El Caribe reports that President Hipolito Mejia met with the presidents of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, Environment Minister Frank Moya Pons and several bishops, including Monsignor Agripino Nunez Collado, at the Casa San Pablo of the Catholic Church. The statesman had said he would enact the Sectoral Protected Areas Bill, which would enable him to legally meet certain commitments made by presidential decrees for the development of mining and hotel projects within protected national parkland boundaries. The revisions to the bill remove beach land and land with mining potential from the national park status. The bill is opposed by more than 30 scientific, economic and environmental organizations under the Coalition for the Defense of Protected Areas. The embassies of the United States, Canada, the European Union, the Benelux countries and the United Kingdom have expressed similarly strong opposition to the bill. Moya Pons and Nunez Collado, who were part of the meeting, are also against the bill?s passage.<\/p>\n
The United Nations Development Program alerted that given the fact the Dominican Republic is one of the foremost Caribbean nations in terms of biological biodiversity, they believe the bill should not be signed into law, and have offered their cooperation in furthering development while maintaining a sustainable protected areas law. <\/p>\n
If President Mejia signs the bill, the coalition plans to immediately file a legal action with the Supreme Court of Justice. <\/p>\n
Mejia, however, is optimistic that a consensus will be reached to enable the ratification of the controversial bill. ?We have reached a consensus on 98% of the bill?s content; something good will come of it,? he said when interviewed by El Caribe yesterday. <\/p>\n
The President has eight days in which to sign a bill or veto it. This period expires today. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
El Caribe reports that President Hipolito Mejia met with the presidents of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, Environment Minister Frank Moya Pons and several bishops, including Monsignor Agripino Nunez Collado, at the Casa San Pablo of the Catholic Church. The statesman had said he would enact the Sectoral Protected Areas Bill, which would … <\/p>\n