Lithium could be exploited by private: Va por Mexico presented its electricity counter-reform

On Monday, April 4, the party leaders that make up the Va por México coalition presented their counter-proposal on energy that will rival the Electric Reform of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), where they presented 12 thematic axes that make a difference between what was proposed by the executive federal and what they see as a real breakthrough in the sector.

Through a press conference held at a hotel in Mexico City, around 1:00 p.m. (central Mexico time), representatives of the alliance promoted by businessmen Claudio X. González and Gustavo de Hoyos, through Yes for Mexico, pointed out, among other things, that lithium could be used by private.

The event was attended by Marko Cortés, re-elected president of the National Action Party (PAN); Alejandro Moreno, national leader of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI); and Jesús Zambrano, coordinator of the Revolution Party, who presented 12 different points to the initiative promoted by López Obrador and National Regeneration Movement (Morena).

1.- Access to electricity will be established as a human right.

2.- To ensure access to electricity at the lowest cost, mechanisms will be established that allow citizens to generate their own energy or buy it at the lowest and most stable prices possible.

3.- Energy Transition with the public, private and social sectors to combat climate change.

4.- The errors and excesses of the past are corrected and the simulation ends.

5.- Open up the opportunity for smaller businesses and companies to access the electricity market and its benefits, such as lower energy costs or clean energy.

6.- Constitutional autonomy is granted to the Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) to strengthen market regulation.

7.- The State maintains, reaffirms and strengthens its leadership in the electricity sector through its planning with the constitution of the National Commission on Electricity Networks, an Autonomous State Agency.

8.- The Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) will be strengthened with corporate, independent and professional governing bodies.

9.- The penetration of the use of renewable energies will be encouraged.

10.- The granting of permits is improved to give legal certainty to projects.

11.- Reformulation of the Clean Energy Certificates (CEL) model to align it with the International Renewable Energy Certificates (IREC).

12.- Lithium will be owned by the State, but its use will follow the rules of oil. As in oil, rounds for exploration and extraction of minerals will be established to guarantee ownership and profits from this activity at all times to the State.

As for the last point, this refers to the possibility of tenders such as those authorized during the six-year term of Enrique Peña Nieto (PRI), who opened the door to foreign oil companies so that they can exploit oil in deep waters; in contrast, the AMLO reform is reluctant to this and proposes:

“In the case of radioactive minerals, lithium and other minerals considered strategic for the Energy Transition, no concessions will be granted,” he says in the proposal for Article 27 of the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States (CPEUM).

Under this logic, the AMLO reform states that the nation is exclusively responsible for the strategic area of electricity, consisting of generating, conducting, transforming, distributing and supplying electricity to citizens. “The Nation shall take advantage of the natural assets and resources required for these purposes.”

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