Snapshot: In 2018, Indigenous people from Peine and Camar, and the Indigenous Advisory Council of Atacameño People filed a complaint in the First Environmental Court Antofagasta against Chile's environmental regulator SMA for approving SQM's compliance plan to expand its lithium carbonate production plant. They argued that the expansion plans did not sufficiently take the water use of the project into account and the project would cause environmental damage. In December 2019, the court upheld the complaint, citing the high level of scientific uncertainty surrounding the impact of lithium mining on water in the region. It ordered SQM to revise its plan and the SMA to reinstate sanctions against the company. The SMA said it would appeal before the Supreme Court. In 2020, before the appeal was heard, the SMA withdrew its appeal. In 2022, the SMA approved SQM's compliance plan. The case is closed.