US builder Vulcan to challenge expropriation of land in Mexico for nature reserve (updated)

Vulcan Materials Co

24/09/2024 15:53

(Adds detail from decree, background)
       MEXICO CITY, Sept 24 (Reuters) - U.S. construction firm
Vulcan Materials  VMC.N  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)
 ((Kylie.Madry@thomsonreuters.com;))