An environmental group from the central Argentine province of Córdoba has charged that no environmental impact studies were conducted for the 2010 Dakar Rally under way in Argentina and neighboring Chile. The Foundation for the Defense of the Environment (FUNAM) had denounced the lack of environmental authorization for the route to pass through the province in the Jan. 1-17 auto race.

The Córdoba government published an authorization on the eve of the rally start. In the opinion of Raúl Montenegro, FUNAM president, that act is “null and void” because “the environmental impact study was not conducted as established by national environmental law and we are going to file a criminal lawsuit,” he told Tierramérica.

FUNAM had opposed the international rally – heir of the former Paris-Dakar race – which was held in this same region in 2009, and recalled the “destruction” left behind by the rally last year.