•  buenos aires
• Saturday, October 30, 2010
• Inter Press Service

Environmental organisations in Argentina are celebrating the passage of a law restricting the extraction of minerals, oil and gas near glaciers, in order to protect these vast freshwater reserves.

By a vote of 35 to 33, the Senate approved the bill to preserve glaciers and their surrounding areas Thursday. Lawmakers supporting the centre-left government of President Cristina Fernández said this time the president would not veto the measure, as she did when Congress passed a similar law in 2008.

In Fernández's view, the 2008 law imposed 'excessive' restrictions on industrial activity. According to environmentalists, the new bill just approved is an improvement on the one that was vetoed.

'The 2008 law only restricted mining activity in the glaciers, but this one includes fossil fuel extraction and any industry that uses toxic substances,' Hernán Giardini of Greenpeace Argentina told IPS. Together with Chile, with which it shares a border along the Andes mountains, Argentina harbours the largest glaciers in South America.

They are threatened by climate change and industrial activity, especially the mines that have mushroomed over the last 20 years. In the west-central province of San Juan alone, mining output has increased by 950 percent since 2003, and exports have soared by 4,400 percent since then, according to the provincial government.

© Inter Press Service (2010) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

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