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Residents Near The Refinery Demand Installation Of Filters To Reduce Gases That Are Causing Illnesses
Residents of the municipality of Ipojuca, on the southern coast of Pernambuco, accuse the Abreu e Lima refinery, located in that city, of emitting soot and toxic gases that are making the population sick. To alert the authorities, a protest was held on Monday (09), blocking part of PE-60, one of the main roads connecting Recife to the port area of Suape, where the refining facility is located.
The residents set fire to tires and other objects, demanding the installation of filters to reduce the gases emitted by the refinery that are said to be causing respiratory symptoms, skin irritation, and even gastrointestinal problems. The local Fire Department was called to extinguish the flames and end the protest. About 3,000 people live in the region. An environmental technician, who lives in Ipojuca, says she feels her skin burning due to pollution. “I feel that burning sensation on my skin, my throat, and my eyes,” she reports.
The municipality of Ipojuca is known for its natural beauty, especially regarding its coastline with clear waters that wash the paradisiacal beaches of Maracaípe, Muro Alto, and the famous Porto de Galinhas. However, after the installation of the Abreu e Lima refinery in the Suape complex in 2014, several reports of intoxications have emerged. The Suape Forum, a movement that defends the territorial and socio-environmental rights of the communities surrounding the port complex, is monitoring the struggle and the complaints.
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“The Suape Forum has been receiving complaints from residents about gas leaks from the Abreu e Lima refinery for several years. What we have noticed is that these leaks have been intensifying in recent years,” comments the legal advisor of the Suape Forum, Mariana Vidal Maia, in an interview with TVT. The Public Prosecutor’s Office of Pernambuco has also been alerted and has filed a civil action in the Ipojuca court against Petrobras regarding the health damages reported by residents who claim to be affected by the toxic gases.
Petrobras Claims It Operates According To International Standards
Petrobras is responsible for the Abreu e Lima refinery. The state-owned company claims it “operates according to international standards of safety, environment, and health” and that “the unit meets the atmospheric emission parameters set in the operating license and has four stations that continuously monitor air quality, covering the region of Ipojuca and Cabo de Santo Agostinho. The analyses from the stations demonstrate that the refinery operates within legal air quality parameters,” it adds.
Petrobras Invests In Abreu E Lima Refinery To Try To Sell It One Day
Abreu e Lima is the most modern refinery that Petrobras has built. The facility contributes to meeting the national demand for petroleum-derived fuels, showing the highest conversion rate of crude oil into diesel (70%), which is essential for the circulation of products and wealth in the country.
RNEST began operations almost nine years ago with the first set of units (Trem I), 34 years after the last refinery built by Petrobras. In June 2019, the refinery was included in the Federal Government’s divestment plan, at that time led by Jair Bolsonaro. But there was no interest in the deal.
So, Petrobras’s strategy was to invest over R$ 5 billion (US$ 1 billion) to complete the second train of the refinery. The project is now in the hands of the new Federal Government led by Lula. The GasLub Itaboraí Hub and the former Petrochemical Complex of Rio de Janeiro (Comperj) are other unfinished refining projects that, like the Abreu e Lima refinery, have already been the target of investigations by Operation Lava Jato.
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