The Monitoring Committee (CA) of the Conduct Adjustment Agreement (TAC) of Hydro, in Pará, held its 33rd meeting on November 28th. Signatories of the TAC include the Federal Public Ministry, the Public Ministry of the State of Pará, the State Secretary of Environment and Sustainability of Pará (Semas), and the companies Hydro and Alunorte.

On the agenda of the 33rd meeting, the last of the year, were the presentation of the final report of the safety and stability audit of Alunorte's solid residue deposits (item 3.1 of the TAC), updates on the expansion project of water supply in Barcarena (2.1.4), and updates on the contracting processes for socio-economic and ethnographic studies (2.1.1a), epidemiological studies (2.1.1c), and environmental studies (2.1.1 BDEF).

Solid Residue Deposits – Fonntes Geotécnica, the company selected to perform the safety and stability audit of Hydro Alunorte's Solid Residue Deposits (DRS 1 and 2), item 3.1 of the TAC, presented a summary of the final report. A total of 16 items were analyzed, and 29 reports presented on the two deposits. At the beginning of the audit, Fonntes sent a letter to the MPF to formalize the company's understanding of the scope and proposed methodology, which was validated by the MPF and served as the guiding document for the audit. The work began in January 2022, and the last reports were delivered in August 2023.

The audit showed that DRS 1 and 2 operate in compliance with safety standards regarding compaction and storage of residue, impermeability of the deposits, effluent treatment, surface waters, etc. It also made recommendations for long-term periodic monitoring according to updates of parameters and studies.

As part of the TAC audit process, the publication of the results is planned transparently, making them available virtually, in an open and accessible format, which is already planned to occur soon. Fabiano Azevedo, the alternate representative of the fourth civil society representation on the CA, suggested that the reports of the safety and stability audit of the solid residue deposits be shared with the Military Fire Brigade, Civil Defense, the Legislative Assembly of Pará, and the Municipal Chamber of Barcarena.

Investment in Water Distribution – Águas de São Francisco, the water and sewage concessionaire of Barcarena (PA), is responsible for implementing a project to expand the potable water supply system in some localities of the municipality, using resources from item 2.1.4 of the TAC. Initially, this resource was BRL 5 million, updated to BRL 8 million with the project's expansion.

Representing Águas de São Francisco, Lucas Pereira recalled the latest updates, such as the expansion of the initial project, dialogues with community leaders, and on-site visits to the communities. In recent months, titular and alternate members of the civil society representations 1 and 2 on the CA, areas covered by the water supply system expansion project, increased dialogues with residents of the respective communities about the proposal.

In this process, the conduct of prior, free, and informed consultations with the quilombola communities São Sebastião de Burajuba and Sítio São João, which will be covered by the project, is being discussed. They have the right to these consultations as guaranteed by the International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention 169. The issue has been discussed in previous meetings of the TAC Monitoring Committee, and according to the MPF, it is up to the Barcarena City Hall to conduct the consultations, which has not yet occurred.

“There seems to be an attempt to make the traditional and quilombola communities invisible. I would like to get out of this impasse; we have been in this for two years,” pondered Mário Santos, the representative of the traditional and quilombola communities in the CA.

Jackeline Sales, the titular representative of the second civil society representation on the CA, where leaders gathered and evaluated the project maps, emphasized the communities' attention in the process. “We contributed to this process by providing information and holding meetings with leaders to validate the maps. We tried to contribute to making the project map as clear as possible for the communities' understanding.” On the occasion, Jackeline requested the concessionaire send a map containing the names of the streets that will be covered by the project.

As a follow-up, Igor Lima de Oliveira, the Federal Prosecutor in charge of the case, committed to addressing the issue of prior consultations in parallel with the Barcarena City Hall.

Contracting Audits – Alunorte's representative on the TAC Monitoring Committee, Edson Maciel, presented an overview of the processes for contracting companies to conduct studies stipulated in the TAC.

The selection for conducting Socio-economic and Ethnographic Studies, item 2.1.1a of the TAC, is awaiting evaluation by the MPF and Semas, which should approve the list of pre-selected proponents.

For the contracting of a company to perform the Epidemiological Evaluation (2.1.1c), a technical analysis of the proposals is underway, with support from the Butantan Institute. Proposals received for conducting Environmental Studies (2.1.1b, d, f) are also under technical evaluation.

Elidiane Cardim, the titular representative of the sixth civil society representation, from the municipality of Abaetetuba (PA), reported rumors that the socio-economic study had already started in quilombola communities and requested clarification. Eduardo Gonçalves, the alternate representative of the MPF on the CA, clarified that an anthropologist from the TAC Technical Committee visited to clarify doubts about the terms of reference for contracting the Socio-economic Studies, and no stage of this study was anticipated.

Next Meeting – The next ordinary meeting of the TAC Monitoring Committee will be on January 30, 2024. The agenda will be confirmed by email with the Committee members.

Contacts
For any questions, the executive secretariat of the Monitoring Committee offers a communication channel through calls or messages at +55 91 99349-0098.

Members of the Monitoring Committee present at the 33rd meeting
Igor de Lima Goettenauer de Oliveira – Federal Public Ministry (MPF) – titular
Eduardo Gonçalves – Federal Public Ministry (MPF) – alternate
José Edson Maciel – Alunorte Alumina do Norte do Brasil S/A – titular
Alessandra Ribeiro – Norsk Hydro Brasil – alternate
Mário Assunção do Espírito Santo – civil society representative – Representation 1 – Quilombola and Traditional Communities – titular
Vera Lúcia Brito Nascimento – civil society representative – Representation 1 – Quilombola and Traditional Communities – alternate
Jackeline Sales – civil society representative – Representation 2 – titular
Rosenilda Evangelista – civil society representative – Representation 2 – titular
Fabiano Azevedo – civil society representative – Representation 4 – alternate
Elidiane Cardim – civil society representative – Representation 6 – titular
Rosa Maria Dias da Silva – civil society representative – Representation 7 – titular
James Pompeu Pereira – civil society representative – Representation 7 – titular
Ivo Torres – civil society representative – Representation 8 – alternate
Maria das Graças Figueira Pereira – civil society representative – Representation 9 – titular
Ereny dos Anjos Lima Barbosa – civil society representative – Representation 10 – alternate

Guests from Fonntes Geotécnica
Albano Santos – geotechnical engineer
Baruc Costa – environmental engineer
Kesley Cadeira – planning

Guests from Águas de São Francisco
Lucas Firmino Melo Pereira – operations manager

Guests from Hydro
Paschoal Cataldi – executive manager of the B&A Residue Area of Hydro
Daniel Arvani – engineering and projects manager of the B&A Residue Area of Hydro

Team from the Executive Secretariat Instituto Internacional de Educação do Brasil (IEB)
Edane França Acioli – socio-environmental analyst
Raphael Castro – communication advisor
Vanessa Silva – technical assistant

Source: Executive Secretariat of the TAC Monitoring Committee