Green Daily

The word for freshwater in Spanish is "agua dulce" literally, "sweet water." When you think about a slowly melting glacier trickling off a mountain into communities of western Argentina the word sweet might come to mind. After all, glaciers are a major source of fresh water in the country. But to the governor of the San Juan province and President Cristina Fernández Kirchner thwarted profits came more immediately to view.

The Law of Minimum Budgets for the Protection of Glaciers and Periglacial Environment passed with vast majorities in both houses of Congress. The law would have protected the freshwater resource and prevented any activity that might have impacted the function of the glaciers and their frozen soils, namely mining. Residents living in the San Jose Province have longed lobbied for help protecting the glaciers and preventing mining in the region. Everyone from members of Congress to Nobel winners were in their corner.

But President Fernández vetoed the bill earlier this month. According to Tierramerica she issued a statement saying "the prohibition is excessive" and gives "preeminence to environmental aspects over activities that could be developed in perfect care of the environment."

She was likely referring to the green-lighted mining project by Canadian mining company Barrick Gold. The project is worth $2.4 billion dollars and would extract gold and silver from the Andean border between Argentina and Chile over the next 20 years. While the governments have approved the project, the people living in the region have long opposed it.

[via Tierramerica]