The Superior Court of justice has finally forced Murcia’s Ministry of the Environment to prosecute eight agricultural companies for the damage caused to the Mar Menor with their toxic discharges. The Administrative Litigation Chamber of the Superior Court of Justice (TSJ) has upheld the lawsuit filed by the Prosecutor’s Office and has now told the regional Executive to take legal action against these firms.
The Prosecutor’s Office went to court after the Ministry ignored their request to take legal action, urging them to open proceedings these eight companies for the polluting discharges, coming from their illegal desalination plants in Campo de Cartagena, which ended up flowing into the lagoon and affecting its environmental status.
A year after their request, the Community had not only failed to initiate such proceedings for the damage caused to that marine ecosystem but also got itself off the hook with a report in which he argued that the competent administration that should take any necessary action was the Segura Hydrographic Confederation (CHS).
The Prosecutor’s Office then went to the contentious-administrative court to demand that the regional Administration accepted it’s responsibilities, with the court now finding that “the requirement of environmental responsibility is not made for damage to the hydraulic public domain, but to the Mar Menor, and is independent of the sanctioning procedures that the Segura Hydrographic Confederation initiates.
