Prosecutors begin in-person inspection of the 38 dams upstream of Minas Gerais

The inspection of the 38 upstream dams that are undergoing decharacterization in Minas Gerais. The in-person inspection, which will be carried out by Environmental Defense Justice prosecutors and technical teams from the Public Ministry of Minas Gerais (MPMG), will be accompanied by technical audits contracted by those affected.

According to the Justice body, the first structures that will undergo inspection are the B2 Auxiliar dams, owned by the company Minérios Nacional, located in Rio Acima, in the metropolitan region of Belo Horizonte; Sul Superior, from Vale, in Barão de Cocais, in the Central region; in addition to the B3/B4 dams, also from Vale, located in Nova Lima.

The measure is part of the “Deactivating Time Bombs” project, which was created by MPMG to monitor the deactivation of these remaining structures in Minas.

“The audits aim to assess compliance with the decharacterization stages and the agreements provided for in the Terms of Conduct Adjustment”, explains the prosecutor and coordinator of Environment and Mining, Lucas Marques Trindade.

Deactivation of dams should last until 2035

Also according to the MPMG, the forecast is that all 38 upstream dams still existing in the State will be destroyed by 2035. According to the coordinator of the Center for Operational Support for Environmental Justice Prosecutors (Caoma), prosecutor Carlos Eduardo Ferreira Pinto, some of these structures are at emergency level 3 and, therefore, do not allow workers access.

“The work needs to be done with all the necessary caution so that decommissioning does not increase this risk. So, it is not simply closing the structure and planting on top. It is a very difficult, very technical decharacterization process that requires responsibility and seriousness It needs to be done in the shortest possible time, with the necessary technique and caution”, he detailed.

Population can follow mischaracterization

In Minas there were 54 structures built using this method, which presents a greater risk of failure. Of this total, 16 have already had the process completed.

Anyone who wants to follow the decharacterization of the 38 dams raised upstream in the State can check the progress of the processes through a website created by MPMG.

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