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The Federal Public Ministry (MPF), last week, asked for the suspension of drilling at the mouth of the Amazon River and Petrobras contested
O Ibama released a new technical opinion on the exploration of the mouth of the Amazon River, pointing out inconsistencies in the documents delivered by Petrobras, which wants to explore the area.
Understand the irregularity committed by Petrobras
The Federal Public Ministry (MPF), last week, had requested the suspension of drilling at the mouth of the Amazon River and Petrobras denied it. Now, Ibama informs that the updating of documents and procedures for the continuity of the environmental licensing process is necessary. Ibama recognized that the 2013 modeling is outdated and its maintenance brings uncertainty to the progress of the process.
The project was initially assumed by BP Energy do Brasil Ltda. and then it started to be managed by Petrobras. Ibama is also not in agreement with the Individual Emergency Plan (PEI), pointing to the need for adjustments to deal with cross-border damage.
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What Petrobras should do
According to Ibama, Petrobras needs to "formalize contact with those responsible and inform the potential risk of maritime drilling of the Morpho well, since the forecast for the oil to reach French Guiana is less than six hours".
The location of the well on the Amazon River raises the probability that the oil will advance into international territory, such as the territorial sea of French Guiana and the coast of Caribbean countries.
Ibama also indicated the need to expand the scope and scope of the social communication program, in addition to holding new face-to-face meetings in the municipalities of Oiapoque and Belém.
Denunciation of environmental irregularity
At the end of 2021, a manifestation was sent to the Federal Public Ministry by a group of civil society organizations, such as WWF, Observatório do Clima and Greenpace, denouncing potential irregularities in the environmental licensing of offshore well drilling in the Foz do Amazonas basin.
The complaint contained in the document includes risks related to block FZA-M-59 and questions the request for an environmental license made by Petrobras to obtain a Preliminary License (LP). The document says that the licensing process has lasted seven years and the entrepreneurs have not demonstrated that they are capable of managing the threats to the environment. In 2018, another project in the same region, by Total E&P do Brasil Ltda., was denied by Ibama.
Read more about the environmental threats faced in the Amazon:
Amazon in flames
The year 2022 is marked by high rates of deforestation and fires, but even so, the federal government is investing below average in actions to prevent forest devastation in the Amazon.
Ibama, the main federal agency for environmental inspection, executed 37% of the budget set aside for monitoring, preventing and controlling forest fires by September 6, disbursing only R$ 20 million out of an amount of R$ 52,75 million . These data were taken from the Federal Budget Panel (Siop), of the Ministry of Economy, and released by the Climate Observatory.
Cost containment takes place during the dry period when the incidence of fires in Brazilian biomes, including the Amazon, normally increases. The National Institute for Space Research (Inpe) computed 18.374 fire outbreaks in the Amazon between September 1st and 7, 2022. The number exceeds the fire occurrences recorded in the entire month of September in 2021, of 16.742 outbreaks.
The utilization of the budget foreseen for the prevention of forest fires was, in 2021 and 2020, around 70 to 75%.
According to experts, Ibama's preventive work should take place in the months of April and May, before the arrival of the drought. The director of Science at IPAM (Amazon Environmental Research Institute) and coordinator of MapBiomas Fogo, Ane Alencar said that the situation in 2022 is only worse because the Amazon is under the effect of the La Niña phenomenon, which keeps the humidity in the biome , despite the lack of rainfall.
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