University of São Paulo: Analysis of environmental impacts needs speed in the application process
In 2012, the Sedimentary Area Environmental Assessment (AAAS) was established by Interministerial Ordinance No. 198 of April 5, 2012 , by the Ministries of Mines and Energy and the Environment. However, to date, only two studies have been performed. “It’s good as an environmental policy instrument. It is fundamental for it to move forward, to be effectively implemented and improved”, says Juliana Siqueira-Gay, environmental engineer and PhD in Sciences from the Polytechnic School of USP.
Tool
Professor Luis Enrique Sánchez, from the Department of Mining Engineering at the USP Polytechnic School, comments that “AAAS is a type of assessment of environmental impacts that we call ‘environmental and strategy assessment’. The best known environmental assessments are those that are made to assess the consequences of projects. The Environmental Assessment of the Sedimentary Area has greater scope and seeks to inform and support decisions that precede the formulation and analysis of projects, especially on the offer of blocks for exploration and production of oil and gas. It is a planning tool in a governmental sphere”, he explains.
As well as in other countries that also apply the practice to the oil and gas sector, Juliana also adds the importance of these studies for Brazil: “These studies survey several relevant socio-environmental issues of sedimentary basins: which ecosystems will be affected , which impacts will be most relevant? We said that one of the results of these studies is the determination of suitable or unsuitable areas to receive future projects. It gives recommendations on the environmental licensing of projects, that is, what new projects to be implemented should consider as relevant in their environmental assessments. So, we have something really strategic and prior to this environmental assessment instrument”.
The targeted areas are, as the name implies, sedimentary basins. The AAAS carried out had the Solimões Basin and the Sergipe-Alagoas Basin as targets, but there are many other targets, as Sánchez comments: “They studied the Solimões Basin, where there has been gas production for a long time, and the other is the Sergipe-Alagoas Basin. But there are several other sedimentary basins in the country with potential”.
Obstacles
“Blocks are offered through auctions. We already have a relevant history, but there were some environmental controversies and, therefore, some opinions were created. There was the creation of a Working Group to analyze these offers, but it was dissolved in 2018. From then on, a joint manifestation was made to raise the relevant issues of these blocks. So, to date, we have not had an Environmental Assessment of the Sedimentary Area actually used for these rounds”, points out the engineer. The dissolution of a WG responsible for these issues made the process even slower. She also adds: “One of the points of improvement is to develop this speed in the processes, not necessarily in the development of studies, which is something that demands a large investment of time, but in the processes so that the previous decision is effective”.
The professor explains that since the late 1980s and 1990s, specific and individual studies have been carried out regarding environmental impacts to try to prevent possible problems. However, he adds: “We continue to understand that there is good potential for the Sedimentary Area Environmental Assessment to improve decision-making processes, as is the case in other countries. But, unfortunately, we have no way of proving it because we are waiting for the completion of a very slow process for these first two applications”.
Professor Luis Enrique Sánchez and Doctor Juliana Siqueira-Gay were the authors of a study carried out by the Climate Observatory called “Planning of the oil and gas sector and environmental assessment of the sedimentary area” , in which they discuss the AAAS, its studies and future prospects.