Mr. Director:
The bill for the protection of glaciers is in constitutional process. For this, the project seeks a ban on activities that may affect them, including mining exploration and exploitation, and including those that develop in the periglacial and permafrost environment. The initiative adds that activities affecting or affecting glaciers must cease and require authorizations from the competent authorities to proceed in accordance with the law.
The melting of glaciers is a fact that is happening all over the planet, regardless of the human presence that exists in its environment. It occurs in mountain glaciers, but also in places where human activity is virtually non-existent, as in the case of polar ice caps.
The bill is wrong to focus on its intention to protect glaciers. Glacier melting occurs as a result of climate change, which is associated with greenhouse gas emissions. In this area the country is doing what is appropriate, enhancing the use of renewable energies to reduce the use of fossil fuels. Mining contributes to this effort with its various metallic and non-metallic products, also contributing to energy efficiency and electromobility projects.
In Chile, some of the most important mining operations are carried out around glaciers, which operate after obtaining the corresponding environmental permit. Current regulations stipulate that in the event that a project is located on or near glaciers, it must enter the Environmental Impact Assessment System through an Environmental Impact Study. In this way, there is currently the technical body competent to decide in this area.
For the Institute of Mining Engineers of Chile, the development of mining activity is compatible with environmental protection. Mining operations are designed, built and developed to high engineering standards, and their potential effects can be predicted to take appropriate action. We therefore consider the idea of restricting the development of mining projects in the terms outlined in the above-mentioned bill to be misguided, let alone operations that currently provide important resources for the country’s economic and social sustainability.
Juan Rayo P.
Ivan Cerda B.
