The Senate approved the Chamber of Deputies bill that declared Loma de Miranda a National Park in two consecutive readings yesterday, Wednesday, 27 August 2014. The bill now will be sent to President Danilo Medina who can make observations or sign the bill into law. The Chamber of Deputies fast-tracked the bill during two consecutive readings on Tuesday, 26 August. La Vega senator Euclides Sanchez says it is the same bill that was passed in the Senate before and includes an 11km buffer zone. Spokesman for the ruling PLD block of senators, Adriano Sanchez Roa said the new legislation seeks to preserve the ecosystems, the water sources and the landscape of the heart of the island that is the Central Mountain Range. He said the aim was to preserve valuable natural resources and the environment, which is the main interest of the Dominican people, despite those who say the country will lose a lot of money. Felix Nova, the senator for Monsenor Nouel province where the new national park is created, opposed the bill. He said that he had made a commitment to the more than 200,000 inhabitants of the province, and the environment, but would not vote for the bill because it would mean the loss of 2,000 jobs and would affect their future and development.
The bill states that the park will cover an area of 32 square kilometers, with a 10.75km buffer zone for a total regulated area of 42.75km2.
Referring to property owners in the newly created National Park, the bill points to the Constitution where it states that “a person shall be paid a fair value before expropriation, as determined by the mutual consent of the parties or by the judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction, pursuant to the law.”
In order for the state to have the funds to compensate the landowners, it orders the Ministry of Environment to increase the cost for mining companies to extract metallic and non-metallic resources by 10%.
Falcondo issued a statement observing that declaring Loma Miranda a national park will create a bad precedent in the country as it is a violation of the mining law, juridical security and the rule of law. The company says there is no conclusive research that backs the rationale for declaring the area a protected area. It insists that the mountain has 19.3 million tons of mineral that if extracted would benefit the Dominican state and the economy by some US$7.5 billion over the next 20 years. The company says that of the property purchased by Falcondo in 1956, only 16% would be used for mining development, and the remainder 84% would be forest cover. The company maintains that only 4.6km2 of a total area of 42km2 would actually be mined.
The company claims that the Dominican state granted it mining rights under the Quisqueya I concession in 1956 that covers Loma Peguera, Loma Caribe, Loma Ortega and Loma Miranda in the provinces of Monsenor Nouel and La Vega. Falcondo maintains that the bill approved in Congress violates the Constitution in its articles 51, 110, 51, 17, 67, 237, 93 and the Sectorial Law on Protected Areas 202-04 in its articles 15 and 16 and Mining Law 146 in its articles 7 and 28.
Last year, 2013, the Dominican government commissioned a team of UNDP experts to review the environmental impact study presented by Falcondo for the extraction of the mountain deposits. The UNDP hired experts rejected the environmental impact study presented by Falcondo, and Catholic priests led a popular campaign for Loma Miranda to be granted national park status in order to conclusively ban mining operations in the mountain.
Read more in Spanish:
http://www.elnuevodiario.com.do/app/article.aspx?id=388710
http://www.7dias.com.do/portada/2014/08/27/i171151_falcondo-considera-apresurada-creacion-del-parque-nacional-loma-miranda.html