BUENOS AIRES (awp/afp) – Argentinian justice on Friday ordered the suspension of offshore oil exploration in three areas off the Atlantic coast in the center of the country, the subject of several demonstrations in recent weeks, and requested a study of environmental impact.
The suspension, which will remain in effect until a “final judgment” on the merits, follows a referral and arguments presented by the mayor of the large seaside town of Mar del Plata (400 km south of Buenos Aires), summer destination par excellence for Argentines.
The city council has received support from environmental defense associations including Greenpeace Argentina and Surfrider Argentina.
The procedure concerns an authorization for seismic exploration studies granted at the end of December by the government (center-left) of Alberto Fernandez to the Norwegian oil company Equinor, jointly with the Argentine public company YPF and the Anglo-Dutch Shell , in offshore areas, located in the Argentine Sea, about 300 km from the coast.
The federal judge of Mar del Plata, Santiago Martin, in his decree quoted by the press, ordered “the immediate suspension” of the approval given to the project, due to “the possibility of irreparable damage derived from the realization exploration tasks.
Among the objections noted by the judge is “the omission of a strategic environmental assessment, which would be the appropriate instrument to analyze the cumulative impacts of seismic exploration in the different areas of the Argentine sea subject to ‘a concession”.
At the beginning of January, several thousand demonstrators, environmentalists and left-wing activists, had protested in front of the beaches of Mar del Plata against the exploration project. Rallies had been held in other towns along the Argentine coast.
Greenpeace Argentina, which hailed a “hopeful” decision on Friday, says offshore seismic exploration is “the second biggest contributor to underwater noise after military and nuclear testing”. And recalls that the area concerned is “the main biological corridor of the Argentine Sea”, a privileged area of food for important local species such as the southern right whale.
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