The Minister of the Environment and Natural Resources, Bautista Rojas Gomez says that they have ordered a halt to work at two of the four mines in operation in the Septentrional mountain range in the northwest of the country on the grounds that they were not working within the environmental regulations. He said that the companies were given 60 days to comply with the regulations in line with the plan issued by the Ministry last year.
The ban came into force on Friday, 30 January 2015, following a monitoring visit to the area. The companies were ordered to plant more than 60,000 trees in the area where they are mining in order to preserve the environment. Those responsible have now agreed to plant between 30,000 and 50,000 trees within the next 30 days.
Bautista Rojas Gomez took the opportunity to inform that the Ministry was continuing with work in San Cristobal to deal with the problem of garbage and to clean up the area. He said that the Ministries of Public Health and Public Works as well as the Dominican Municipal League were supporting the Ministry in the task.
The Minister added that more than 500 tons of garbage was collected in the municipality of San Cristobal over the weekend.
Medio Ambiente paraliza trabajos de extracción de materiales en Cordillera Septentrional