Residents of the city of Palpalá, in the northwestern Argentine province of Jujuy, are protesting the operations of Sulfhaar, a sulfuric acid factory that already has approval from government authorities. Sulfhaar set up shop in August in Alto La Torre, a neighborhood where there are already 15 factories challenged by local residents, including silver and lead foundries, paper mills and a borax plant.

“They moved in without asking permission, even though since 1990 an ordinance bans new contaminating factories,” Orlando Conejo Vargas, of the Organized Residents of Palpalá, told Tierramérica.

“We live half a block away from the factories, and at night we hang damp cloths in the doorways to prevent the odor and the pollution from entering,” he said. Palpalá is 15 km from the provincial capital and is home to 45,000 people.