Lula government wants to collect R$ 29 billion in environmental fines

A change in the understanding of the Attorney General’s Office (AGU) on environmental fines freed the government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) to insist on the administrative and judicial collection of R$ 29.1 billion. The release occurred through the issuance of opinions by the AGU, which changed rules on the prescription of fines and on the notification of violators.

For environmental lawyer and consultant Antônio Fernando Pinheiro Pedro, this is a change in understanding based on a political-ideological bias.

The fines had been considered expired, after publication of an understanding given by the former president of the Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA), Eduardo Bim. For Bim, these penalties were invalid for interpreting that certain orders in the processes do not interrupt the counting of deadlines for limitation.

Based on the new understanding, the AGU now maintains that the deadline for this prescription is interrupted during the performance of certain steps, such as inspections and preparation of opinions. In practice, the new understanding prolongs the time the government has to prosecute violators.

With regard to the notification of offenders, in the government of former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL), Ibama decided to annul the penalties imposed, as it considered the notification of offenders by public notice to be an irregularity. Now, the AGU maintains that notifications by public notice are regular, and therefore, the collection of fines should continue.

A People’s Gazette tried to contact Ibama to find out if the fines are already being charged and how the funds obtained will be applied, but did not receive a response until the publication of the article. The space remains open for demonstration.

AGU’s change of understanding on environmental fines has a political-ideological bias, says lawyer

When announcing the opinions of the AGU, the Advocate General of the Union, Jorge Messias, highlighted the importance of rejecting the prescription of environmental fines. “The environmental infraction cannot compensate financially. At a time when humanity is facing an existential threat, with the growing climate emergency, the AGU could not fail to fulfill its role of providing legal security for one of the central axes of environmental protection: the accountability of those who harm the environment and endanger the future of the planet”, concluded Messias.

However, for Pinheiro Pedro, it is a change of understanding based on a political-ideological bias. “The ‘change of plans’ within the AGU, even more so due to an evident political-ideological bias, mortally wounds the rule of law. Yet another ‘sealing’ to the detriment of reason”, opined the lawyer and environmental consultant.

After issuing the AGU’s opinions, in an interview for the CBN, the president of Ibama, Rodrigo Agostinho, said that the Bolsonaro government “threw in the trash can” the fines for environmental issues. “What we noticed is that the last government threw almost BRL 29 billion in fines into the garbage can. Now we are working to recover that, also because of a question of credibility”, said the president of Ibama.

Pinheiro Pedro, however, warns that the change of understanding only finds support in sanctioning processes not covered by the previous decision. The environmental sanctioning administrative process aims at investigating environmental violations and imposing administrative sanctions. “In this case, the change in understanding would be legal, because it would aim to reduce impunity with regard to environmental crimes. But that would still be subject to judicialization”, said the lawyer.