‘We’ve begun oil spill response training’: Patagonia prepares for the largest crude oil export port in Argentina | Argentina

The rocky crevices of the Valdés peninsula and the pristine waters of the San Matías Gulf, on the Atlantic coast of Argentinian Patagonia, are a distant sanctuary for marine life, the place protected southern proper whales breed, orcas hunt and hundreds of penguins and sea lions flourish.“It’s a treasure chest of wildlife – a wide ranging, untouched place,” says María Leoní Gaffet, a neighborhood wildlife knowledgeable and co-director of Península Valdés Orca Analysis. “It’s distinctive on the earth.”However, she says, this wealthy ecosystem and Unesco world heritage web site might quickly be misplaced. A consortium of oil majors led by the state-run vitality firm YPF, together with Shell and Chevron, is pushing forward with plans for the nation’s largest crude oil export port and a fossil fuel liquefaction ship within the gulf.A map exhibiting the placement of Punta Colorada and the encompassing nature reservesPart of the Vaca Muerta Sur mission, the infrastructure entails establishing a 271-mile (437km) pipeline, which is because of enter service in late 2026, from the Neuquén basin to an export terminal at Punta Colorada on the Atlantic coast.The pipeline is designed to move 550,000 barrels per day (bpd), or 88,000 cubic metres, by 2027, with the potential for growing capability to 700,000 bpd. There will probably be a storage facility in a position to maintain 4m barrels and a large-capacity tanker will dock each 5 days.“The oil corporations are shifting in, and no person is speaking about it,” Gaffet says. “The scenario is determined.”Magellanic penguins (Spheniscus magellanicus) on the San Lorenzo colony on Argentina’s Valdés peninsula, the place tens of hundreds of the birds nest. {Photograph}: Picture Supply /AlamySince taking workplace in 2023, President Javier Milei – a climate-crisis denier – has dismantled Argentina’s environmental safety insurance policies, abolished the setting ministry, lower funding and threatened to withdraw from the Paris local weather settlement.‘It’s going to have a disastrous affect,’ says María Leoní Gaffet. {Photograph}: H BarberBut those that object to the mission warn of the potential for catastrophic penalties for native fauna, together with the world’s largest colony of Magellanic penguins. San Matías Gulf borders the Península Valdés protected space and close by reserves, together with Islote Lobos nationwide park and Caleta de los Loros.“It’s going to have a disastrous affect on biodiversity, from the smallest marine life as much as the whales and orcas,” says Gaffet.The first concern is the specter of oil spills. María Raquel Perrier, a marine biologist, says oil ports are “inherently soiled” and even the “inevitable microspills” can deprive water of oxygen.“These spills kill weak species and disrupt your complete biodiversity system,” says Perrier.For instance, oil strips the insulating qualities from the fur of sea otters, making them vulnerable to hypothermia, and clogs up the feathers of birds, stopping them from flying.The gulf’s semi-enclosed geography additionally means polluted water lingers, says Perrier, who warns that Argentina is ill-equipped to reply to potential spills. “In a single case earlier this 12 months, we solely discovered [about a spill] as a result of fishers stated the ocean had turned black,” she says.Rookeries of sea lions on the Valdés peninsula. Throughout the summer season, from early December, the colony may be dwelling to greater than 2,000 of the animals. {Photograph}: Iakov Filimonov/AlamyDiana Visintini, who runs whale-watching excursions, says elevated maritime visitors additionally raises the chance of collisions. “We already see, from the scars on their backs, the place propellers have hit whales within the outer seas. Think about what might occur if oil visitors comes right here,” she says.As soon as hunted to close extinction, southern proper whales now quantity about 5,500 within the space. Visintini says research in Massachusetts, within the US, present that oil tanker collisions are a serious explanation for the inhabitants decline of an identical species, the North Atlantic proper whale.Fabricio Di Giacomo says solely two public hearings on the mission have been held. {Photograph}: Harriet BarberThe Buenos Aires-based Instituto de Conservación de Ballenas has warned that industrial noise air pollution within the gulf might additional hurt whales, hindering communication, creating power stress and disrupting migration patterns.Coastal communities depending on fishing and tourism additionally really feel threatened. Sergio Fernández, a 60-year-old fisher and information, says: “All of the folks residing and dealing right here, we’re all in danger. Any spill will probably be big; it will likely be a storm. The one folks it received’t have an effect on are those that make investments.”Oil spills contaminate water, air and meals with poisonous chemical compounds similar to polyphenols and benzene, and may trigger critical well being issues. Cecilia Salcedo, a 44-year-old instructor, fears for her kids, foreseeing “a sea they will’t swim in; a sea that’s privatised, taken over by companies”.Vacationers watching a southern proper whale breaching off the Valdés peninsula in Patagonia. {Photograph}: Gabriel Rojo/AlamyOpponents of the mission say they’ve been excluded from any debate. Fabricio Di Giacomo, 43, a resident who’s a member of the San Matías Gulf collective, says solely two public hearings have been held concerning the mission. He provides that these against the mission have confronted intimidation from locals who assist it. He has footage of a listening to within the Río Negro city of Sierra Grande in 2023 when campaigners have been blocked from coming into.Cecilia Salcedo worries generations to return will undergo from the oil tasks. {Photograph}: Harriet Barber“There have been 10 or 15 males ready for us outdoors,” he says. “They stated we couldn’t be there and blocked the doorway in order that we couldn’t get in.“I used to be formally registered to talk on the meeting. However these males have been threatening me, saying they’d kill me.”Gaffet and Visintini argue that the oil terminal ought to be moved to open waters. “We’re not saying they shouldn’t extract the oil,” Gaffet says, “simply take it to the open sea at Viedma, or by Buenos Aires province, which already has a port.”“Why ought to we sacrifice one other space? As a result of they wish to construct the most affordable pipeline attainable? The value is simply too excessive, to lose this nature so just a few folks get wealthy.”Shell didn’t reply to requests for remark. Chevron stated YPF ought to touch upon the case, because the Argentinian firm was the chief of the consortium.YPF responded in an announcement on behalf of the consortium, saying that the mission would create hundreds of jobs.“At its peak, it’s going to create over 5,000 direct jobs, in addition to hundreds of oblique jobs throughout associated sectors.”The assertion didn’t immediately touch upon the hazards of oil spills, however stated an environmental affect examine was accepted by Río Negro’s vitality secretariat in 2024 and was subjected to a public listening to.YPF stated: “The examine, carried out by two internationally recognised consultancies, concerned varied discipline surveys with the participation of as much as 50 specialists, together with terrestrial and marine biologists, fisheries engineers, oceanographers, sociologists, architects and others.”The Río Negro and Chubut provincial governments didn’t reply to requests for remark. However the Río Negro administration has beforehand stated the mission’s affect can be “average to low”.In the meantime, Visintini and the native fishers have begun oil spill response coaching. “We’ve got to be ready for what would possibly occur,” Visintini says.Pipes at a shale oil and fuel web site within the Neuquén basin, a part of Argentina’s huge Vaca Muerta shale discipline. {Photograph}: Ricardo Ceppi/Getty Photographs