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Brazil’s environmental authority denied the environmental license requested by the state oil giant to drill exploratory wells off the mouth of the Amazon River in the region known as Amapá. The decision generated such an internal division in the government that it ended up causing the defection of one of the president’s key allies.
Brazil, the largest economy in Latin America, is again facing the dilemma of whether to protect the environment or encourage investment. The difference is that this time he is putting a ruler who took power just months ago on the ropes with the promise of promoting both, but with a focus on the former.
Senator Randolfe Rodrigues, head of the government coalition in the National Congress, resigned on Thursday, May 18, 2023, from the Sustainability Network party, founded by the Minister of the Environment, Marina Silva.
Rodrigues is a close ally of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva who led his presidential campaign last year. But he is also a representative of the state of Amapá, where the state-owned Petrobras plans million-dollar investments in oil exploration.
Ibama’s decision would go against the investigations on the coast of Amapá not hear the local government and not the city of my state. The people of Amapa want to have the right to be heard about the possible existence and eventual destination of our wealth (…)
—Randolfe Rodrigues (@randolfeap) May 18, 2023
His resignation came a day after the Brazilian Institute of the Environment (Ibama) denied the environmental license that Petrobras had requested to carry out oil exploration activities in front of the mouth of the Amazon.
The senator defends the exploration and eventual exploitation of crude oil in the maritime basin located off the north coast of Brazil, called the Equatorial Margin and where it is believed that there may be reserves of more than 10,000 million barrels, according to official calculations. But other officialistas, no.
In a statement, Petrobras said it planned to file an appeal for Ibama to reconsider its decision, saying it “strictly complied with all the requirements of the licensing process.”
Even considering the fastest scenario of energy transition, we will have to look for new sources to meet the future demand of Brazil.
Learn more: https://t.co/t7nun0GBdH
8/8
— Petrobras (@petrobras) May 18, 2023
The internal pulse in the Government of Lula for the Amazon
Lula, who hails from the poor northeast of the country, has staked his international reputation on reversing the environmental setback he inherited from his far-right predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro. But he is also under pressure to deliver much-needed growth to the poor and underdeveloped regions of the North and Northeast.
Ibama argued that Petrobras’ request was blocked in a technical recommendation by experts who concluded that the firm did not present the necessary studies to determine the environmental risks of its activity in an area that, according to ecologists, has immense biological diversity and a delicate reef system.
Senator Rodrigues considered that the environmental regulator made a decision with a great economic impact for the state without taking into account the opinion of the Amapeños or their state government, a position that is in line with high officials who lean towards economic advantages. of the project, against those who defend the protection of the environment.
With EFE and Reuters
