Brazil under fire for relaxing environmental law
Reuters, Friday, August 14, 1998 at 18:46
(Adds Greenpeace comments paras 10, 11)
By William Schomberg
BRASILIA, Aug 14 (Reuters) - The Brazilian government has
outraged environmentalists this week by relaxing a law
introduced with fanfare six months ago to tackle pollution,
illegal logging in the Amazon and an array of other
environmental offenses.
"This is a coup d'etat against Brazil's environment and a
frontal attack on democracy," said Stephan Schwartzman, senior
scientist at the Environmental Defense Fund in Washington.
In February, President Fernando Henrique Cardoso signed a
bill that introduced new fines of up to $50 million for
environmental crimes.
The bill was first sent to Congress seven years ago amid
international concern over deforestation in the Amazon but was
held up due to widespread opposition from business lobbies.
"Given the immense responsibility that we have to humanity
... we are obliged to put into practice everything this law
sets down," Cardoso told a gathering of diplomats and
environmentalists after signing the bill into law.
But a presidential decree published this week lets
companies and individuals breaking the law avoid paying the
fines on condition they sign agreements by the end of the year
to take steps to clean up their operations.
The fines may be waived for between 90 days and five years,
with that grace period renewable for up to five more years.
"With a stroke of a pen, Cardoso reversed Brazil's greatest
environmental advance in the 1990s ..., declaring a 10-year
moratorium on environmental law enforcement," Schwartzman said
in a statement.
"What this really does is give yet more time to companies
to keep on breaking the law," said Adriana Ramos who monitors
government policy for the independent Socio-Environmental
Institute (ISA) in Brasilia.
The head of Greenpeace in Brazil said companies needed only
three years at most to correct any pollution problem.
"This is a move that big industry, basically in steel and
petrochemicals, has been pushing for because they don't want to
invest in cleaner output," said Roberto Kishinami.
Government officials denied the decree represented a
moratorium and sought instead to give polluting firms a
transition period to upgrade factories without being penalized.
"It is clearly better to establish a timetable and a
program for companies to make the necessary changes than to be
in an all-or-nothing situation," said Vicente Gomes da Silva,
the Environment Ministry's legal adviser.
He said the government feared firms faced with fines might
shut down -- adding to already record levels of unemployment --
or embark on lengthy court cases to avoid payment.
But even a government-allied lawmaker involved in efforts
to get the bill approved in Congress this year said the decree
would delay the effective introduction of the legislation.
"I agree that a transition period is necessary, but what is
written in the decree unfortunately means the law will only be
applied in five years time at the earliest," Luciano Pizzato, a
member of the pro-business Liberal Front Party said.
Environmental campaigners say the new degree lets polluters
off the hook.
Ramos said calculations from private industry groups showed
as much as 20 percent of industrial output in developed Sao
Paulo state was produced in breach of environmental laws.
"There have been laws on pollution since the 1970s, yet
even now the polluters say they want more time," she said.
"Basically, anybody who has broken the law can now promise to
change their ways and escape fines for up to 10 years."
On Wednesday, the left-wing Workers Party (PT), the main
opposition to Cardoso's government, and the small Green Party
filed suit in Brazil's supreme court, arguing the decree flew
in the face of the country's constitution.
"It's absurd," said PT lawmaker Gilney Vianna, a long-time
campaigner against deforestation in the Amazon. "It might be 20
percent in Sao Paulo but the vast majority of companies in the
Amazon break environmental law and the government has just
given them its approval."
Copyright 1998, Reuters News Service |
