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Now the Spotlight Turns to Argentina's Pulp Mills |
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By Marcela Valente*
Paraguay
is filing complaints against Argentina for the contamination of
the border Paraná River. The operations of at least 12 pulp mills
are being challenged.
BUENOS AIRES - The environmental impacts of
the approximately 30 factories producing pulp and paper in Argentina
are many, and a seemingly endless source of conflict. With challenges
simmering against the construction of two large pulp mills in neighboring
Uruguay, the Argentine companies are on the defensive.
The entire sector in Argentina produces some 900,000 tons of pulp
annually, based on different technologies and raw materials. The
largest and most questioned mills are located on the Paraná River,
in the northeast.
Since March, Paraguay has filed suit against Argentina for the alleged
lack of wastewater treatment by the pulp mills Alto Paraná, Celulosa
Puerto Piray and Benfide, in the northeastern province of Misiones,
on their shared border.
Paraguay says the Argentine companies discharge chemical waste into
the Paraná, but Argentina has yet to respond to the complaint of
the neighboring country's Foreign Ministry.
Alfredo Molinas, environment minister of Paraguay, said on May 12
that his country will insist that the problem "be resolved through
diplomacy, without the need to escalate to a dispute."
The environmental watchdog group Greenpeace will disseminate a report
at the end of the month about the paper and pulp industry in Argentina,
where, it says, no company in that sector sets a positive example,
but rather all pose problems.
Some pollute the surroundings because they use chlorine in the bleaching
process, "and those that don't use it have problems in treatment
of discharge -- in other words in all cases there have to be adjustments
made," Juan Carlos Villalonga, director of Greenpeace-Argentina,
told Tierramérica.
The Argentine Association of Pulp and Paper Producers, which represents
more than 90 percent of the sector, signed an agreement May 10 with
the Environment Secretariat for a clean production program and business
competition aimed at preventing the pollution associated with that
industry.
"The Argentine companies are aware of the need to take care of the
environment, and for some time have invested in this, but they were
disperse actions. Now we are going to coordinate efforts," association
president Rafael Gaviola told Tierramérica.
Greenpeace's Villalonga says the agreement is good news. "Now they
need to set a timeline for achieving each of the goals, because
that is what moves the companies, the obligation to comply," he
said.
As it stands, the agreement is voluntary and commits the signatories
to a series of objectives. "The idea is to show the companies that
instead of throwing away inputs or generating waste, it would benefit
them to be efficient in process management," Victoria Beláustegui,
clean production coordinator for the Environment Secretariat, said
in a Tierramérica interview.
Public attention to the local pulp industry increased in the wake
of the conflict surrounding the construction of two pulp mills by
the Finnish firm Botnia and the Spanish company ENCE on the Uruguayan
side of the border river shared with Argentina.
The biggest protests against the potential contamination of the
Uruguay River have been in the Argentine city of Gualeguaychú. But
the city's neighbors in Uruguay defend the two mills as a source
of jobs. The pulp plants will produce around 1.5 million tons annually
for export.
Although association chief Gaviola affirms that the Argentine mills
invested some 35 million dollars between 2001 and 2006 "just in
improving the environment," there are 12 companies involved in dispute.
One is Alto Paraná, which produces 350,000 tons of pulp paste each
year.
"The technology that Alto Paraná uses is the same that Botnia will
use," said Gaviola, in reference to the "elemental chlorine free"
technology. Nevertheless, the residents in the area argue that the
Misiones Ministry of Ecology does not provide reports on tests of
the Paraná River.
In the late 1990s, Greenpeace filed a lawsuit against Celulosa Argentina,
located downstream on the same river, in the eastern province of
Santa Fe, for pollution since 1929. "The lawsuit was not successful,"
according to Villalonga.
Greenpeace and the Ecologist Workshop of Rosario provided water
samples with contaminants -- many of them persistent pollutants
-- associated with the use of chlorine. Celulosa Argentina denies
using the chemical in its production, but will not say what it does
use. Santa Fe residents say they have been requesting information
from the company that floods the area with a strong odor of rotten
eggs.
The paper company Papelera del Tucumán, in the northeastern Argentine
province of the same name, was the only one whose executives were
indicted, following a report from provincial authorities in early
2003.
In March, government regulations were tightened in Buenos Aires
province, where preventative shutdowns were enforced against Papelera
Massuh and Papelera Baradero for failures in treatment of wastewater
discharge.
"The pulp paste companies have challenges, as do other sectors where
we are pursuing clean production processes. Some improve a great
deal, while others need consulting in order to advance," said ministry
official Beláustegui.
"Everyone has to improve in one key sector, which is the use of
water," she said.
* Marcela Valente is an IPS correspondent.
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