Environmental management in Minas Gerais and the breaking of the Fundão tailing dam in Mariana/MG

• Autor(a) principal: César, Paulo Sérgio Mendes
• Data de Publicação: 2018
• Outros Autores: Carneiro, Ricardo
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Revista do Direito Público
• Texto Completo: https://ojs.uel.br/revistas/uel/index.php/direitopub/article/view/30372
• topic: Mining. Environmental management. National Environmental Policy. Environmental licensing. Tailing dam.; mineração; gestão ambiental; Política Nacional de Meio Ambiente; licenciamento ambiental; barragem de rejeitos.

Living in an ecologically balancedenvironment is a guarantee established by our Constitution. Henceforth, it is up to our Public Administration, together with local communities, to defend the environment. Moreover, having good coordination for the protection of the environment with the promotion of sustainable economic development has proved to be an arduous task.Furthermore, following the constitutional wording, this paper explores environmental management in Minas Gerais, within the context of the Brazilian environmental disaster provoked by thedisruption, in 2015, of the Fundão Tailing Dam, located in Mariana/MG. In order to achieve this objective, this paper utilizes literature review with the analysis of official data. Consequentially, examining the Brazilian environmental licensingsystem, which is at the core of our National Environmental Policy. This study also investigates the main characteristics of infrastructure and performance of the mining environmentalmanagement system, giving emphasis on monitoring, aspects related to licensing and control processes of the dam – builtand operated by the company: Samarco Mineração SA. In conclusion, after identifying weaknesses in the environmental management system, our final considerations reaffirm theimportance of environmental regulation with regard to the promotion of sustainable development and the existence of adequate state capacity for its application.