With 137 votes in favor, the reform of the Glacier Law was approved in the session of the Chamber of Deputies after hours of debate. Minutes later, the president published an official statement where he highlighted that this modification will allow “guaranteeing legal security and giving power to the provinces” for the use of their resources.
During the early hours of the morning, Javier Milei celebrated the victory through his social networks and through a statement from the Office of the President he highlighted that “celebrates the sanction of the Chamber of Deputies and the final approval of the National Congress to the project to adapt the Law of Minimum Budgets for the Preservation of Glaciers and the Periglacial Environment, which promotes the precision of the current norm in order to guarantee legal certainty and give power to the provinces to use their resources.
“This historic reform clarifies with scientific precision that glaciers and geoforms of the periglacial environment that perform water functions must continue to be protected, allowing, based on provincial technical-scientific evaluations, the exploitation of minerals in lands that were incorrectly classified as glaciers and were not part of the protected object of the law,” he explained.
The statement stressed that “by eliminating ideological distortions and artificial obstacles that impeded progress,” the new regulatory framework aims to make environmental protection compatible with economic development. The Government also emphasized that the modification “reaffirms that genuine care for the environment and economic growth are not enemies.”
In another section of the statement, the president stated that “the attempts at interference by foreign organizations failed and the environmentalists determined to prevent the progress of the Argentine Republic lost again. The agendas that seek to prevent the progress of Argentines found their greatest enemy in this Government.”
The official message included an express recognition from the president Javier Milei to the legislators and governors who accompanied the initiative, as well as to the technical teams that participated in drafting the reform. According to the statement, the development and debate process lasted a year, with the intervention of the Legal and Technical Secretariat of the Nation, the Coordinating Secretariat of Mining and Energy and the Mining Secretariat.
The Office of the President He questioned the resistance of environmental organizations and noted that “the attempts at interference by foreign organizations failed.” On the other hand, the Government maintained that, since the promulgation of the reform, Argentina recovers a model of “true environmental federalism and an intelligent and sovereign policy for the exploitation of its resources.”
Reform of the Glacier Law
The Glacier Law, passed in 2010, established a protection framework for glaciers and the periglacial environment, considered strategic freshwater reserves in Argentina. The norm prohibited high-impact extractive activities in these areas and ordered the preparation of a national inventory of glaciers, led by the Argentine Institute of Nivology, Glaciology and Environmental Sciences (IANIGLA). Since its approval, the legislation generated controversies between environmentalist sectors and provincial governments, which demanded greater autonomy in the management of their natural resources.
During the session in the Chamber of Deputies, the reform of the Glacier Law was approved with 137 affirmative votes, 111 negative and 3 abstentions, after almost 12 hours of debate. The project, promoted by the national Executive and linked to the objectives of the Large Investment Incentive Regime (RIGI), received the support of the blocks allied to the ruling party and was accompanied by a strong presence of national and provincial officials.
During the debate there was strong opposition from legislators from Unión por la Patria and the Left Front, who warned about the risk of mining advancing in sensitive areas and denounced an alleged delivery of strategic resources. As detailed by the Office of the President, the approved reform allows provincial jurisdictions to identify, protect and manage their water reserves using their own technical and scientific criteria.
