September 5, 2002 Project Update

Table of Contents   September 5, 2002 Project Update Introduction Coari-Manaus Pipeline Abandoned Project Finance Environmental and Social Impacts Controversy Surrounds Environmental Impact Assessment Local Concerns Dominate 2002 Public Hearings

Urucu-Porto Velho Pipeline Receives Green light from Brazilian Environmental Agency

After months of controversy and delay, Brazil's environmental agency IBAMA issued an environmental license for the construction of the Urucu - Porto Velho gas pipeline, ignoring the broad swathe of civil society opposition to the project.

The 500-kilometer pipeline will pass through some of the most isolated and inaccessible regions of the Brazilian rainforest. A 15-30 meter wide road will be constructed along the entire length of the pipeline, effectively opening up this remote Amazon heartland to invasion and colonization.

Isolated indigenous groups living along the pipeline right of way are now faced with the irreversible loss of natural resources on which they depend for survival. The risk of land speculation, uncontrolled logging and forest clearing by ranchers and farmers could permanently alter their way of life.

Environmentalists, indigenous organizations and other civil society groups have expressed serious reservations about the granting of the license. Although the public hearings for the project were repeated after an eruption of protest about undemocratic processes, the granting of the license does not take into consideration any major environmental and social concerns expressed at the hearings. Existing feasible alternatives to the pipeline do not appear to have been incorporated into IBAMA’s decision-making process.

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