Around the Region

Nicaraguan law aims to boost mine investment

Nicaragua has enacted a new mining law in hopes of bringing foreign investment to an industry that hasn’t seen a significant new project since the 1970s.

Currently, Nicaragua is home to three major mines, where Canadian companies are extracting gold and such construction ingredients as sand and limestone.

Government officials say the new law, enacted Aug. 13, gives investors more security and flexibility by allowing companies to buy and sell concessions and to move from exploration directly to production without need for a new contract.

“We hope that in five years we have a significant new find and a better idea of Nicaragua’s mineral reserves,” says Jorge Préndiz, Executive Director of the non-governmental National Office for Geological Resources.

Environmentalists worry the law will make... Read more

Nicaragua has enacted a new mining law in hopes of bringing foreign investment to an industry that hasn’t seen a significant new project since the 1970s.

Currently, Nicaragua is home to three major mines, where Canadian companies are extracting gold and such construction ingredients as sand and limestone.

Government officials say the new law, enacted Aug. 13, gives investors more security and flexibility by allowing companies to buy and sell concessions and to move from exploration directly to production without need for a new contract.

“We hope that in five years we have a significant new find and a better idea of Nicaragua’s mineral reserves,” says Jorge Préndiz, Executive Director of the non-governmental National Office for Geological Resources.

Environmentalists worry the law will make mining too easy and cheap, increasing the risk of deforestation and water contamination. But they do not oppose the legislation per se.

“Our analysis was that mining investment is inevitable and it’s better that there be a regulatory framework governing the industry,” says Marcos Mairena, who works on mining issues for the Managua-based environmental group Centro Humboldt.

Before the new law’s enactment, mining in Nicaragua was governed by 1960s-era natural-resource legislation that also covered fishing, among other activities. The new legislation emerged after eight months of intense lobbying in Congress.

Centro Humboldt pushed successfully to include several provisions. These include stipulations that environmental impact statements be required for all mining activities, mining in protected areas be restricted and the size of concession areas be limited to 123,500 acres (50,000 hectares).
Contacts
Marcos Mairena Downs
Centro Humboldt
Email: humboldt@ibw.com.ni
Jorge Luis Préndiz Bonilla
Executive Director
National Geological Resources Office
Tel: +(505) 267-5451, 277 3061
Fax: +(505) 267-1957
Email: dirmin@ibw.com.ni
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Fined, Petrobras now to face criminal trials

Brazilian judges agreed last month to try the state oil company Petrobras on criminal charges in connection with two separate oil spills last year.

In Paraná state, Federal Judge Bianca Georgia Arenhart accepted a lawsuit filed by the Brazilian Attorney General’s office, a watchdog agency.

The suit cites environmental damage from a July 2000 refinery spill that dumped 1 million gallons (4 million liters) of crude into the Iguaçu River in southern Paraná state.

In Rio de Janeiro state, Federal Judge Juliana Pedras accepted a separate suit filed by the Attorney General’s office in connection with a pipeline break that sent 340,000 gallons (1.3 million liters) of fuel oil into Rio de Janeiro’s famed Guanabara Bay.

Both judges’ decisions were grounded in the Environmental Crimes... Read more

Brazilian judges agreed last month to try the state oil company Petrobras on criminal charges in connection with two separate oil spills last year.

In Paraná state, Federal Judge Bianca Georgia Arenhart accepted a lawsuit filed by the Brazilian Attorney General’s office, a watchdog agency.

The suit cites environmental damage from a July 2000 refinery spill that dumped 1 million gallons (4 million liters) of crude into the Iguaçu River in southern Paraná state.

In Rio de Janeiro state, Federal Judge Juliana Pedras accepted a separate suit filed by the Attorney General’s office in connection with a pipeline break that sent 340,000 gallons (1.3 million liters) of fuel oil into Rio de Janeiro’s famed Guanabara Bay.

Both judges’ decisions were grounded in the Environmental Crimes Law enacted here in 1998. The law boosted maximum fines for serious environmental crimes to $20 million from $20,000 previously, and provided for criminal charges punishable by up to five years in prison.

Petrobras already has paid the Environment Ministry $27.7 million and Paraná state $17.7 million in fines stemming from the two spills, which killed fish and waterfowl and damaged mangrove stands.

The decisions to allow criminal trials mean Petrobras President Henri Philippe Reichstul must appear in court along with other Petrobras employees ranging from managers to refinery workers.

Neither trial is likely to begin before next year. Judge Arenhart and a spokeswoman for the federal court in Rio de Janeiro state say that if Reichstul and other Petrobras officials are convicted, they could avoid prison terms by paying fines provided for in the environmental-crimes law.
Contacts
Bianca Georgia Arenhart
Federal Judge
Paraná state, Brazil
Tel: +(55 41) 219-7597
Fax: +(55 41) 219-7602
Pedro Rocha
Environment Ministry press office
Brasília, Brazil
Tel: +(55 61) 317-1223
Fax: +(55 61) 226-1757
Email: pedro.rocha@mma.gov.br
Carmen Varella
Spokeswoman
Federal Court
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Tel: +(55 21) 2510-8736
Fax: +(55 21) 2510-2738
Documents & Resources

  1. Petrobras press office, Rio de Janeiro, +(55 21) 2534-1306, fax 2220-5052, assimp@petrobras.com.br

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OCP pipeline project wins two legal tests

Opponents of Ecuador’s effort to build a second major crude-oil conduit, the so-called Heavy-Crude Oil Pipeline (OCP), were stung last month by two legal decisions in favor of the project.

On Aug. 17, the country’s Constitutional Court rejected a request by seven organizations that it halt work on the line.

Then on Aug. 21, Ecuadorian Attorney General Ramón Jiménez ordered the Ecuadorian Amazon canton of Lago Agrio to permit construction there of a key component of the project—a crude-oil storage facility adamantly opposed by Lago Agrio’s mayor.

Raúl Moscoso, the attorney representing pipeline opponents before the Constitutional Court, says that with their legal options in Ecuador exhausted, his clients will likely bring their case before international tribunals. Those backing the... Read more

Opponents of Ecuador’s effort to build a second major crude-oil conduit, the so-called Heavy-Crude Oil Pipeline (OCP), were stung last month by two legal decisions in favor of the project.

On Aug. 17, the country’s Constitutional Court rejected a request by seven organizations that it halt work on the line.

Then on Aug. 21, Ecuadorian Attorney General Ramón Jiménez ordered the Ecuadorian Amazon canton of Lago Agrio to permit construction there of a key component of the project—a crude-oil storage facility adamantly opposed by Lago Agrio’s mayor.

Raúl Moscoso, the attorney representing pipeline opponents before the Constitutional Court, says that with their legal options in Ecuador exhausted, his clients will likely bring their case before international tribunals. Those backing the case included indigenous organizations, environmentalists and human rights advocates.

Lago Agrio Mayor Máximo Abad, for his part, says he does not accept the attorney general’s decision, which directs that the energy company Techint be permitted to build the so-called Amazonas 1 crude-oil storage facility. To consist of four aboveground tanks with a total capacity of 300,000 barrels, Amazonas 1 would be situated 650 yards (600 meters) from the city limits of Nueva Loja, a community in Lago Agrio.

Abad says considerable infrastructure for the country’s existing pipeline already occupies his canton in general and Nueva Loja in particular.

“If the [storage facility] is built it will be a time bomb for the population, and the city will practically be besieged with infrastructure,” he argues.

Though Abad has some support among the canton’s citizens, five of the seven members of the canton’s governing council publicly endorsed both the oil-storage project and the OCP pipeline on Aug. 28.

Earlier, an association of municipalities along the planned route of the new pipeline had called on Abad not to block the project, saying it “complies with safety and environmental requirements.”

The statement was signed by nine of the association’s 11 mayors, with the mayor of Quito’s metropolitan district expected to make his opinion known late this month.
Contacts
Máximo Abad
Mayor
Lago Agrio
Tel: +(59 36) 469-367
Fax: +(59 36) 469-683
José María Borja Gallegos
Attorney General of Ecuador
Quito, Ecuador
Tel: +(59 32) 256-2080
Raúl Moscoso
Attorney
Tel: +(59 32) 225-2258
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CEC advisory committee wants advice from public

The panel advising the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) wants public input on the tri-national agency’s program and budget plans for 2002-2004.

The Joint Public Adisory Committee (JPAC) planned to hold a public discussion this month in Tucson, Arizona and to issue a first round of recommendations soon after. It expects to make a second round of recommendations based on written comments it receives by Nov. 15. Discussion of this second round of recommendations is slated to take place at a Nov. 30 JPAC meeting in San Diego, California.

The CEC, formed under a side accord to the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta), addresses regional environmental concerns affecting Nafta signatories Canada, Mexico and the United States. Its Program Plan and Budget for 2002-2004... Read more

The panel advising the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) wants public input on the tri-national agency’s program and budget plans for 2002-2004.

The Joint Public Adisory Committee (JPAC) planned to hold a public discussion this month in Tucson, Arizona and to issue a first round of recommendations soon after. It expects to make a second round of recommendations based on written comments it receives by Nov. 15. Discussion of this second round of recommendations is slated to take place at a Nov. 30 JPAC meeting in San Diego, California.

The CEC, formed under a side accord to the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta), addresses regional environmental concerns affecting Nafta signatories Canada, Mexico and the United States. Its Program Plan and Budget for 2002-2004 includes initiatives in four broad areas: environment, economy and trade; conservation of biodiversity; pollutants and health; and law and policy.
Documents & Resources

  1. Send written comments no later than Nov. 15 to Manon Pepin at the CEC Secretariat, fax +(514) 350-4314, mpepin@ccemtl.org

  2. For access to an electronic version of the CEC’s proposed Program Plan for 2002-2004, go to http://www.cec.org

  3. To obtain a hard copy of the plan or to ask about submitting comments in other formats, contact Jocelyne Morin at the CEC Secretariat in Montreal, +(514) 350-4366, fax (514) 350-4314, jmorin@ccemtl.org

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Brazil hit by unusually severe wildfire season

Wildfires last month scorched portions of the Chapada dos Guimarães National Park in the western Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, providing further evidence—as if any were needed—that drought conditions this year have boosted fire danger nationwide.

Flames blackened 21,119 acres (8,550 hectares) of the 81,510-acre (33,000-hectare) national park and another 39,866 acres (16,140 hectares) in an environmental-protection area surrounding the park, says Ibama, Brazil’s environmental protection agency.

The fires, which occurred in the state’s premier tourist region, were probably the result of arson, says Leonce Pinheiro da Silva Filho, an Ibama official in the state capital of Cuiabá.

The region’s savanna vegetation usually can recover a few years after being burned, says Eliana Martinez, coordinator of the Environment Recovery and... Read more

Wildfires last month scorched portions of the Chapada dos Guimarães National Park in the western Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, providing further evidence—as if any were needed—that drought conditions this year have boosted fire danger nationwide.

Flames blackened 21,119 acres (8,550 hectares) of the 81,510-acre (33,000-hectare) national park and another 39,866 acres (16,140 hectares) in an environmental-protection area surrounding the park, says Ibama, Brazil’s environmental protection agency.

The fires, which occurred in the state’s premier tourist region, were probably the result of arson, says Leonce Pinheiro da Silva Filho, an Ibama official in the state capital of Cuiabá.

The region’s savanna vegetation usually can recover a few years after being burned, says Eliana Martinez, coordinator of the Environment Recovery and Conservation Association, a local environmental group.

But because much of the area burned last year, she says, the destruction may prove longer lasting, compromising the habitat of endangered wildlife such as the Guará wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus).

Another series of fires last month consumed some 247,000 acres (100,000 hectares) of the pantanal region in western Brazil.

From January to August, Brazil’s satellite surveillance system registered 53,110 fires in the country compared to 40,146 over the same period last year. The number includes small forest fires and fires set on farmland.

Some environmentalists argue the government isn’t doing enough to control wildfires. Says Martinez: “We are very worried. Ibama has set up a program to prevent fires, but we’re not seeing results yet.”

Ibama President Hamilton Nobre Casara counters that the government has spent significantly more money on firefighting this year and is boosting resources as needed. Environment Minister José Sarney Filho agrees, asserting the government is doing everything it can.

“Climate factors this year are the worst in the history of Brazil,” he asserted in an interview with EcoAméricas. “It’s evident that we’ll have more fires. But our [national] parks have been equipped and fire brigades are standing by.”

Adds Sarney Filho: “Still, fires are difficult to combat. We’ve seen forest fires in the U.S., Australia and Canada this year. With all their planes, they didn’t manage to extinguish them quickly. Since we don’t have those resources here, our main focus is preventative measures. They have all been taken. It’s not an ideal situation, but we’re doing our best.”
Contacts
Marcio Ferreira Yule
State Coordinator
Fire Fighting and Prevention Center (PrevFogo)
Campo Grande, Brazil
Tel: +(55 67) 382-1802
Fax: +(55 67) 325-8987
Email: yulemf@ms.ibama.gov.br
Eliana Martinez
Coordinator
Environment Recovery and Conservation Association (Arca)
Chapada dos Guimarães, Brazil
Tel: +(55 65) 301-1313
Email: arcamt@terra.com.br
Hamilton Nobre Casara
President
Ibama
Brasília, Brazil
Tel: +(55 61) 226-8909
Fax: +(55 61) 322-1058
Email: casara@sede.ibama.gov.br
Website: www.ibama.gov.br
Leonce Pinheiro da Silva Filho
Administrator
Ibama’s Cuiabá branch
Brazil
Tel: +(55 65) 644-3842
Fax: +(55 65) 644-1200
Rubens Vargas Filho
Coordinator
Amazon Fire Prevention and Control Program (Proarc)
Brasília, Brazil
Tel: +(55 61) 316-1594
Fax: +(55 61) 316-1070
Email: rvfilho@sede.ibama.gov.br
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