José María Villalta, from Frente Amplio, asked the Minister of Environment and Energy, Carlos Manuel Rodríguez, to annul a decree “of national convenience” that allows deforestation in the area where the El Diquís hydroelectric plant is to be installed, in Buenos Aires of Puntarenas.
The decree was issued last February by the former head of the Ministry of Environment and Energy (MINAE), Édgar Gutiérrez. However, according to the legislator, the absence of technical and scientific studies that justify the decision was detected in the process to issue the decree.
Villalta even stressed that Minister Rodríguez confirmed to the Constitutional Chamber that there is no technical-scientific support to justify the declaration of national convenience for the hydroelectric project that the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE) intends to build.
Frente Amplio also asked Rodriguez to investigate those responsible for issuing the decree because the action of unconstitutionality before the Fourth Chamber can take months or years to resolve.
It is necessary that the Ministry investigate the responsibilities of the people who authorized deforestation in an area of great environmental importance located in part of an indigenous territory. MINAE went over the law and the Constitution, seeking to facilitate a project full of questions and without any study to justify it,”
concluded the congressman.