Foz do Amazonas: Help would take 43 hours, says Ibama – 05/20/2023 – Environment

The high distances and the vulnerability of the local fauna were decisive for Petrobras to receive a refusal to drill the mouth of the Amazon River in search of oil, an issue that was the target of a political clash that culminated in the departure of Senator Randolfe Rodrigues da Rede, the minister’s party. Marina Silva (Environment).

Although Petrobras has proposed to mobilize helicopters and support vessels in cases of emergency to try to approve the project, the response time for possible disasters was one of the arguments used by Ibama (Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources) to the negative.

The base of operations from which ships would leave in case of leaks is in Belém, in Pará, 830 kilometers from the well site, in front of Oiapoque (AP). According to the technical opinion on which Ibama’s decision was based, it would take 43 hours for a vessel to leave and reach the drilled site.

“Even under the best meteoceanographic conditions, the plan presents excessive displacement times for equipment and personnel, making it unlikely to adequately respond to an oil spill event”, agreed, in his dispatch, the president of Ibama, Rodrigo Agostinho.

In up to ten hours, according to calculations by the Ibama team, the oil would reach waters outside Brazilian territory. The block is located in the Amapá region, close to French Guiana.

“In other words, the plan presented is inferior to the practices adopted by the company itself in other regions of the coast – which would be a contradiction in a new frontier with highly vulnerable environmental assets”, he said in the dispatch.

For the test it intends to carry out in the region, Petrobras mobilized six support vessels, in addition to four helicopters, an airplane and the drillship that would drill the well. There are about R$ 3 million spent per day.

After having the license denied, the state-owned company informed that it would demobilize the equipment, but the MME (Ministry of Mines and Energy) asked this Friday (19) that the company insist on the contract and not remove the equipment from the site.

The company says it is analyzing the possibility of requesting reconsideration of the decision and that drilling is just the initial phase of the process, therefore without the need for an environmental assessment of the entire region —as requested by Ibama.

The Environmental Impact Report filed by the British BP, former operator of the block, and used by Ibama in the analysis of the project considers that the expected impacts and possible risks of the operation do not present restrictions on the granting of the environmental license.

The report lists 13 negative environmental or socioeconomic impacts and four positive ones, most of them linked to job and income generation opportunities with the activity. Among the negatives, eight are considered of low magnitude.

Two are considered of medium magnitude and two others, of high magnitude: the possibility of burial, asphyxiation and contamination of organisms by gravel or fluid and the 3,000% increase in movement at Oiapoque airport (AP).

The large number of low-magnitude impacts reflects the temporary nature of the well drilling activity, which generally lasts a few months, as opposed to oil production, which lasts for years.

Even so, the expected increase in vessel traffic to take inputs and supplies to the drilling rig affects the local marine life, with risks of collision or fuel leaks.

The report identifies in the project’s area of ​​influence some species threatened by exploitation, such as the pink shrimp, the pito, the red lobster and the uçá crab. It also identifies 23 species of marine mammals, including whales, porpoises and dolphins, and two species of manatees.

Of these, six are endangered in Brazil: gray dolphin, red dolphin, sperm whale, marine manatee, Amazonian manatee and giant otter. “The diversity of waterfowl in the region draws attention, there are at least 114 species”, says the report.

Another concern of Ibama is in relation to the increase in the number of flights in the region, which would create a new route heading northeast, whereas today the flow is heading south.

“It is not, therefore, an intensification of air traffic over a given area, but the establishment of a new route, without prejudice to understanding the intensification as an environmental impact that should be equally considered”, says the opinion that justified the decision to deny the license.

The intensification of flights has an impact on indigenous communities in the region, says Agostinho in the decision. “Such impacts are related to the operation of air support activities and were not adequately predicted and dimensioned in the environmental impact study, which constitutes an impediment to its validation.”

The environmental impact report also lists the risks of accidents with oil spills, both at the drilling unit and at the vessels that will support its operation.

There are 11 types of risks, the most sensitive ones related to seabed organisms, fish and artisanal fishing activity. The text states that the risks can be mitigated with the implementation of an individual emergency plan, which provides for dedicated vessels and use of the base in Belém.

According to the opinion, the diversity and vulnerability of the local fauna demand the elaboration of a robust protection plan, mainly because it is an environment different from those where oil exploration already takes place in the country.

“The region is home to endemic and endangered species and, most likely, species that are still unknown or not recorded locally, given the vast reef ecosystem that was recently discovered under the plume at the mouth of the Amazon River”, he says.

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