Personalities from the entertainment world and international diplomats pressured the Legislative Assembly to pass a law that would permanently ban the exploitation of fossil fuels in Costa Rica.
While world governments held climate talks in Paris, Mexico President Enrique Peña Nieto unveiled $3 billion plans to cut sulfur content in gasoline produced at six refineries of state-run firm Pemex, reducing emissions by 90 percent.
The amount of BP money that will flow into Gulf Coast restoration over the next two decades is prodigious. Both BP and the government deserve credit for heading off a nasty and prolonged legal battle. What we still don't know — and may not know for a very long time — is the extent of the damage the spill caused.
President Luis Guillermo Solís extended the country’s ban on petroleum exploration and extraction until 2021 as well as creating guidelines for energy efficiency in government agencies.
Outside the building, protesters mounted a demonstration decrying the administration's perceived bullying tactics toward opposition parties and anti-gay comments made by the president.
Costa Rica and Nicaragua are headed back to the International Court of Justice at The Hague to settle another border dispute following years of wrangling over maritime oil-drilling blocks.
