The average speed of a glacier is around one meter per year which is just about as fast as the progress of a controversial Glacier Law that is currently crawling through Argentina’s legislative process. The bill, which has finally passed in Congress but stalled in the Senate, seeks to ban mining and oil drilling on and around icefields in the Andes. The reason is to protect valuable freshwater reserves that are essential to the region´s inhabitants and hugely important to key industries such as winemaking.
However, those mountains hold more than just water and there is stiff opposition to the bill by mining interests and some provincial governments (the Mendoza government has chosen to sit on the fence). Just north of Mendoza on the Chilean border is the last known mega gold find in the World called Pascua Lama, a controversial billion dollar mining operation in San Juan province that environmentalists allege will damage glaciers and pollute water sources. This and another big mine called Veladero have become huge earners for the San Juan government and the provincial administration is fearful the new bill could hinder the development of Pascua Lama and the province`s economy. Mining is an issue that refuses to go away (Mendoza boasts one of the world´s biggest uranium deposits after all but here there is very little mining) and this bill means the debate will continue.
