Región Metropolitana Chile
Citizens of the San José de Maipo community filed three claims of illegality, which were accumulated in a single case, against Exempt Resolution No. 29/2018, through which the Superintendency of the Environment approved the Compliance Program of the Alto Maipo Hydroelectric project, presented by the company Alto Maipo SPA., regarding the infractions contained in its Environmental Qualification Resolution (No. 256/2009) in the administrative sanctioning procedure ROL D-001-2017.
The Alto Maipo Hydroelectric Project consists of a tunnel that will transport and transfer water from the high peaks of the Andes Mountains and return it to the Maipo River. The project's objective is to generate electricity through the construction and operation of two run-of-river hydroelectric plants (Alfalfal II and Las Lajas) arranged in series in the upper reaches of the Maipo River. It also considers utilizing water from the upper reaches of the Volcán and Yeso Rivers, the water discharged by the Alfalfal plant, and the middle basin of the Colorado River.
The claimants request that resolution D-001-2017 be declared illegal, arguing that with the approval of the Compliance Program presented by Alto Maipo SPA., the Superintendency of the Environment adjusted itself to it and thereby lowered the environmental standards, instead of forcing the company to adapt to the regulations and its environmental permits.
Furthermore, the claimants point out that the approval of said Compliance Program has generated various adverse impacts; for example, the tunnel excavations of the Alto Maipo hydroelectric project have caused damage to the quantity and quality of surface and groundwater in the Maipo Basin, which supplies drinking water and irrigation to the municipality of San José de Maipo and the Metropolitan Region, and the construction of the project destroyed some of the high Andean meadows - the compliance program did not address this impact. Other impacts not evaluated are related to the effects on the glacial system and, in particular, on the El Morado Natural Monument.
Although the concept of climate change is not mentioned in the Claim Appeal that initiates the judicial process, it is subsequently incorporated in the context of a Precautionary Measure and a Motion for Reconsideration filed by the claimants during the process.
It is noted that the hydroelectric project will alter the ecosystem of over 105 km of riverbed. They indicate that the Maipo River is nearing the point where its tributaries will enter a 70-kilometer tunnel for energy generation, leaving it with an ecological flow lower than that determined by current environmental legislation, and that the reported water outflows exceed the aquifer's recharge capacity.
Furthermore, they point out that this project destroys the underground aquifers, preventing their natural flow to the riverbed, an action that will desertify hundreds of square kilometers of mountain, increase the temperature and accelerate the melting of glaciers, putting at risk the drinking water and irrigation reservoirs of the San José de Maipo commune and the entire Metropolitan Region, and the sub-aquifer system of the basin, which is not sufficiently studied by the State, nor by the company and which feeds a high percentage of the drinking water supply in the metropolitan region, where its most populated city and capital, Santiago, is located.
The above is mentioned as a contravention of international treaties on the protection of fresh water signed by Chile, such as, for example, the Paris Agreement on climate change.
For their part, the project's lawyers have argued that hydroelectric power generation will allow for the decarbonization of the energy mix and is therefore a project aligned with climate action. However, recent events have shown that, due to climate change, hydroelectric plants have not been able to supply the energy they had committed to, which has had to be compensated for with coal-fired power generation, resulting in a climate-regressive approach to planning.
- Maite Birke Abaroa (councilwoman of San José de Maipo)
- Others.
- Superintendence of the Environment (Chile).
The 18,000 inhabitants of the San José de Maipo commune are affected, as well as the entire Metropolitan Region, in which an important business and industrial activity of the country takes place.
The commune of San José de Maipo has metallic and non-metallic mining activity, aggregate extraction, stone quarrying, and trade in local products and handicrafts, among other things. There is also significant electricity production from the Los Queltehues, Los Maitenes, and Alfalfal 1 run-of-river hydroelectric plants. Tourism has been booming, and in 2001 it was declared a National Tourist Interest Zone.
Standards
- Rio Declaration on Environment and Development.
- Buenos Aires Declaration of the XVI Ibero-American Judicial Summit of 2012.
- United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
- Paris Agreement.
- Law 20.600 that creates the Environmental Courts.
- Law 19.300, on General Bases of the Environment.
- Supreme Decree 40/2012 , which approves the Regulations of the Environmental Impact Assessment System.
- National Climate Change Action Plan 2017-2022.
Beginning
- Precautionary.
- Environmental justice.