Buenos Aires senate okays bill to regulate environmental liabilities

The senate of Argentina's Buenos Aires province has passed a bill to control environmental liabilities with the aim of preventing and cleaning up contamination of water and land. The legislation will regulate the identification of environmental liabilities and the obligation to clean up contaminated areas or those which pose a health risk to the population, the province government said in a release. The bill transfers responsibility to those which generate the contamination. If the entity responsible for the contamination cannot be identified, the state will take control of cleaning up the area via a new provincial environment fund, known as Foproa. The bill will also create a register of environmental liabilities, oblige industry to take out environmental insurance and ensure audits are carried out when industrial sites are closed down, the release said.