San Matías Gulf, on the northern coast of Argentina’s Patagonia region, is one of the most biodiverse areas in the Argentine Sea. The Valdés Peninsula — a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1999 and a biosphere reserve since 2014 — forms its southern border. It’s surrounded by Islote Lobos National Park, the Puerto Lobos and Bahía San Antonio protected natural areas, and Caleta de los Loros Multiple Use Reserve. But a planned oil port has many locals and environmentalists concerned for the future of this biodiverse marine region. “We all need energy to live our lives, but the location chosen for these works could not be worse,” says Roxana Schteinbarg, coordinator of the conservation program at the Whale Conservation Institute (ICB). “The San Matías Gulf is too important for the health of our sea to be turned into a sacrifice zone.” Authorities have chosen the village of Punta Colorado for the new oil port, the final destination for the 437-kilometer (272-mile) Vaca Muerta Sur (VMOS) oil pipeline. This enormous pipeline will carry crude oil extracted by fracking from the Neuquén Plateau, at the western edge of the country, to two buoys installed offshore to fill the tanks of cargo ships. Fuerte Argentino, an elevation that rises up in front of the sea with no clear explanation for its origin, will overlook the Hilli Episeyo, the LNG ship. Image courtesy of Fabricio Di Giacomo. The government is also planning a second fossil fuel port in the gulf. North of the oil…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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