| | |  News Around the Republic of Mexico 
Mexico has No Plans to Sue Over Oil Spill, for Now: Official
 Agence France-Presse
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October 02, 2010
| | A cameraman records some images from the window of a Mexican Navy plane as it overflies the Tamaulipas State coastline on May 2010, during an inspection flight for oil spills from the sunk Deepwater Horizon oil rig. (AFP/Ronaldo Schemidt) | |
Mexico City – Mexico's federal government said Friday it does not plan, for now, to join legal complaints by two of its states to obtain payments over the catastrophic BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that began over five months ago.
Nearly five million barrels of oil gushed into the Gulf after an April 20 explosion aboard the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon oil rig, putting a major dent in the region's multi-billion-dollar fishing and tourism industries, and destroying hundreds of kilometers of fragile coastlines.
The Mexican state of Veracruz, which borders the Gulf, filed a "preventative" lawsuit against the British energy giant on June 15 in a US federal court for "potential damages to fishing, industry, trade and tourism," according to a spokesman for the region's civil protection services.
Neighboring Tamaulipas state, which shares a border with the United States and also faces the Gulf, sued BP last week, officials said.
But Mexico's federal government has not made plans to join the complaints.
"We want tangible elements to determine whether it would be appropriate to file a lawsuit, and such a decision would be taken in coordination with US authorities," Mexican Environment Ministry spokesman Fernando Morales told AFP.
"The Mexican government is conducting studies on the environmental impact in collaboration with the United States, which is doing the same on its side."
He said that, so far, Mexican researchers had found "no indication" of hydrocarbons in Mexican waters or coastlines.
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