ACUMAR - The Control of Industrial Activity is Backed up by the Judiciary

The Matanza Riachuelo Basin Authority (named “ACUMAR”), an interjurisdictional autonomous agency, created by law, composed of the Federal Government, the City of Buenos Aires, the Province of Buenos Aires and the 17 municipalities involved, is developing diverse plans of control, punishment and industrial restructuring in response to one of the primary objectives set by the Federal Supreme Court, when it ordered the remediation of the Matanza Riachuelo basin’s contamination: to put an end to pollution from industrial wastes.

According to the information provided by ACUMAR, in the Matanza Riachuelo basin there are 24,842 registered and controlled industries. According to statistics from February 2012:

• 1,085 industries have been declared ‘pollutant agents’;
• 733 industries declared ‘pollutant agents’ submitted an Industrial Restructuring Plan;
• 398 Industrial Restructuring Plans have been approved by ACUMAR;
• 254 are under implementation, and
• 9 industries have been converted.

In sum, of all the industries declared to be pollutant, less than 25% are running an Industrial Restructuring Plan.

These figures are the result of the delay that exists in the ACUMAR to approve the restructuring plans submitted by the offenders. If it is also considered that ACUMAR usually orders preventive closures to facilities that are sanctioned until the approval of the Industrial Restructuring Plan is granted, it could be construed that there is a large number of closed industries pending a delayed administrative decision.

The Judge in charge of the Federal Court of the City of Quilmes, the competent judicial authority to control the remediation program of the Matanza Riachuelo basin according to the Federal Supreme Court decision, has been rendering -since 2009- different decisions aiming to sustain or support ACUMAR’s control over industrial activities. To this end, for example, different sanctions have been imposed on public officials who have not complied with the required implementation schedules.

On February 14, 2012 the Federal Judge of Quilmes (1) summoned ACUMAR to (i) adequately perform all activities necessary to control polluting industries of the Basin, including regular and permanent monitoring activities, and (ii) disclose the number of industries that are in compliance with the Industrial Restructuring Plan approved by ACUMAR.

In the same court decision, the Judge summoned the mayors of the municipalities that belong to the Matanza Riachuelo basin to inform, on a monthly basis, to ACUMAR and to the Judge, on the industries that, in each jurisdiction, pollute the environment or have a negative impact on the environment.

As mentioned in the same judgment, this decision intends to bring together municipalities and mayors to control industrial activities held in the Matanza Riachuelo basin, giving support to ACUMAR’s activity in this regard.

Therefore, it is expected that environmental municipal inspections will increase for those industries located in the Matanza Riachuelo basin, beyond the current environmental control developed both by ACUMAR and the competent Provincial authorities.