IBAMA grants license for activities related to the Belo Monte dam

The Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA) has issued a specific Installation License for the construction of the initial construction sites and camps at Belo Monte and Pimental, serving the Belo Monte dam. This license also authorizes Norte Energia (NESA) to carry out other activities, such as building and improving access roads and areas in which to store soil and wood and to perform landscaping work.

These activities will prepare the infrastructure required for the main work, the object of specific analysis, underway. IBAMA has also authorized the removal of vegetation from 238 hectares in order to accommodate the Belo Monte spillway.

The Belo Monte dam will be built on the Xingu River, about 40 kilometers from Altamira (Pará), and will have an installed capacity of 11,233 MW, with two reservoirs covering a total of 516 km2. The dam had been issued with a provisional license, in February 2010, certifying to the environmental feasibility of the proposed new development. Seven months later, NESA made its application to IBAMA for the environmental license for the initial installations and provided the Basic Environmental Projects for this stage of the licensing process.

IBAMA held an in-depth technical discussion of the proposed measures to meet the conditions set out in Provisional License No. 342/2010, including the implementation of anticipatory action identified in the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) as necessary for the preparation of the region to take on the new development and the adjustment of environmental programs stipulated for this stage. One example of this was the seminar held on January 10 this year, where the Social and Economic Indicator Monitoring Program was drawn up.

More than 20 meetings were held between IBAMA technicians, representatives of NESA, consultants, representatives of partnering institutions (the Ministry of the Environment, the Ministry of Mines and Energy, the Ministry of Health, the Attorney General's Office, the Office of the President, the Xingu Regional Sustainable Development Plan, the National Water Agency, the National Energy Agency , the National Indian Foundation, the Institute of Historical and Artistic Heritage, and the National Institute for Colonization and Agrarian Reform), the city halls of Altamira, Vitoria do Xingu and Anapu, the Federal Public Prosecution Service and the Federal Senate.

A technical survey was also conducted in the region of influence covered by the Belo Monte Hydroelectric Plant (AHE Belo Monte), from November 16 to 20, 2010, to assess the situation with regard to the issuance of this license. On this occasion, technicians from the Institute met with organizations from civil society in the region, attended by representatives of fishermen's associations, neighborhood associations, native people, native people of the Paquicamba land, the Bar Association from Altamira, businesspeople, the timber association, rural employer association, the Social and Environmental Institute, Amazon Watch, the Public Prosecution Service in Altamira, the Public Defender, the Federation of Agricultural Workers, the Belo Monte Consortium, the potters' association, the Xingu Forever Alive Movement, and the Movement of People Affected by the Dam.

The discussion about the level of compliance was always based on technical recommendations made in official opinions and IBAMA's technical notes. As a result of the intense technical discussion between IBAMA, the contractor and other institutions involved, gradual compliance with the demands made for this stage of licensing, such as the provisional sanitation work and the refurbishment of schools and hospitals, which are essential to the region in question, was noted.

Source: Portal Brazil / IBAMA