President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has approved, with significant vetoes, Brazil’s new law on environmental licensing. The law—commonly referred to as the “devastation bill”—had been approved by Congress on the 17th of July.
In a press conference held on Friday, August 8, Brazil’s environmental minister, Marina Silva, said the government focused on “strategic” vetoes that would “preserve the integrity of environmental licensing”. Silva added that the government’s vetoes sought balance so that “ecology does not clash with the economy”.
During the press conference, Miriam Belchior, Brazil’s Executive Secretary of the Civil House, added that the government’s vetoes aim to “safeguard the rights of Indigenous and quilombola peoples” and to “incorporate innovations that streamline licensing without compromising quality”.
President Lula vetoed 63 of the almost 400 provisions that were approved by Congress. Of these 63 vetoes, 37 vetoes were accompanied by alternative solutions proposed by the executive.
Lula’s government notably vetoed the provision which extended LAC– license by adhesion and commitment—to projects that fall under medium polluting potential. This would mean licensing would be granted through self-declared online forms, eliminating vital impact studies processes.
The provision which allowed for different licensing requirements and processes for attaining licenses in different states was also vetoed.
President Lula’s government also vetoed the bill’s provision which would diminish the power of consulting political organs responsible for protecting quilombolas and Indigenous rights, like Fundação Palmares and FUNAI.
New rules regarding Indigenous and quilombolas (communities of descendants from black slaves who resisted Brazil’s slavery regime) will be proposed by the government and sent to Congress. The bill’s provision which proposed eliminating special protection for the Atlantic Rainforest—an area which is already degraded with only 24% of its original area remaining—was also vetoed.
Belchior announced that a provisional measure establishing the implementation of the LAE – special environmental licensing—will be signed by President Lula, thus authorizing environmental licensing for “economically strategic” businesses, irrespective of their environmental impact. Such a measure will come into force once it’s published in the Official Gazette of the Union, although Congress must also approve it within 120 days for its continued validity.
The new Environmental Licensing Law with President Lula’s 63 vetoes has been sent to Congress in an emergency regime, and the vetoes will be analysed by Congress in joint sessions between the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.
At Friday’s press conference ministers stressed that both the provisional measure and the modified bill are intended to serve as “dialogue” with Congress, avoiding “possible judicialization of environmental licensing”.
However, with Congress approving the original bill by a majority, there is still a possibility that the president’s vetoes will be overturned.
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Source: Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva via X
Author: Ricardo Stuckert
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