 
Dominican National Park 
 
¶1.       SUMMARY: The findings of a United Nations Development 
Program (UNDP) report are highly critical of the environmental 
impact study commissioned by the Government of the Dominican 
Republic (GoDR) to support the construction of a cement production 
facility by the Consorcio Minero Dominicano (CMD) near Los Haitises 
National Park.  Defenders of the park began criticizing the GoDR 
immediately after the environmental permit was issued for 
construction of the facility.  While the GoDR has not officially 
retracted the permit, President Fernandez earlier announced that 
the UNDP report findings would be honored .  In response to the 
public backlash and the UNDP report, the CMD has announced that the 
facility will be located in another part of the country.  Meanwhile 
environmentalists are shifting their sights to a USD three billion 
Barrick Gold development in Pueblo Viejo that they see as an 
ecological menace. 
 
 
 
¶2.       On 4/14/09 the Ministry of Environment and Natural 
Resources (SEMARENA) approved an environmental permit for a cement 
production facility in Gonzalo, Monte Plata, just outside the 
buffer zone of Los Haitises National Park. Environmentalists 
accused CMD and the government of colluding to facilitate the 
project.  Since April, environmental NGOs and student groups have 
vociferously opposed the construction of the facility.  Youth 
groups organized sit-ins outside government offices and  within the 
park itself, and organized a huge concert to promote awareness of 
the project.   Protestors have been particularly critical of 
Environmental Minister Jaime David Fernandez Mirabal, who had 
previously enjoyed strong popularity among environmentalists for 
boosting enforcement of local environmental laws. 
 
 
 
¶3.       Opponents of the project complained that the facility 
would cause air and water pollution that would compromise the 
park's unique geologic, climatic, and biotic conditions.  In 
response to the public outcry, the GoDR agreed to allow UNDP to 
conduct an independent review of the Dominican engineering firm's 
environmental impact study.  President Fernandez promised that the 
GoDR would abide by the UNDP's  findings.   The UNDP report, 
released publicly on 11/26/09,  criticized the original study, 
saying that "it has more faults than virtues and that the analysis 
was not rigorous enough given the complexity of the situation." 
The mining consortium reacted by announcing that the facility will 
not be constructed near Los Haitises, but would be built elsewhere 
in the country.  On 12/7 SEMARENA announced that it was canceling 
the CMD's permit and that the land that would have been used for 
the cement facility will be converted to a forestry project for 
"conservation, rational use, and the development of surrounding 
communities." 
 
 
 
¶4.       With the Los Haitises cement plant project defeated, 
environmentalists are now raising questions about the USD three 
billion Barrick Gold project.  The Dominican Bar Association and 
the Academy of Sciences have demanded a congressional revision of 
the Barrick contract. They are calling for an agreement that 
clearly defines the benefits to the state and the local community 
of Pueblo Viejo, a detailed environmental management plan, and an 
environmental monitoring lab run by Dominicans and financed by the 
Barrick.   Local media sources have also been critical of both the 
terms and rapidity of congressional approval of the Barrick 
contract.  Barrick's contract with the GoDR is said to be too 
generic to guarantee the adequate environmental protection. 
Barrick representatives recently expressed concern to EmbOffs about 
the criticism the company has come under lately.  Barrick is a 
Toronto-based corporation and the largest gold mining company in 
the world.  Globally, Barrick has come under criticism by 
environmental groups for its use of cyanide and mercury in the gold 
mining process.  When asked about the environmental management plan 
for the Pueblo Viejo project, a Barrick official told EmbOffs that 
Barrick follows a higher environmental standard that Dominican or 
Canadian law requires. 
 
 
 
¶5.       COMMENT:  Blocking construction of the cement plant near 
Los Haitises National Park was a watershed achievement for 
Dominican environmentalists,  as it was the first case where 
protests by environmentalists led to a reversal of a government 
decision.   This success is energizing the environmental movement, 
which is now shifting its sights to the Barrick Gold project.  One 
 
 
can expect future investments that raise environmental concerns 
will need to devote greater resources to establish the 
environmental viability of their proposals.    END COMMENT. 
Lambert