Lula finds it “difficult” that exploration at Foz do Amazonas generate environmental damage

Lula government

Ibama denied Petrobras’ request for a license to explore oil and natural gas in Foz do Amazonas. Lula speaks for the first time on the subject

Brasilia DF) – President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) spoke this Monday (22/5) about Petrobras’ request for oil and natural gas exploration in Foz do Amazonas – a request denied by the Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Natural Resources Renewables (IBAMA). For the Chief Executive, it is “difficult” for drilling in the region to cause environmental problems in the Amazon.

“If extracting oil at Foz do Amazonas, which is 530 kilometers away, on the high seas, if exploring this oil poses a problem for the Amazon, it will certainly not be explored. But I find it difficult, because it is 530 kilometers away from the Amazon, you know?”, Lula told journalists.

The president spoke for the first time about the exploration of Foz do Amazonas, before flying back to Brazil, after participating as a guest at the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan.

The petista defended the exploration of the place by the communities as a way of “surviving”.

“28 million people live in the Amazon. And these people have the right to work, to eat. Therefore, we need to have the right to explore the diversity of the Amazon, to generate clean jobs, so that the Amazon and humanity can survive”, stressed the Brazilian representative.

Struggle with the Federal Government

The president of Ibama, Rodrigo Agostinho, accompanied the technical opinion of the autarchy and, last week, rejected Petrobras’ request for exploration in Foz do Amazonas.

The Minister of the Environment, Marina Silva (Rede), previously spoke out against the oil company’s request for exploration in the region. However, the Ministry of Mines and Energy pointed out that drilling would be aimed at researching potential in the region.

Soon after Ibama’s decision, the leader of the Lula government in Congress, Senator Randolfe Rodrigues, broke with Marina Silva and left the Sustainability Network party. The politician, who was born in Amapá, highlighted that the exploration of Foz do Amazonas could facilitate the socioeconomic development of his state.

Randolfe Rodrigues began to publish several criticisms of Ibama after it was denied exploration of Foz do Amazonas.

*With information from Metrópoles

Read more:

Help from Petrobras would take 43 hours in case of leakage at the mouth of the Amazon, says Ibama

Dan Câmara once again reflects on the damage caused by piracy in the rivers of the Amazon

Event debates solutions for the protection and use of non-destined Public Forests in the Amazon