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Oil and gas companies are wrecking Northern Patagonia with the gigantic Vaca Muerta fracking project. Over 20 companies are turning the region in Argentina's south into a sacrifice zone the size of Belgium, smashing production levels on a yearly basis.^1949819499 Up to 1,700 wells are fracked every month in the region.¹⁹⁵⁰⁰ Health issues plague the people living near wells and illegal dumping sites.¹⁹⁵⁰¹

The oil and gas companies set up new wells almost on a daily basis. The wells fragment the landscape in Vaca Muerta. The Argentine oil and gas company Vista Energy alone announced it wants to start production on 138 new wells by 2026.¹⁹⁵⁰² New infrastructure could further boost the expansion-hungry fracking company’s production. State-owned companies are rushing to build hundreds of kilometers of pipelines across the country.¹⁹⁵⁰³ Countless proposals are being drawn up to export the gas as quick as possible, via pipeline or massive LNG terminals.^1950419505 Moreover, an expansion project of the North Patagonian railway corridor is underway.¹⁹⁵⁰⁷ It will enable oil and gas companies to transport their products to Bahía Blanca, one of Argentina’s most important ports.¹⁹⁵⁰⁸ All this planned infrastructure aims to export Vaca Muerta gas as quick as possible and further boost gas production.¹⁹⁵⁰⁹

Vaca Muerta is being presented as a vehicle of economic independence, a way to reduce public debt while driving social improvements in Argentina.¹⁵²²³ While this outcome is dependent on good policies, other effects are more certain. The project is a carbon bomb. It is among the largest shale gas projects in the world.¹⁵²²⁵ Emissions from Vaca Muerta could eat up more than 10% of the world’s remaining carbon budget.¹⁵²²⁷ According to calculations by 350.org and Profundo, the costs of Vaca Muerta’s social and environmental impacts could reach up to USD 5 trillion – far outweighing the projected USD 2 trillion in profits the project could generate.¹⁵²²⁹Even the World Bank Group, typically an ally of the fossil fuel industry, admits the project poses a significant risk of stranded assets for the public sector in the face of declining global demand for gas.¹⁹⁵¹¹

Fracking is a dirty and dangerous technique to extract oil and gas. It is banned in many countries, such as Uruguay, France, the Netherlands, Bulgaria, Ireland and Denmark.¹⁴⁷⁰¹ Fracking can cause earthquakes and contaminate water sources. According to government records, over 2,000 “environmental incidents” occurred at Vaca Muerta in 2021. These incidents involve blowouts, as well as leaks of gas, lubricants or wastewater. The number of accidents has more than doubled since 2017.¹⁵²³¹  Fossil fuel companies pump pressurized water, toxic chemicals and sand into the underground rock to release oil and gas. Together with the desired fossil fuels, they bring some of the wastewater up to the surface again. This waste contains heavy metals and radioactive liquids.¹⁵²³³ In Vaca Muerta, companies are illegally dumping the dangerous mixture into unprotected pits.¹⁴⁷⁰³ This oily waste is piling up only a few hundred meters away from people’s homes.¹⁴⁷⁰⁵

Fracking operations in Vaca Muerta make people ill. Fracking chemicals are poisoning people’s drinking water, farmland and harvest.¹⁵²³⁵ People are suffocating from the persistent smell of oil and gas in the air. It sticks to their noses and dries up their throats. They are suffering chronic health issues such as cancer, asthma and skin diseases.¹⁴⁷⁰⁷ The waste issue is a problem that will continue to worsen, as waste processing facilities are already struggling for capacity.¹⁵²³⁷ Waste processing companies such as Comarsa, contracted by YPF to deal with its toxic waste, have been accused by prosecutors of simply burying waste they did not have the capacity to process.¹⁹⁵¹² Spills are being ignored or improperly cleaned up.¹⁹⁵¹³ At the same time, fracking operations regularly lead to earthquakes that rattle and crack people’s houses. People live in constant fear of the next earthquake.¹⁹⁵¹⁶ Every earthquake threatens to destroy their homes, belongings and health. Before the oil and gas companies started their fracking activities, the people of Vaca Muerta could walk on stable ground. This is no longer the case.¹⁴⁷⁰⁹ Over the course of only 3 weeks between April and May in 2022, 35 earthquakes hit the region.¹⁴⁷¹¹ None had been recorded in the area prior to 2015.

The Vaca Muerta megaproject brings Northern Patagonian cities close to collapse. Masses of workers are moving to the area. Cities like Añelo are growing chaotically. Within the last decade, Añelo's population has tripled and it has seen a sharp increase in crime and sexual assault cases.^1951419515 Housing and food prices are exploding in Vaca Muerta’s nearby cities.¹⁴⁷¹⁵ Even the oil and gas workers are struggling to pay their bills by now. More and more people have to move into the poor slums on the outskirts of cities. The health and school systems are completely overburdened. Teachers and doctors have to commute from neighboring towns because they cannot afford rent.¹⁴⁷¹⁹ In February 2022, a trade union representing 24,000 oil and gas workers went on strike to demand higher wages.¹⁴⁷¹⁷ They did so again in May 2023 to denounce the “contempt” of industry players for the safety of their employees.¹⁵²⁴¹

The Indigenous Mapuche people also suffer from the dirty megaproject. They have been living in Northern Patagonia for centuries. Now, fossil fuel companies are drilling wells on the Mapuche’s traditional land without their consent.¹⁴⁷²¹ They are invading the Indigenous community’s homeland with wells, pipelines, heavy machinery, access roads and truck traffic.^1472314725 In early 2023, Argentina’s National Institute of Indigenous Affairs (INAI) recognized the rights of the Lof Limay Kurref Mapuche community over 4,477 hectares of land in the province of Mendoza. The area had been included in the Vaca Muerta fracking region without the Lof Limay Kurref’s prior, informed consent.¹⁵²⁴³ Oil and gas companies have already drilled wells and erected pipelines on the land.^1524515247

The Mapuche people are fighting back. First, in 2014, they blocked roads to drilling sites for 2 weeks, then for 48 days and then again for another 48 days.¹⁴⁷²⁵ With their bodies, they brought Vaca Muerta’s fracking wells to a halt. Protests have continued since.^1524915251 Together with the NGO FARN and local citizens, the Wirkaleo Mapuche community is suing the Neuquén province in Northern Patagonia and the State of Argentina. The case has reached Argentina’s supreme court, which remains silent.¹⁴⁷²⁷ The Wirkaleo Mapuche want the province to halt all fracking activities until it can guarantee that fracking no longer causes earthquakes in the region.¹⁴⁷²⁹

The Mapuche are not alone in their resistance. More and more people are coming together in grassroots initiatives across Northern Patagonia. The Nobel Peace Prize winner Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, a local Catholic Bishop, farmers, doctors, teachers and politicians are speaking up against the destruction of the region.¹⁵²⁵⁵ Even the United Nations has urged Argentina to stop the gigantic fracking project.^1473115253

Fossil fuel companies like Chevron, Equinor and Shell have endless expansion plans. Financial institutions need to stop them now, before they turn Northern Patagonia into a completely unlivable and poisonous desert.¹⁴⁷³³