The Second Environmental Court, reported the delivery of a final conciliation proposal within the framework of the lawsuit for reparation of environmental damage filed by sea workers and residents of Puchuncaví against the 12 companies that make up the industrial area of Windows, after the preponderant contamination of the sector located in the Valparaíso region.
Specifically, as reported Thirdthere are 16 measures and other complementary actions that will be financed by each of the defendant companies, both individually and collectively.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of the Environment will have a coordinating and monitoring role in most of the measures, as well as being in charge of the management and financing of others, contemplating -in addition- the creation of other programs corresponding to the subject.
Through a statement, the agency explained that the actions to be promoted consider the “environmental effects of more than half a century of industrial activity in the area, generating an opportunity to build relationships between the actors in the territory, based on respect, responsibility and transparency, seeking as the ultimate goal to restore confidence in the territory”.
In addition, it highlights that the new proposal includes the work of the conciliation previously delivered in June of last year, as well as the observations made by the parties involved and the work carried out by this judiciary in the 23 bilateral meetings held by all the parties. As well as the information compiled in the personal inspection carried out by the ministers in the area during the beginning of 2022.
Given this, the Minister President of the Court, Alejandro Ruiz Fabres, stated that “the proposal presented today is intended to reverse a negative trend that has dragged on this conflict over time, in order to incorporate sustainability into productive activity from a broad point of view”.
“With this, together with proposing the necessary technological improvement to reconcile the positions of all the interested parties, the need to fully analyze the individual and synergistic risks of the industries located there is revealed, in order to minimize the uncertainty in the origin of contamination episodes, along with minimizing these”, complement.
In this way, the parties involved will have a period of 30 days to rule on the proposed measures and a hearing will be scheduled for next Monday, September 12, to review the progress of the process.
What are the measures of the settlement proposal?
The proposal in question includes 16 measures:
1- Corporate Responsibility Commitment Statement.
2- Plan for environmental modernization of the industries and facilities demanded.
3- Evaluation of environmental, cumulative and synergistic risks on the environment and people’s health.
4- Implement or update an Environmental Management System (EMS) 14.001:2015 aimed at improving the performance of the industries and facilities in demand.
5- Consultation of relevance and eventual admission to the SEIA (Environmental Impact Assessment System).
6- Speed and urgency to the processes of elaboration of applicable environmental norms in Quintero-Puchuncaví.
7- Control of the main source of environmental disturbance of the Los Maitenes-Campiche Wetland.
8- Construction of Functional Infrastructure in the Los Maitenes-Campiche Wetland.
9- Scientific Research Program of the Los Maitenes- Campiche Wetland Ecosystem.
10- Citizen Monitoring Program in the Los Maitenes-Campiche Wetland.
11- Consolidated text of RCA (order consolidated RCA by control unit).
12- Improvement of the quality of life of the urban and rural community of the territory.
13- Tree Screens as measures to improve the business environment by generating a visual buffer area.
14- Hydrological recovery program through reforestation.
15- Program for the recovery of contaminated soils through revegetation.
16- Reforestation plans with native species for the purpose of improving and beautifying communal urban environments.
