Cornejo Rejects La Pampa's Challenge to Los Nihuiles Royalties, Points to Judicial Overreach

Mendoza Governor Alfredo Cornejo responded to criticism from his La Pampa counterpart over the origin of hydroelectric royalties and rejected the notion that the Atuel River's interprovincial nature determines energy revenue allocation. In a social media post, Cornejo differentiated between two issues that, he said, are being conflated in the debate.

“The river is interprovincial. The hydroelectric source that generates the energy from Los Nihuiles is entirely located in Mendoza,” Cornejo stated. According to his argument, legislation, jurisprudence, and opinions from the Attorney General's Office support that royalties belong to the province where the hydroelectric source is located.

Beyond Water: Gradient and Infrastructure

The Mendoza governor emphasized that generating energy requires more than just water. “To generate energy, water alone is not enough—you need gradient and infrastructure. And all of that is in our province,” he said, further justifying why Mendoza claims all royalty income.

Management Versus Litigation

Cornejo contrasted Mendoza's approach with La Pampa's. “While La Pampa dedicates itself to litigating every decision, Mendoza plans, executes, and invests in works to better harness its water resources and improve the infrastructure that sustains them,” he stated. The governor considered it “very easy to do politics with a river and turn it into a management slogan,” but that “what is difficult is to invest, build works, and forge agreements.”

Finally, Cornejo countered with a challenge to the neighboring province: “It would be good if La Pampa also showed what investments it made to improve the use of the resources it claims to defend.”