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La Pampa Judge Moves to Centralize Challenges to Argentina’s Glacier Law Overhaul

A federal case in La Pampa could decide whether provinces or the nation set glacier safeguards.

Overview

  • Federal judge Juan José Baric in La Pampa took charge of a collective case against the glacier law reform and entered it in the Supreme Court’s registry, which routes similar suits to his court in Santa Rosa.
  • The La Pampa filing asks the court to declare the overhaul unconstitutional and to issue an injunction that freezes the new rules until the case is resolved.
  • Separately, federal judge Claudio Vázquez in Santa Cruz halted the reform’s effect inside that province after a suit from El Calafate’s local authorities.
  • Environmental groups FARN, the Argentine Association of Environmental Lawyers, and Greenpeace report 850,000–870,000 people have joined a collective lawsuit they plan to file once the reform is published in the Official Gazette.
  • The overhaul limits national protection to glaciers and nearby periglacial zones only when they have a “specific water function” and gives provinces the power to allow mining near ice fields.