Argentina’s Congress to debate easing glacier protection law to boost mining

Lawmakers in Argentina will today debate a new bill that would allow provinces to redefine glacier protection areas in order to expand mining activity.

Activists and demonstrators are set to take to the streets later today to denounce the push by President Javier Milei’s government, which says amending Argentina’s existing glacier protection rules are essential to attract investment.

In the early hours of Wednesday morning, activists from environmental NGO Greenpeace climbed a monument in the plaza facing the National Congress building to put up banners in opposition to the proposed changes. 

The Statue of the Republic – which is fenced off – was draped in signs reading: “Deputies, do not betray Argentines. The Glacier Law must not be touched.”

The surprise demonstration did not last long –  at least seven activists were arrested by police and firefighters intervened to remove the banners, reported the AFP news agency, 

Milei’s proposed reforms of the National Glacier Law “would put the water security of millions of people at risk,” Greenpeace Argentina said in a statement issued shortly after the incident.

The ruling La Libertad Avanza party hopes to secure final passage of Milei’s bill in the lower house Chamber of Deputies later today or in the early hours of Thursday morning.

Debate is set to begin at 3pm on proposed amendments to Law 26,639 on Minimum Standards for the Protection of Glaciers and the Periglacial Environment.

The reforms were backed by the Senate back in February, during extraordinary sessions of Congress.

Government sources say they could secure as many as 140 votes if opposition Peronist deputies from mining provinces choose to back the bill.

The push to reform the National Glacier Law, which was introduced in 2012, is backed by the governors of several Andean provinces, including Mendoza, San Juan, Catamarca and Salta. These regions are home to the largest copper, gold and lithium mining projects in the country.

Environmental groups have called for a demonstration outside Congress today in a last-gasp push to pressure lawmakers. The ruling party, however, is confident it has the numbers to ensure approval.

President Milei said the amendment aims to eliminate “ideological distortions and artificial obstacles that were holding back progress.”

“Environmentalists would rather people starve than touch anything,” he said when announcing the proposal.

Supporters of the reform argue it will clarify criteria that are currently “imprecise” and pass decision-making powers for mining projects in periglacial areas to provincial governors. 

The amendments would redefine the scope of protected areas to allow for exploration and economic exploitation in periglacial areas that, in theory, do not fulfil a demonstrable hydrological function.

Essentially, the reform seeks to remove the automatic ban on extractive activities in periglacial areas and reduces central government involvement.

“We want legal certainty; we want clear definitions,” said Michael Meding, the director of the Los Azules copper mining project in San Juan, in conversation with AFP.

Meding said the mining sector is “interested in protecting the environment” and that provinces should be responsible for determining areas of hydrological importance.

According to a projection by Argentina’s Central Bank, the country could triple mining exports by 2030.

Opposition groups and environmental organisations say the changes would render the existing law ineffective and endanger strategic water resource reserves, which are vital for human consumption, biodiversity and climate balance.

For Enrique Viale, president of the Argentine Association of Environmental Lawyers, this is a reform “tailor-made for large transnational mining companies.”

He said the reforms “put at risk the water of 70 percent of Argentines.”

Viale told AFP in an interview that under the current law, “a scientific body establishes where glaciers and the periglacial environment are located,” whereas under the new framework that would become “a discretionary decision by each province.”

Four UN special rapporteurs have warned in recent weeks that the proposed reforms “would put aquatic ecosystems at risk, including groundwater, affecting water quality and therefore access to drinking water.”

Argentina has more than 16,000 glaciers. In the country’s northwest, where mining projects are concentrated, they have shrunk by 17 percent over the past decade, mainly due to climate change, according to data from the Instituto Argentino de Nivología y Glaciología (IANIGLA).

– TIMES/AFP/NA