O National Congress articulates the overturn, in a joint session scheduled for Thursday (27), of approximately 30 of the president’s 63 vetoes Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) to the General Environmental Licensing Law.
Among the points that must be overturned by Congress is the veto on the use of LAC (License by Adhesion and Commitment) for medium-sized projects.
LAC is a new device that allows entrepreneurs to carry out a type of simplified licensing, of a self-declaratory nature, following pre-determined conditions by environmental authorities — such as Ibama and state departments.
According to reports made to CNN Brazilthe presidents of the Senate, Davi Alcolumbre (União-AP)and the Chamber, Hugo Motta (Republicans-PB)dealt with the matter last week and decided that vetoes to the Environmental Licensing Law will be treated as a priority in Thursday’s session.
The decision came amid the final stretch of negotiations for the COP30in Belém, which ended on Saturday (22). Environmentalists harshly criticized the law approved by Congress in July, after more than two decades of processing.
The senator Teresa Cristina (PP-MS) and the deputy Zé Vitor (PL-MG) actively participated in the discussions. They are, respectively, president and rapporteur of the joint committee responsible for analyzing MP 1308.
The provisional measure was published together with Lula’s vetoes on 63 sections of the law. In addition to MP 1308the PT member sent the PL 15.190/25a project that aims to complement the sanctioned legislation.
With the support of Alcolumbre and Motta, the strategy defined last week is to maintain presidential vetoes on LAE (Special Environmental License).
This new modality seeks a “fast track” in the licensing of strategic economic projects, with accelerated deadlines, meeting pressure from Congress.
The government vetoed the way this LAE was approved, but subsequently published the provisional measure that creates the same mechanism, with a fundamental difference: the maintenance of “three-phase licensing”, that is, in three phases.
These are the preliminary license (which certifies the environmental viability of the project), the installation license (which authorizes the start of works) and the operating license (which allows its effective entry into operation).
According to the text approved by Congress, enterprises included in the LAE would be licensed in a single phase. This is the essence of what was vetoed.
Today, after a more in-depth analysis, the parliamentarians engaged in the discussions agree with the government’s point and decided to accept the LAE under the terms defined by Palácio do Planalto in MP 1308.
Therefore, the negotiation is so that these presidential vetoes are maintained and there is some improvement of the LAE in the report by deputy Zé Vitor, which will be presented on December 1st
The provisional measure expires at the end of next week, but there is a commitment from Alcolumbre and Motta to vote on it after considering the vetoes. On the 2nd, Tereza Cristina intends to put the rapporteur’s text to a vote in the joint committee.
The agreement reached in recent days involves the lifting of the LAC veto for medium-sized developments.
Then, according to the CNN Brazil found, Zé Vitor intends to incorporate in his opinion a description of the activities that should be considered medium-sized and subject to self-declaratory licensing.
The parliamentarians’ objective is to offer a response to criticisms that there is no clear definition and that the range has been too open for state authorities responsible for environmental licensing.
Environmentalists were against the LAC during the project’s progress and argued that, given the lack of specification, mining projects — such as the Mariana and Brumadinho dams — could be included in the simplified environmental license process.
