Argentine President Cristina Kirchner has touched off angry criticism from green advocates by unexpectedly vetoing legislation aimed at protecting the country’s glaciers and the water reserves they hold. The veto was seen here as a government effort to shield multi-billion-dollar Andean mining projects that might run afoul of the measure, an impression underscored by the president’s veto message. In that message, Kirchner emphasized the importance of mining and oil drilling for some provinces, suggesting it would be wrong to give “priority to environmental considerations over activities that could be authorized and developed while caring perfectly for the environment.” The glacier-protection bill, which had won near-unanimous support in Congress, would have prohibited mining, drilling and other activity that could “affect the natural... [Log in to read more]