The Federal Justice of Mar del Plata ordered the suspension of the oil exploration project 300 kilometers from the coast of Mar del Plata by giving rise to a precautionary measure, which will be appealed by the national Government through the analysis of the Ministry of the Environment, the Secretariat of Energy and the Attorney General of the Nation, reported official sources.
The head of Federal Court 2, Santiago Martín, made room for the precautionary measure promoted by the mayor of General Pueyrredón (JxC), Guillermo Montenegro and environmental organizations and ordered the suspension of the approval of the oil exploration project that went through a Public Hearing instance in 2021.
In this way, the magistrate determined to stop the exploration tasks by the Norwegian state oil company Equinor in the sea in search of oil reserves, until the substantive issue is resolved.
After the judicial measure was announced, on Friday night the Secretary of Energy Darío Martínez stated that the Government is “respectful of Justice, but this is not judged”and declared himself “convinced that offshore exploration and production is safe, does not pollute, does not harm marine fauna”.
“Offshore exploration and production is safe, does not pollute, does not harm marine fauna.”Darío Martínez, Secretary of Energy
“On the contrary, it generates resources for the country and genuine work and economic activity for the localities from which the development of this activity operates,” Martínez said in statements released by his Secretariat.
The head of the energy portfolio announced that as a result “the measure will be appealed and that the lawyers from the Ministry of the Environment, the Ministry of Energy and the Attorney General are analyzing the ruling and preparing the corresponding legal presentation.”
The seabed exploration task It was going to be carried out by the consortium of companies headed by Equinor in partnership with the national oil company YPF and the Anglo-Dutch company Shell.in three of the 18 blocks awarded in 2019 for which the successful bidders committed investments of almost US$800 million.
The judicial resolution is part of the presentations by the Mayor of Montenegro, the Organization of Self-Convened Environmentalists and an individual against the decision of the National Government to enable the offshore seismic acquisition campaign in the CAN 108, CAN 100 and CAN 114 areas of the North Argentina Basin. , arranged by Resolution 436/2021 of the Ministry of the Environment.
On December 30, the Government granted the Environmental Impact Statement and issued Resolution 436/21, which authorized the oil companies to carry out seismic exploration studies in three offshore areas located more than 300 kilometers from the Buenos Aires coast.
In his resolution, the judge indicated that he accepted the precautionary measure presented at the time by the mayor and environmentalists for “the defective compliance with the standards on information and participation that arise from current legislation and the Escazú Agreement (Law 27,566)” .
He also argued the lack of an instance of consultation with the Municipality of General Pueyrredón in the decision-making process; and the shortcomings of the Environmental Impact Study derived from the insufficient projection on the cumulative impacts of the explorations to be carried out on the Argentine Sea.
Judge Martín cited the Escazú Agreement and recalled that “these actions must be carried out ‘from the initial stages of the decision-making process, so that the public’s observations are duly considered and contribute to said processes’”.
“There are no glimpses, in principle, of ‘proactive’ actions that have tended to inform the population in general of the hydrocarbon exploration project in the Argentine Sea, and specifically on the coasts adjacent to the city of Mar del Plata, or to the unless it has been through ‘appropriate means’ (written, electronic or oral)” in order to “guarantee that the issue enters the public agenda prior to the governmental decision-making”.
