Fracking in the south of Mendoza: risks, uncertainties and resistance in the context of a mega drought

Abstract

In 2017, corresponding with the Vaca Muerta geological formation –located in the Argentinian provinces of Mendoza, Neuquén, Río Negro y La Pampa–, the fracking technique began to be used in the province of Mendoza for the exploitation of unconventional hydrocarbons. In Mendoza, the resistance to mega-mining based on the defense of water, a scarce and highly valued good, has been one of the most successful and transcendent at the national level. However, fracking had a rapid authorization accompanied by the flexibilization of environmental legislation and a harsh questioning of the critical voices by the provincial government. Given this panorama, in this paper we will analyze how, unlike what happened around large-scale mining, in the case of fracking water protection was neglected and social opposition criminalized. For their part, socio-environmental movements and other social actors, especially from the scientific-academic sector, have placed in the public debate the situation of “mega-drought” that the province is going through, the scarce evaluation of the risks and the uncertainty generated by these shortcomings. An uncertainty that is increased by the start of new extractive activities that generate controversies and contradictions with climate change policies and with the objectives of moving towards an energy transition.