Business&Crime on Radio USP: Samarco case

“USP Analyzes”: Legal aspects of Samarco case

Professor and students of FD-USP and FDRP-USP comment on aspects of the public civil action against the mining company (20th december 2017)

Two years after the rupture of a Samarco’s mining dam in Mariana, Minas Gerais (which spread 34 million cubic meters of iron ore tailings in the Rio Doce basin), the biggest environmental tragedy in Brazil’s history remains unpunished and no reparation to victims has been achieved.

In order to address the legal consequences of this fact and the possibility of a more flexible environmental licensing, this week “USP Analyzes” talks with Eduardo Saad Diniz, professor at Law School of Ribeirão Preto (FDRP-USP), the PhD candidate of Law School of USP, Victória Vitti de Laurentiz, and FDRP graduate, Daniela Arantes Prata.

Although a public civil action against Samarco is in progress seeking for victims’ compensation, Diniz explains that it may not produce the expected results. “How much can we expect from a public civil action? From the sociological point of view, a public civil action is important considering the judicialization of social relations. We have a great conflict there, an unfortunate tragedy, which has been brought before the Judiciary for it to find possible solutions. Now, can the Judiciary solve this conflict? Does it have all necessary resources? The Public Prosecution Service, in principle, is limited to a supervisory function, it can not conduct strategic governmental actions, much less induce corporate initiatives to deal with the problem”, he says.

Another factor that draws attention in this case is time. According to Victória, there is no deadline for the conclusion of the public civil action and the complexity of the damages’ measurement also contributes to delay. “This process requires an intense technical work to identify the damage in that area, the damage to people, that continues to produce effects. From the moment we know what has been affected and what the studies and the best actions to contain these damages are, we can estimate how much they cost and what are the best alternatives and strategies to deal with them. So it takes a long time”, she explains.

The difficulty in measuring the extent of the tragedy is related to complex aspects, such as cultural. “The Krenak people, in Resplendor (MG), had a very strong cultural connection with the river. In the river they performed rituals, baptized, so it had a spiritual value to them. Now, they can no longer do these rituals, and not even swim. There is a complexity of issues of the Krenak people, who suffered during the military dictatorship and also with Vale’s mining, which constructed highways and cut the territory”, says Daniela.

The interview was transmitted on Radio USP Ribeirão Preto on Friday (22), at 12 o’clock, and Radio USP São Paulo on Wednesday (27), at 9 pm.

USP Analyzes is a joint production of Radio USP in Ribeirão Preto (107.9 MHz) and the Institute of Advanced Studies Ribeirão Preto (IEA-RP) of USP.

For original publication (Portuguese version) access: http://ribeirao.usp.br/?p=15841