Government priority includes environmental licensing framework

The discussion of a new legal framework for environmental licensing was included by the Bolsonaro government among its legislative priorities this year. Surrounded by controversy, the proposal has been in progress for more than 16 years in the Chamber of Deputies.

The idea is to establish general standards for the licensing of enterprises or activities that use environmental resources and can, effectively or potentially, in any form, pollute or otherwise cause degradation of the environment.

The most recent proposal for the General Environmental Licensing Law is the fourth version by deputy Kim Kataguiri (DEM-SP), rapporteur of a work group created in 2019, for a substitutive to Bill 3729/04 and 23 attached.

Debate in the Plenary 

This opinion by Kataguiri was discussed in general commission held by the Chamber in September 2019. On that occasion, faced with the lack of agreement, he revealed that he already had a fifth version for the replacement – ​​and was still open to dialogue.

“This discussion has been going on for more than 30 years, since 1988”, recalled Kataguiri during the general commission. “If there is a topic debated in this Parliament, it is the General Environmental Licensing Law, even more so under my rapporteurship, because for the first time there were different reports made public”, she highlighted.

Critics 

Experts, Environment secretaries, public servants in the area and former deputy and former Minister of the Environment Sarney Filho asked for changes to that opinion, reveal the shorthand notes of the extraordinary session.

For those who are dissatisfied, the text does not adequately address the specificities of each region and contains more flexible rules for some projects. Proponents of the opinion believe that decentralized rules generate confusion and legal uncertainty, being an obstacle to sustainable development.

Waiting for consensus 

Even before the general committee, the then president of the Chamber, deputy Rodrigo Maia (DEM-RJ), had already decided that the proposal would remain outside the Plenary until consensus was reached in the working group. Exist at least one alternative opinion.

For Maia, it would be necessary to evaluate, in this debate, which arguments are technical and which are ideological. “You have to be careful not to get carried away either by those who want to release everything or by those who don’t want to change anything.”