Supreme Court analyzes the constitutionality of a law that allows the construction of a railroad in a national park in the Amazon
The STF (Federal Supreme Court) must judge this Wednesday (May 31, 2023) the release of Ferrogrão. The megaproject budgeted at R$ 21.5 billion intends to connect the cities of Sinop (MT) and Miritituba (PA) through 933.2 km of railroad to transport the production of soybeans and grains. Since 2021, the project has been stopped by a Supreme Court decision, based on a direct action of unconstitutionality filed by Psol.
The action questions the constitutionality of MP (Provisional Measure) 758 of 2016, later converted into law 13,452 of 2017, which altered the limits of the Jamanxim National Park (PA). Of the 933.2 km of the railway, 53 km cross the national park. The rapporteur for the case is Minister Alexandre de Moraes.
The debate over Ferrogrão has divided opinions between the environmentalist and development sectors, mainly agribusiness. Although the background is an environmental dispute, the railroad project also has an aspect that can benefit the green agenda.
This is because the undertaking, if it materializes, would reduce the emission of pollutants by trucks transporting cargo. According to data from ANTT (National Land Transport Agency), Ferrogrão would reduce the emission of 1 million tons of CO2 (carbon dioxide) per year.
On the 3rd (May 30th), the governor of Mato Grosso Mauro Mendes (União Brasil) went to Brasilia to talk to 4 ministers of the STF to argue about the importance of the logistical undertaking for the country’s competitiveness in world trade.
To the Power360Mendes stated that “it is not possible to give up a means of transport that will do a gigantic good to the environment, to the main sector of the Brazilian economy and bring great results for Brazilian society itself”.
However, for leaders and congressmen linked to the indigenous agenda, what is at stake is the impact of the works on the communities that inhabit the national park. They question the treatment given to the reserve area protected by law and altered for economic benefit. There is concern that this sets a dangerous precedent for indigenous causes.
The Ferrogrão trial also comes at a turbulent time for the ministries of the Environment and Indigenous Peoples. The two folders suffered recent defeats in the National Congress that weakened their attributions.
Another situation that increased the friction with economic sectors was the refusal to drill the Petrobras on the Equatorial Margin and the return of discussions to create the concept of “works of national interest”, which would weaken the power of environmental regulatory agencies to deny licenses to large-scale undertakings.
In this context, Ferrogrão, a megaproject with a billionaire budget and linked to strong agribusiness interests, can also be a thermometer of how the judiciary will face debates between large enterprises and environmental agendas.
AGU takes a stand
On the 6th (May 26) the AGU (Advocacy General of the Union) came out in favor of Psol, and defended that the project poses risks to the Environment due to the alteration of the limits of the environmental conservation unit. read the full (254 KB).
In the demonstration, he highlights that the law that provides for the rules of the park does not present compensatory measures “for the construction of the railroad, the incorporation of the Tapajós Environmental Protection Area (APA), covering 51 thousand hectares to Jamanxim” and that the suppression of part of the area of the Jamanxim National Park “it was also implemented by the new law without any environmental compensation”.
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