Uruguay denies pulp mill pollution

The new UPM pulp mill planned for construction near the Río Negro in Uruguay will have no effect on the Uruguay river, the neighbouring country’s environmental agency said yesterday.

Its director Alejandro Nario addressed the issue after authorities in Gualeguaychú district, Entre Ríos, protested the creation of the new plant, sparking fears about a conflict similar to that seen a decade ago over a pulp mill in Fray Bentos, which strained billateral relations for years.

“If the law is followed, everythings points to no pollution problems” in the river shared by both countries, Nario told Radio Sarandí.

“Uruguay was already able to analyze to pulp mills and follow how they worked, with no environmental impact at all in either of the previous two projects. Even though they were smaller than this one, the technology is a similar one, and this one will even be superior because improvements have been made,” Nario said.

Finnish forest firm UPM, formerly known as Botnia, will construct a new processing plant a decade after a previous one led Argentina and Uruguay all the way to the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

The plant will require a US$5-billion investment, the largest in the history of the country.

Just as in the case of the Fray Bentos plant, Uruguay stands to gain in terms of job creation and increased gross domestic product (GDP), with President Tabaré Vázquez estimating that 8,000 jobs and a two to three percent GDP boost could come as a direct consequence of the investment.

But Gauleguaychú’s government argues that the Río Negro eventually flows into the Uruguay river, which borders the Argentine province, and thus could affect Uruguay’s neighbours.

The district has even called on President Mauricio Macri’s government to repudiate Uruguay’s move through the Foreign Ministry and “stop the construction of this new plant.”

BUENOS AIRES HERALD - ARGENTINA - 18 julio 2016