Bill seeks to speed up environmental licensing process in RS

With the aim of streamlining procedures for obtaining environmental licenses in Rio Grande do Sul, congressman Gustavo Victorino (Republicans) filed a bill in the Legislative Assembly to institute the so-called “fast track” system. The intention is to create legislation that allows companies to obtain, in a short period of time, authorization for their enterprises to operate, even if partially and temporarily in situations of greater environmental impact.
“The idea is to make environmental licenses, which sometimes take years, obtainable in less than 30 days, even provisionally”, says the deputy. He emphasizes that the actions will be monitored by the public sector and if the entrepreneurs maintain an environmental reflex index within the law, they will obtain the definitive license. As for low-impact initiatives, the parliamentarian informs that with the fast track system, a series of requirements, including document requirements, will be eliminated.
Victorino calculates that the bill may still be voted on in this first semester. He stresses that the current licensing model, on several occasions, ends up hindering the development of projects in the State. “Today, companies receive a no right away and that doesn’t send companies out of Rio Grande do Sul”, criticizes the deputy. The parliamentarian adds that many of these entrepreneurs who give up staying in Rio Grande do Sul end up settling in cities in Santa Catarina. “We are losing industrial park, business and the productive economy for Santa Catarina due to the difficulty of environmental licensing”, he says.
For Victorino, among the sectors that will most benefit from the measure are services, commerce, tourism, technology and innovation. “You cannot, for example, equate a law firm with a chemical products company, you cannot demand the same environmental licenses from these two establishments”, maintains the deputy.
Asked whether the proposal could lead to carelessness with environmental preservation due to a more accelerated analysis, Victorino points out that the State Secretariat for the Environment and Infrastructure (Sema), the department to which the State Foundation for Environmental Protection (Fepam) is linked, will continue to have power absolute on licensing. Within this context, Sema can understand that a certain undertaking is unable to enter the fast track system.