Environmental lawyers in Argentina: permitting, compliance and defence

Raskovsky y Asociados advises industrial companies, energy operators and developers on environmental compliance and on defending administrative and court claims. This is an area where the risk does not show up as a fine: it shows up as a plant that cannot operate, works halted by an injunction or an acquisition that collapses during due diligence.

Our work is aimed at the company knowing exactly what each authority requires for each site, and being able to prove it when asked.

The framework: minimum standards and overlapping powers

Section 41 of the Argentine Constitution recognises the right to a healthy environment and allocates powers: the federal government enacts minimum environmental protection standards and the provinces supplement them, retaining original ownership of their natural resources. Law 25,675, the General Environmental Act, operates on that basis, with a provincial layer and a municipal layer on top of it.

The practical consequence is that a single plant may be subject to three frameworks that do not always say the same thing or fall due on the same dates. The first task is usually cartographic: building the full matrix of obligations that actually apply to each facility, because until that matrix exists the company does not know whether it is compliant.

Permits and environmental impact assessment

Installing or expanding a facility usually requires an environmental fitness certificate, with an impact assessment procedure that depends on the activity, the scale and the jurisdiction. In projects of a certain size the procedure includes public participation stages, which are worth preparing seriously: they are the point where a project that was on track most often gets stuck.

We handle the process from defining the framing —which risk category applies, which study is required— through to obtaining the permit, coordinating with the technical consultants who prepare the studies. Experience says that projects are not delayed by technical content but by how the file is formally assembled.

Waste: where the risk concentrates

This is the front that generates the most penalties and the one most often underestimated. The points we review:

• Classification of the facility as a generator and its registration in the applicable register
• The waste stream: what is actually generated and how it is declared
• Authorization of the contracted carriers and operators, and whether it is genuinely in force
• Traceability of manifests and how they are filed
• Temporary storage on site and the conditions applied to it
• Effluents and discharges, with their discharge permits

One point worth keeping in mind: hiring a third party for transport or disposal does not transfer liability in full. If the operator is not authorized or diverts the waste, the generating company remains exposed. That is why documentary control over suppliers is part of compliance, not an extra.

Environmental insurance and liability for damage

Section 22 of Law 25,675 requires anyone carrying out activities that are risky for the environment to take out insurance sufficient to fund the remediation of any damage. Beyond checking whether the obligation reaches the activity, we review the policy actually in place: it is common to find cover that does not match how the site really operates.

On liability, the core of the regime is remediation: whoever causes environmental damage must restore things to their previous state, and only where that is not technically feasible does substitute compensation apply. That is a different logic from classic property damage and it changes the defence strategy entirely. We act in remediation claims, environmental amparo proceedings and class actions, and in coordinating the position with insurance cover.

Environmental liabilities in transactions

Buying a plant means buying its environmental history. In M&A deals and transfers of facilities we review:

• Permits in force and whether they can be transferred to the buyer
• Pending proceedings, inspection reports and formal notices
• History of activity on the site and possible soil contamination
• Contracts with waste operators and whether they are in order
• Ongoing claims from neighbours or organisations

Findings translate into the same instruments as in any other area: price adjustment, specific seller warranties, a holdback on part of the payment or conditions precedent to closing. The difference is that an environmental liability can surface many years later and does not always end with a change of owner.

Why choose us for environmental matters

The file is handled by a partner, working with the technical consultants on each project. For operations in the Neuquén basin we work alongside our Vaca Muerta Desk, which adds local presence and integrated accounting services. And when the environmental front comes together —as it usually does— with an employment, corporate or criminal dispute, the firm covers it without referring the case out.