Sonora (Mexico) court case: on behalf of whales

Summary

In September of 2025, the Mexican environmental organization Nuestro Futuro A.C., with local organizations and community members, filed an amparo (constitutional injunction) before a federal court in Sonora on behalf of whales inhabiting the Gulf of California. The lawsuit fights against the environmental authorizations granted to the Saguaro Energía LNG Project, a proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal at Puerto Libertad, Sonora. The plaintiffs seek the revocation of the project’s environmental permits, legal recognition of whales as beings with rights under Mexican law, and the declaration of the Gulf of California as a Critical Habitat to provide stronger legal protection for cetaceans and the marine ecosystem. The case is the first lawsuit in Mexico filed directly on behalf of whales as rights-bearing plaintiffs.

The Saguaro Project, promoted by Mexico Pacific, would export liquefied natural gas from the Gulf of California to international markets. The project would require frequent passage of large LNG carriers through waters that serve as habitat and migratory routes for numerous cetacean species, including blue whales, fin whales, humpback whales, sperm whales, Bryde’s whales, minke whales, orcas, and several dolphin species. The Gulf of California is internationally recognized as one of the world’s most important marine biodiversity hotspots and provides breeding, feeding, nursing, and migratory habitat for many marine mammals, several of which are listed as threatened or endangered under Mexican law and by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The lawsuit argues that increased LNG tanker traffic would expose whales to well-documented environmental risks associated with commercial shipping, including vessel strikes, underwater noise pollution, disruption of communication and feeding behavior, interference with migration routes, habitat degradation, and cumulative ecological impacts. The plaintiffs asked the court to apply the precautionary principle by preventing activities that could threaten whale populations before irreversible harm takes place.

On 7 April, 2026, a federal judge in Sonora granted a definitive suspension under Article 128, Sections I and II, of Mexico’s Amparo Law. The order requires the Agency for Safety, Energy and Environment (ASEA), a sectorized body of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat), to refrain from issuing any authorization regarding environmental impact—including suspension from authorizing LNG tankers associated with the Saguaro Project from entering or navigating the Gulf of California—while the constitutional case is being decided. The Saguaro Project itself has not been cancelled, and the suspension remains a provisional judicial measure rather than a final ruling on the merits of the case. If the litigation proceeds through the appeals process, the case could ultimately reach Mexico’s Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN), which would open a debate on the legal recognition of cetaceans as beings with rights.

Involved Organizations