Braskem CPI votes to call deponents this Wednesday (28)

environmental disaster

Senators vote on requests to summon experts and company representatives

Brasilia DF) – The senators approved, this Tuesday (27), the work plan of Braskem’s CPI, which investigates the environmental disaster in Maceió caused by the rock salt extraction activity by the petrochemical company. The president of the CPI, senator Omar Aziz (PSD-AM), and other parliamentarians approved the plan presented by the rapporteur, Rogério Carvalho (PT-SE), which includes all stages of the commission, providing for the request for data from regulatory bodies and a technical visit to the affected location.

The disaster in Maceió, which resulted in cracks in thousands of homes and irreparable damage, motivated the creation of the CPI and the search for accountability and reparation. The commission’s rapporteur divided the work into three axes: the first axis concerns the investigation of the causes, listening to people, companies, public bodies and other entities; the second axis is the sizing of liabilities, accountability and fair reparation consistent with the size of the environmental impacts generated; The third axis will be to identify flaws in the performance of inspection and control bodies, with proposals for improvements in the legal and regulatory framework.

This Wednesday (28), at 9 am in Brasília, a new CPI meeting will be held to vote on the call requests. According to Omar Aziz, all steps will be taken so that society has a more technical and less political CPI.

“We know very well that in a CPI the work plan has steps to be followed, but the statements change the work plan a lot, which is not something static and linear. The call for experts and professionals will give guidance to the CPI in relation to the causes, but we also have the priority of people who were harmed in the agreements made (with the company)”,

Omar highlighted.

The list of those called to be heard at the CPI must include universities, experts in risk management, experts in urban planning, representatives of municipal and state governments, environmental agencies, audit courts, associations of entities in the mining sector, among others.

Among the first actions of the work plan, the rapporteur requested from the National Mining Agency (ANM) administrative processes relating to concessions and mining rights linked to exploration in Maceió, in addition to emergency actions related to the case. Members of Braskem’s board of directors are also on the list of those called to testify before the commission.

“We do not have pre-established guilt here (at the CPI). With the powers that the CPI is given, we will investigate and only then present the conclusions to this collegiate and, especially, to Brazilian society. However, there are problems already reported by the press and other sources about the rock salt mining process in Maceió since its beginning in 1976, and this cannot be ignored”,

highlighted Rogério Carvalho.

*With information from consultancy

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