A local jury gave the reason to the Costa Rica government in a case about oil exploration.

Costa Rica reassures it’s compromise with the environment, winning a case against the oil company Harken. The resolution is catalogued as historical by the Costa Rica government and many civil and ecologist associations that are part of ADELA (Accion de Lucha Anti Petrolera) which helped the Costa Rica state in this litigation.
Harken Energy demanded Costa Rica almost thirteen years ago in the CIADI because the government rescinded the contract that allowed the oil company to start the search for petroleum deposits in the caribbean zone of the country, because the company didnt meet the legal requirements in that moment, one of these requisites was the approbation of the Setena´s environmental impact report, which Harken never got, plus the company never fulfilled the payment the 10% of the guarantee compliance for the exploration fase or the 1% of enviroment guarantee, which is actually a ridiculous number since in the case of enviromental disaster, the costs of solving it would be much higher.
No matter what, the case was never seen on the CIADI, because the contract between Costa Rica and Harken is clear that any conflict should be resolved in the local instances at the central american country.
Harken finally decided to take the case to the “Tribunal Contencioso Administrativo” which the last December 16th finally decided to reject all the points presented in the demand made by the oil company.
This is a great advance in Costa Rica environmental protection history, remarking the the country’s first compromise is with the environment, protecting it for the next generations…