GENE RANDALL, CNN ANCHOR: Environmentalists are cheering a decision by Mexico to stop a huge salt mine project they said was a threat to whales. This follows a tough fight over plans to expand the plant in southern Baja, California, a breeding ground for gray whales. CNN's Mexico City bureau chief Harris Whitbeck has a report.</s>HARRIS WHITBECK, CNN MEXICO CITY BUREAU CHIEF: President Ernesto Zedillo's decision to pull the plug on what would have become the world's largest salt plant leaves the breeding ground for the gray whale and one of Mexico's most pristine natural reserves virtually untouched. The proposal had drawn international opposition, including 15,000 letters to the Mexican government. In a written press release, the Coalition for the Defense of the San Ignacio Lagoon said the decision "respects the law and sets a transcendental precedent for sustainable development in the country." The government decided it would be breaking the law if it went ahead with a joint venture with Japan's Mitsubishi Corporation to expand the San Ignacio Salt Plant. Attorneys for a coalition of dozens of environmental groups that fought the expansion say that interpretation is correct.</s>CARLOS BAUMGARTEN, ENVIRONMENTAL LAWYER (through translator): The law says conservation activities must take precedence over development in that area, and that development projects can only be undertaken by the local community.</s>WHITBECK: Since the project belonged to the government and to a Japanese corporation, it did not qualify as a community program. The government also accepted the importance of preserving the natural habitat of the gray whale and of hundreds of other species. For some, it was the star power of the endangered whales that helped win the argument in their favor. Harris Whitbeck, CNN, Mexico City.
Environmentalists Cheer Mexico's Decision to Halt Salt Mine Project