Spanish
A case concerning an application for an exploration permit and an environmental permit for sand mining in Punta Mares by the company DINAMIGE. The permits were granted by the Ministry for land use planning and environment (MVOTM) but were contested by the Attorney General. The contestation is based on the arguments that sand mining exploitation in Punta Mares would take place within a habitat and could not be done with damaging the environment.
The Attorney General argued that the environmental measures taken by the mining operator were not sufficient to ensure the protection of the habitat. Therefore, he claimed that the by granting those licences, the Environmental and Mining ministries violated the preventive principle provided by article 47 of the Constitution.
But both the first court and the appeal court disagreed with this reasoning and considered that the environmental measures taken to mitigate the damages and rehabilitate the habitat were in line with the legislation.
Consequently, the Court of Appeal considered that even if the permit criteria required by the present legislation might be seen as being too low, the principle of separation of the powers prevents the judicial power to raise them. Therefore, the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal.