Justice is about to be served at Belo Monte
Court authorizes use of police force to ensure construction is suspended on hydroelectric plant. The Installation License was suspended until the housing built to shelter the hundreds of families displaced in Altamira (state of Pará) is redressed
The Regional Federal Court of the 1st Region (TRF1), in Brasília, suspended the Installation License for the Belo Monte Hydroelectric Plant, in Pará. Published on September 20, the decision calls for construction to be halted immediately until the housing built to shelter the hundreds of families displaced in Altamira is redressed. [Read more]
The concessionaire Norte Energia has still not complied with the decision and alleges that the ruling is invalid, since it refers to the Installation License and not to the Operating License issued in November 2015.
In the ruling, published in the Federal Gazette last Wednesday (Sept. 20), the TRF1 reaffirmed the decision to halt construction and use police force if necessary to enforce the suspension order. It also imposed a fine of BRL 100,000 (around $ 31,000) for each day of noncompliance.
According to ISA’s attorney, Biviany Rojas, the ruling is important not only for the Belo Monte case, but also for the credibility of the justice system in Brazil.
“The plant was built while the courts remained effectively neutralized by the federal government, through the use of a ‘safety suspension’ — a legal mechanism used to overturn lower court rulings in the name of public interest. Today Belo Monte is a fait accompli, but the right of the affected populations to be compensated still awaits redressing in the justice system,” he said.
For further reading, go to the article published by the Federal Prosecutor’s Office:
The Regional Federal Court of the 1st Region (TRF1), in the Brazilian capital of Brasília, authorized the use of police force to ensure compliance with the suspension order on the construction of Belo Monte, in accordance with the judgment handed down on September 13. The official letters ordering the suspension were sent by the court on September 14 to the president of Norte Energia and the president of the Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama). However, construction has yet to be suspended.
The document clearly states the reason for the suspension. According to the court, there are irregularities in the housing projects offered to those affected by Belo Monte. According to the ruling, this means “noncompliance with the terms of the respective environmental license.”
In the official letters sent to Ibama, to the Federal Courts and to Norte Energia, appellate judge Antônio Souza Prudente informed them of the decision and emphasized that “construction on the referred to hydroelectric enterprise must be suspended immediately, under penalty of a fine in the amount of BRL 100,000 per day.”
The September 13 ruling was published in the Federal Official Gazette on September 20. The document is equivalent to the judgment from the lower court, and should convey what took place in that trial. This is why it takes a few days to be ready. The final part of the ruling states: “the court has determined the suspension of the Installation License for Belo Monte, with immediate suspension of construction on the referred to hydroelectric enterprise until the actions ordered are carried out, whereby Ibama is responsible for monitoring and evaluating compliance (…) including the use of police force, if necessary.”
Understanding the case — The problems with the housing offered to those affected by Belo Monte began even before construction. In 2012, Norte Energia distributed thousands of leaflets in the city of Altamira. In these pamphlets, the company promised three types of houses with different sizes (60 m2, 69 m2 and 78 m2), according to the size of the displaced family. But in April 2013, without notice or discussion with the affected population, another leaflet was distributed in which the company informed that all of the houses would be the same size: 63 m2. The leaflet also informed them that the houses would be made of pre-fabricated concrete, instead of brick and mortar as had been previously announced.
The license for Belo Monte also provided a maximum distance of 2 km between the resettlement location and the original houses of the affected families — and now even Ibama recognizes that this provision has not been respected. This means the affected people have to live too far from their places of work and study, with no alternative for commuting (Altamira has no public transportation system). This has led many individuals to sell their houses. Others have had to leave their homes because of the fragile nature of the buildings, made of pre-fab concrete.
The houses built by Norte Energia in Altamira have no structure that allows for the installation of hammocks for sleeping — an ingrained habit throughout the whole Amazon. Last spring, in a visit to one of the resettlement locations, public prosecutor Felício Pontes Jr. (who works on the case at the TRF1) found cracks and holes in the houses, some of which are the result of trying to install hooks for hammocks with a drill.
