Government of Amazonas wants to regulate environmental compensation laws

Environmental Laws

Project provides that every enterprise subject to environmental impact licensing must have means to reduce non-reversible damage to the environment

Manaus (AM) — The Government of Amazonas sent the Legislative Assembly of Amazonas (Aleam) Bill 757/2023, with the proposal to regulate the environmental compensation of large enterprises that need licensing and an environmental impact study to be installed. In the message to the deputies, Governor Wilson Lima (União) asked for urgency in the processing of the text. In the last week, the project was distributed to the committees.

The Bill provides that every enterprise that is subject to environmental impact licensing by the state inspection body, the Institute for Environmental Protection of Amazonas (Ipaam), must have the means to reduce non-reversible damage to the environment.

Regulation

The government’s initiative comes after the Secretary of State for the Environment (Sema) and Ipaam were targets of representation by the Public Ministry of Accounts (MPC), before the Court of Accounts of the State of Amazonas (TCE-AM), in March last year. For the body, the lack of state law would make it difficult to properly execute compensation, especially for large works.

The attorney stated that the decree is related only to environmental compensations for undertakings subject to federal government control and, moreover, does not contain rules on how the revenues from environmental compensation will be managed and allocated.

Operation

Companies will be subject to environmental compensation, with a value that will be defined based on the degree of impact that will be calculated in the Preliminary Study of Environmental Impact and in the Report (EIA/RIMA), documents necessary for issuing an environmental license.

According to the proposal, the criteria for this calculation will be defined in a decree subsequent to the approval of the Bill in the Legislative Assembly. Full payment of the compensation or the first installment will be a condition for issuing the installation license for the analyzed development, as well as for advancing the licensing process.

It is also anticipated that the compensation resources will be used for land tenure regularization and land demarcation for management plan purposes or the creation of new conservation units.

Environmental impacts

Created in the early 2000s, compensation is a mechanism to counterbalance the negative environmental impacts of any undertaking through direct action or investments that promote biodiversity conservation, based on the “polluter pays” principle. In Amazonas, compensation has been carried out based on federal regulation.

Currently, as there is no specific law, the rules and basis for calculation are based on federal law 9.985/2000, which established the National System of Conservation Units (SNUC), and on complementary state law 53/2007, which established the State System of Conservation Units (SEUC), as well as in resolutions of the National Council for the Environment (Conama) and presidential decrees.

Compensation

Environmental compensation for large undertakings in Amazonas has already yielded at least R$ 23.3 million to the state coffers. The amount refers to June 30, 2020. Of the total of almost BRL 21.6 million comes compensation for the Coari-Manaus gas pipeline, destined for 17 Conservation Units (UC) in Amazonas, including the Sustainable Development Reserve ( RDS) Rio Negro and the Sumaúma State Park.

The Tucuruí Line generated almost R$ 1.042 million in environmental compensation in revenue, with amounts split between the Environmental Protection Area (APA) Nhamundá and RDS Uatumã. The Teles Pires Hydroelectric Power Plant, in the Amazon River basin between the states of Pará and Mato Grosso, generated R$ 695,000.

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