MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentine-Uruguayan pulp mills dispute spiraling

Uruguay will officially express “concern” to Argentina over the recurrent blockading of border bridges by Argentine environmentalists which are causing “irreversible” damage to both countries economies, announced Uruguayan Foreign Affairs minister Reinaldo Gargano.

Environmentalists and residents from the province of Entre Rios are protesting the building of two wood pulp mills in Uruguay which allegedly will contaminate the shared waters of the Uruguay river, the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay.

Following Monday's first cabinet meeting of the year, Mr. Gargano said the Uruguayan government will send a letter to Argentina complaining about the situation and insisting that the construction of the two mills, which has sparked a diplomatic row between the countries, was "a national cause" and as such an "irreversible" decision.

"In the letter we're going to ratify the Uruguayan government's decision to go ahead with the building of the two plants", underlined Mr. Gargano who revealed the formation of a committee with representatives from all political parties to monitor the bilateral situation and advise the Uruguayan Foreign Affairs ministry.

Uruguayan ruling coalition Senador Fernadez Huidobro in a Sunday interview with Pagina 12 from Buenos Aires admitted that the environmentalists claim was "fair", but expressed his annoyance with the blocking of the bi-national bridges, describing the relation between president Nestor Kirchner and his Uruguayan counterpart Tabare Vazquez as difficult.

"The pulp mills conflict between Mercosur members is regrettable and this is reflected in the presidential relation that seems to be full of accidents", said Fernandez Huidobro. In Entre Rios Argentine environmentalists warned they will continue with "surprise" route and bridge access blockading "to prevent the building" of the cellulose plants in Fray Bentos.

"The blockading will be decided on the spot with no previous warning", said Oscar Borges one of the movement leaders.

Mr. Borges admitted that cutting traffic was damaging for the Uruguayan tourism industry (a million Argentines is estimated travel to Uruguay for holidays in summer months, many driving across the bridges), but "there's nothing left for us since the pulp mills will only bring death and destruction for both countries".

The two pulp mills, Spanish and Finnish are forecasted to invest 1.8 billion US dollars in Uruguay plus creating a completely new export industry for the country.

Uruguay and Argentina had agreed on an independent environment impact survey to address the situation involving the World Bank which is helping to finance the mills. The preliminary report said the environmental impact of the plants was "manageable", but Argentina objected that the study was done by a World Bank contractor and not a full independent company.

Argentina has cautioned that if non understanding is reached, the case could end in the hands of The Hague-based International Court of Justice.