Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s push to build a new oil refinery involves high risks of flooding and other environmental issues, according to government documents published late on Tuesday, but is described as otherwise viable. The documents cover environmental impacts declared by state energy company Pemex and were made public by the oil industry environmental regulator known as ASEA. They conclude that while the development of the Dos Bocas refinery will moderately affect the environment, those impacts “will be controlled, mitigated or compensated.”
The assessment by Pemex, which has been directed by Lopez Obrador to oversee the construction of the refinery, also asserts that the facility’s operations “will totally comply” with all existing environmental laws and is economically viable. ASEA has 60 days to evaluate the assessment.
Lopez Obrador has pitched the $8 billion project, which if completed would be Mexico’s biggest refinery, as needed to reduce a growing dependence on imported fuels.