Argentina Passes Glacier Law Reform, Opening Andes to Mining

The Argentina glacier law passed Wednesday night after a tense session in which the Adorni property scandal, the $LIBRA crypto collapse, and the future of Andean water reserves competed for airtime — delivering Milei’s ruling coalition a victory it needed badly after weeks of political damage, El País and Infobae reported.

The bill, which already had Senate approval from February 26, becomes law immediately. Under the new framework, provinces will evaluate each of Argentina’s nearly 17,000 glaciers and ice bodies — covering 8,484 square kilometers, an area 41 times the size of Buenos Aires — on a case-by-case basis. Only those deemed to serve an “effective hydrological function” will retain protection. The rest become available for extractive activities, including open-pit mining for copper, gold, silver, and lithium across the Andes.

What’s New Since Yesterday

The session itself became a showcase of Argentina’s political fractures. Government deputies argued the reform was essential for competitiveness — pointing out that Chile, which shares 5,000 kilometers of Andean border, generated over $60 billion in mining exports in 2025, ten times Argentina’s output. Opposition lawmakers countered that the original 2010 law never blocked mining investment and that delegating glacier protection to mining-friendly provincial governments is a conflict of interest. Former cabinet chief Miguel Ángel Pichetto warned that the constitutional questions would generate litigation and uncertainty — the opposite of what investors need.

The Adorni scandal — which our Session 14 coverage detailed — loomed over the debate. The opposition attempted to summon cabinet chief Adorni for questioning over unexplained property purchases, but the motion failed. Peronist deputy Juan Grabois captured the mood with a line that connected all of Milei’s vulnerabilities at once, calling the government’s scientific arguments less credible than Adorni’s mortgages and Milei’s cryptocurrency.

100,000 Tried to Be Heard

Perhaps the most striking number from the process was the public hearing: more than 100,000 people registered to participate — a record for any Argentine legislative proceeding. At five minutes per speaker, hearing them all would have taken 340 uninterrupted days. The Câmara asked them to submit written or video statements instead. Greenpeace delivered a petition with 67,000 signatures and hung banners on the Congressional monument reading “Don’t betray the Argentines.” Street protests accompanied the vote, but none changed the arithmetic that the government had locked in before the session began.

What Happens Next

The opposition confirmed it will challenge the law in court, arguing it violates constitutional environmental protections and the principle of non-regression in environmental law. Environmental organization Círculo de Políticas Ambientales called the reform unconstitutional and warned that a legislative process conducted without scientific evidence, transparency, or meaningful public participation cannot strengthen either water security or legal certainty. In 2019, the Supreme Court rejected a challenge from Barrick Gold and upheld the original law, ruling that glaciers are public goods and that collective water rights prevail over private interests. Whether the reformed version survives the same scrutiny will determine whether the $40 billion mining pipeline Milei is selling to international investors actually materializes — or becomes another Argentine promise tangled in courts.