Belo Monte: Ibama points out risks if license is suspended – 06/23/2023 – Environment

The technical area of ​​Ibama (Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources) states that a possible suspension of the operating license of the Belo Monte hydroelectric power plant, in Pará, would lead to damage to the environment, the environmental management of the enterprise and the serious social consequences in the region.

This would happen because impact control measures, foreseen as conditions for the license, would be paralyzed, according to Ibama.

The risks are even greater if, as a result of a possible suspension of the authorization, there is a depletion —a decrease in the volume of water— of two reservoirs, according to technicians from the federal government agency.

“This risk derives from the technical unpredictability of the complete depletion of the reservoirs, as there are no environmental forecasts for this scenario, leading to situations for which there are no control, monitoring, mitigation and/or compensation measures, not even planned”, says the area Ibama technique in a note, in response to questions from the Sheet.

Ibama in the Lula government (PT) will have to decide whether or not to renew the operating license for Belo Monte, issued in 2015. The plant operates with an authorization that expired on November 25, 2021.

Despite the considerations made by the technical area, there is still no scheduled date for the decision, since the analysis continues on compliance with conditions imposed on the hydroelectric plant, whose operation is the responsibility of Norte Energia.

The environmental agency had already pointed out the non-compliance with some conditions, such as the adoption of measures to mitigate the effects of damming, the formation of reservoirs and the control of water flow in the lives of fishermen on the middle Xingu river, especially in Volta Grande do Xingu .

Due to failures in mitigation for two years and two months, Norte Energia must provide compensation in cash to fishermen, concluded Ibama.

A repair of BRL 20,000 will cover a total of 1,976 fishermen registered between 2017 and 2019 and identified as impacted by the project — 1,405 have already received the amount, according to Norte Energia.

This, however, is not the total number of fishermen who found themselves without fish in their communities. Another 6,000 asked to be included in the reparation list, as Folha showed on the last 15th. Norte Energia will begin to carry out case studies regarding the requests made by the fishermen.

In a note, Norte Energia –whose shareholding composition is formed by Eletrobras, Petros, Funcef, Neoenergia, Vale, Sinobras, Light, Cemig and J. Malucelli Energia– stated that there is no forecast or requirement for a plan to demobilize a reservoir within the scope of the environmental licensing in Brazil.

“In the event of a stoppage at the Belo Monte plant, several activities would be suspended, such as the execution of social and environmental programs promoted in the region by Norte Energia, the payment of royalties, the payment of the debt to the BNDES and the need to replace power generation. renewable and low-cost energy for the country”, cites the note.

Fishermen’s cooperatives oppose an automatic renewal of the operating license, as stated in letters sent to Ibama. Workers in the ornamental fishing industry in the middle Xingu reported to the environmental agency that the yellow fish, much sought after for ornamental purposes, disappeared from the plant’s lake.

“There was not even a work on sustainability of the activity and financial compensation for the damage caused to companies and fishermen that worked with ornamental fish”, said associations and fishermen’s colonies in a letter to Ibama in April.

According to Norte Energia, the yellowfish has not disappeared, according to the results of the monitoring of the ichthyofauna carried out by the UFPA (Federal University of Pará). “What happened was a fluctuation in its abundance, with reductions in catches in the main reservoir of the Xingu River. This reduction was foreseen in the study of the plant’s environmental impacts.”

According to the company, the ornamental fishing category is included in the list of 1,976 fishermen to be financially compensated for failures in mitigating damage.

Regarding the operating license, Ibama’s technical area says that a possible suspension would lead to the undertaking being released from the obligation to carry out environmental projects established in the authorization, as well as to comply with ongoing conditions, “generating a serious negative impact in the region”.

Among these conditions are resettlement activities for the affected population, technical assistance, monitoring of water quality, transfer of vessels for navigation and commitments assumed with indigenous populations in the region.

The lowering of the water level in reservoirs, as a result of a possible suspension of the license, can cause changes in water quality, fish mortality, increased erosion, compromise the safety of dams and dikes and impacts on riverside and indigenous communities, according to Ibama.

The licenses for Belo Monte were made possible during Lula’s second term and during the governments of Dilma Rousseff (PT), when the works took place. In the first year of office, 2019, the Jair Bolsonaro (PL) government completed the generating units and inaugurated the complete set.

_{The Planeta em Transe project is supported by the Open Society Foundations.}