09 Sep JUDICIAL RULING RECOGNIZES ASEA AND SEMARNAT’S AUTHORITY TO CONDUCT A STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT AND ESTABLISH A MORATORIUM ON LNG PROJECTS IN THE GULF OF CALIFORNIA
- The ruling requires authorities to provide a complete and comprehensive response to the request to protect the Gulf of California from fossil gas projects, including projects still awaiting authorization, such as Amigo LNG.
- The decision comes at a critical moment, as a proposed amendment to Mexico’s environmental legislation submitted by the federal government seeks to expressly incorporate this tool into Mexican law.
Mexico City, September 8, 2026.— A Federal Court in Mexico City has recognized that Mexico’s Agency for Security, Energy and Environment of the Hydrocarbons Sector (ASEA) and the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT) do have the authority to conduct a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), contrary to the position previously taken by the authorities themselves. The ruling was issued in an amparo lawsuit brought by the Project on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ProDESC) and the Mexican Center for the Defense of the Environment, A.C. (also known as Defensa Ambiental del Noreste, or DAN) challenging the expansion of fossil gas infrastructure in the Gulf of California.
The Court granted the organizations’ constitutional protection proceeding, determining that the responses issued by ASEA and the Office of the President of Mexico were neither consistent nor comprehensive. In July 2025, ProDESC, DAN, and other organizations, together with communities, academics, and activists, sent a letter urging the Federal Government to conduct a Strategic Environmental Assessment and establish a moratorium on fossil gas infrastructure in the Gulf of California. However, ASEA and other authorities issued ambiguous and incomplete responses.
The federal judge therefore ordered those responses to be set aside and required the authorities to issue new responses that are duly grounded in law and adequately reasoned, addressing the measures requested by the organizations in July 2025.
The ruling is particularly significant following the Mexican Government’s presentation, on August 26, of a bill to replace the General Law of Ecological Balance and Environmental Protection. The proposed legislation is based on the principles of harm prevention, environmental justice, and ecosystem restoration, and expressly includes Strategic Environmental Assessment as an environmental policy instrument.
The request submitted by ProDESC and DAN was pioneering in this regard. As early as April 2025, the organizations had highlighted the need to incorporate environmental planning instruments, including Strategic Environmental Assessment, prior to decision-making, a full year before the federal executive branch introduced its legislative proposal. The organizations’ request was grounded in the powers already established under ASEA’s current legal framework.
The ruling also recognizes the organizations’ position that ASEA has the authority to establish a moratorium on LNG projects in the Gulf through the suspension or revocation of existing authorizations. This authority could be applicable to the Saguaro and Amigo LNG projects. The ruling therefore underscores the need to take preventive measures in relation to projects that have already been approved or are still awaiting authorization and that could generate irreversible impacts on the Gulf of California, its species, and its communities.
“This ruling confirms that the authorities already have legal tools to assess what is happening in the Gulf of California in an integrated manner; it is now up to those authorities to put them into practice. The debate over new environmental legislation further underscores the need to place prevention at the center of decision-making and to act before damage becomes irreversible,” said Guillermo Torres, ProDESC’s Transnational Justice Coordinator.
For ProDESC and DAN, these developments reinforce the need to move beyond isolated project-by-project assessments and instead promote a comprehensive and coordinated evaluation of the risks and impacts associated with the authorization, construction, and operation of fossil gas transportation or supply projects affecting ecosystems and communities in the Gulf of California, as well as associated coastal and terrestrial areas.
“Preventing the irreversible, cumulative, and synergistic harm posed by gas terminals along the Gulf of California’s coastline does not require waiting for new laws. The judiciary has recognized that the current legal framework is sufficient to act now—to revoke or deny such authorizations—and to avoid putting the lives and well-being of the Gulf of California’s species and communities at risk,” said Cecilia García, DAN’s Strategic Communications Director.
Strategic Environmental Assessment is an internationally recognized tool. The UNESCO World Heritage Committee and United Nations Special Rapporteurs have repeatedly recommended its use to protect and conserve sites of exceptional value, such as the Gulf of California. By applying established standards, Strategic Environmental Assessment can help prevent harmful projects from being authorized through fragmented decision-making processes that undermine environmental human rights.
PRESS CONTACT
Valeria Berumen
Strategic Communications Coordinator, ProDESC
comunicacion.estrategica@prodesc.org.mx
+52 55 1503 2410
Cecilia García
Strategic Communications Director, DAN
cecilia@dan.com.mx
+52 646 189 0151