The Querétaro branch of the Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection (Profepa) has closed the construction of a subdivision for lack of land use and environmental impact change authorizations from the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat) in the municipality of Corregidora.
According to the federal agency, the subdivision is being built in the town of La Cueva, where an area of 27,135 square meters of xerophytic scrub forest vegetation was affected.
During the inspection, the Profepa inspectors were protected by members of the National Guard and the Corregidora Municipal Police to prevent them from being attacked.
Profepa did not report which subdivision was closed or which real estate company is in charge of the project.
Illegal logging closed in Tequisquiapan
Meanwhile, in the municipality of Tequisquiapan, a lumberyard was closed for not having a permit.
In addition, inspectors seized 296,348 cubic meters of sawn pine timber whose legal origin was not verified by the owners.
Profepa granted the owners a five-business-day period (expiring this Wednesday, August 6) to prove the legal origin of the timber.
The agency warned that failure to do so will result in a report to the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office, pursuant to Articles 418 and 419 of the Federal Penal Code.
Both actions—the construction of the subdivision on forest land without the corresponding land-use change and the possession of more than 51 cubic meters of wood without proving its legal origin—are, according to Profepa, crimes provided for and punishable by the General Law on Sustainable Forest Development and the Federal Penal Code.
Source: jornada
