With just days of his term in office remaining, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador added another complication into the ongoing dispute over Vulcan Materials Co.’s limestone quarry and port near Playa del Carmen when he declared an area including the site to be a protected natural area.

The Sept. 23 declaration covers more than 200 sq miles in Quintana Roo and specifically prohibits activity including extraction of construction materials. While speaking to reporters, Lopez Obrador called the extraction of gravel from the area an ecological disaster.