Governor Ignacio Torres sent to the Legislature a bill for the survey and repair of environmental liabilities in the province, which seeks to establish the conditions not only linked to hydrocarbons, but for all industrial activity in general. In the case of transfers of areas, such as the process that YPF is going through, The rule will require that the remediation commitment be assumed by both parties and not only by whoever assumes the new operation..
With a project that consists of 26 articles, the Provincial Executive seeks to organize the different resolutions linked to environmental remediation, in compliance with constitutional norms of national and provincial scope, which require the care of the natural environment and the rational exploitation of resources, to guarantee sustainability and preserve the rights of future generations.
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The present law aims establish the collections minima to identify, census, and record environmental liabilities arising from all anthropogenic activity – says article 1 of the project, to which ADNSUR had access – and establish the obligations relating to the recomposition of such liabilities by those responsible, all for the purposes of complying with the provisions of articles 41 of the National Constitution and 109 of the Constitution of the Province of Chubut.
It is important to clarify that although the immediate reference can be linked to the transfer of oil areas that YPF has initiated, the project does not specifically aim at oil activity, but rather at regulation for environmental care in all industrial activities.
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The initiative defines how ‘Environmental passives’to “all those environmental damages that they would have consisted of the affectation negative impact on biota, water, soil, subsoil, atmosphere, natural resources, ecosystems and historical-cultural heritageproduced by any type of public or private activity, that imply a permanent or potential risk to the health of the population, the surrounding ecosystem and property, and that the generating source of such contamination was an activity abandoned, inactive or terminated by the responsible owner”.
The project defines the concept of ‘Recomposition’ as the tasks remediation, sanitation and all those aimed at establishing security measures that aim to return the place to the state of things prior to the environmental damage caused.
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And ‘remediation’, as “tasks that aim to mitigate contaminant concentrations in order to obtain acceptable risk levels based on the protection of human health and the integrity of ecosystems.”
According to the standard promoted by the government, “people will be obliged to carry out the tasks of recomposing environmental liabilities.” human or legal holders of the activity generator of environmental damage and landowners of the properties, the latter in the case that it cannot be identified to the owner of the activity”.
CLOSING AUDIT
The project indicates that the person responsible for the exploitation will be obliged to present “an audit closure and a specific environmental plan”, which will be evaluated by the provincial authority, based on requirements technicians among those who include, at least, “a description of the activity and facilities, sampling and analysis ground, and of the waters underground, measures prevention and control of soil pollution and hydrogeological study”.
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Article 8 determines that the owner of the exploitation “will only be released from liability when the auditory closure and environmental plan specific, duly approved by the authority competent local determine that the site affected by the aforementioned exploitation it’s found in situation “environmentally suitable”, so if the closure audit detected an impact on the environment, it must be recomposed within the period determined by the enforcement authority.
Furthermore, in the case of transfers of areas or exploitations, the contractual transfer of responsibility for environmental liabilities cannot be alleged, at least without the prior authorization of the environmental authority.
SANCTIONS FOR NON-COMPLIANCE
Among the sanctions for failure to present these requirements, a scale is foreseen that goes from 500,000 to 1,500,000 liters of diesel, which can be interpreted approximately as between 500,000 and 1,500,000 dollars, amounts that may triple, in cases of recidivism.
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The fine, however, does not exempt from responsibility for compliance with the regulatory requirement, that is, closure audit and remediation plan, as well as the deadline to complete it. In addition, sanctions may include closures or removal of relevant permits and qualifications.
“The proceeds from fines will be used for recovery activities.” of environmental liabilities and environmental control, without it being able to be used for other purposes”, establishes another of the articles of the project.
“When the violation has occurred by decision of a legal entity, the sanction will be applied jointly to the directors, managers, trustees, members of the board of directors, surveillance, administrators, representatives either representatives of the same that would have intervened in the incident,” warns article 17.
