Petrobras will pay compensation of approximately R$1.4 billion to restore areas affected by the oil spill from the Araucaria Refinery, in the Curitiba metropolitan region, more than 20 years ago. Four million liters of oil spilled over the Iguazu River, which crosses the state.
In July 2000, one of the valves in the refinery ruptured and fuel spilled covering an area of about 40 km from the river.
Biologist and researcher Dorval Nascimento Neto recalls: “It seemed like a nightmare. When we entered the forest there was no longer any sound of animals. There was no bird flying. The silence was terrifying. Still life.”
The consequences were tragic with the deaths of fish and birds. Action Containment mobilizes professionals from all over the world.
In 2013, the court ordered Petrobras to pay compensation of R$610 million. The state company has appealed, but has now closed the deal.
The document stipulates the payment of 1,396,439,000,000.00 Brazilian Real. Payment will be made in four installments of 349 million Brazilian riyals. The first amount must be paid within 10 days of signing and approval. The others are every 90 days.
Petrobras seals a R$1.4 billion deal in compensation for a spill in the Iguaçu River in Paraná – Photo: Arquivo/RPC
Most of the money, R$928 million, will go to the Paraná government, and it will go to the state environment fund. The rest, just over R$465 million, will be with the Federation’s Diffusion Rights Defense Fund.
The agreement does not specify how the federal government will use the money, but it does impose rules for the allocation of resources by Paraná. According to the document, the state is obliged to use all funds exclusively in the ecological zone.
Parana should invest, for example, in the protection, monitoring and repair of slopes, river banks and watershed areas.
Petrobras will maintain programs to restore the entire area affected by the oil spill. The federal and state prosecutors will oversee the application of the funds.
“After 21 years, Araucaria is still feeling the consequences of the spill. We are still waiting for an answer, the restoration of the Iguazu River,” says Simon Caldas de Cuadros, wanted by the Araucaria municipality.
In a statement, Petrobras stated that it signed the agreement in line with the ongoing emergency assessment process and emphasized that the signing did not imply acknowledgment or legal acknowledgment of the alleged damages, nor the practice of unlawful behaviour.
According to the state-owned company, the signature only indicates the implementation of agreed actions.
Also in a note, the Federal Public Ministry (MPF) stated that the agreement largely anticipates the sentence’s implementation, putting an end to a process that has lasted more than 20 years, and that the resources should be brought back into reality. environmental measures.
The Public Prosecution Office of Paraná (MP-PR) has informed that it will not show itself until after the ratification of the agreement by the Federal Regional Court of District IV (TRF-4).
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