AGU asks the court that mining companies pay R$79.6 billion for repairs in Mariana | Minas Gerais

The Attorney General’s Office of the Union asked this Tuesday (7) that the Federal Court of Belo Horizonte order that mining companies responsible for the collapse of the Fundão dam, in Mariana (MG), pay R$79.6 billion in 15 days.

This is the updated value of the conviction of the companies Samarco, Vale and BHP for moral damages. The AGU stated that the money is necessary to guarantee reparation measures in the areas affected by the dam collapse.

The Union requests that, if the amount is not deposited in court, the Courts block companies’ financial assets, among other measures.

For the government, nine years after the biggest environmental disaster in the history of the mining sector, the companies have still not been held responsible and have not guaranteed due reparation for the tragedy, and “it is time for the State and Brazilian society to receive a concrete response” .

Union and government of ES reject R$ 127 billion agreement to repair damage from the dam collapse in Mariana

The Minister of Attorney General of the Union, Jorge Messias, stated that repairs to both the environment and the people affected are urgent.

“The population of Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo can no longer wait. The environment, so damaged by this terrible disaster, can no longer wait. The Brazilian State needs to be able to offer a satisfactory response once and for all, and this response is the socioeconomic reparation of everyone affected and the due environmental recovery of the Rio Doce Basin. And it is only fair that those responsible for the dam collapse pay for the measures that will guarantee this repair”, stated the minister.

Last week, AGU and the State of Espírito Santo informed the Federal Court that they rejected the proposal for a new agreement to repair the damage caused by the collapse of the Fundão dam, in Mariana.

For the Union and the ES government, the mining companies’ offer “does not represent progress in relation to the previous proposal, presented and discussed in December 2023”, in addition to containing “inadmissible conditions that disregard what had already been exhaustively debated and agreed upon since that negotiations are ongoing.”

• At the end of April, the companies presented a proposal for R$127 billion in reparations, of which R$37 billion has already been invested in compensation actions.
• The offer provides for the payment of R$72 billion in cash, over an unannounced period, to the federal, Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo governments and the affected municipalities, and R$18 billion in obligations to do (carrying out actions repair).

Negotiations on a new agreement to repair the damage caused by the tragedy in Mariana have been going on for years and there is still no consensus on values ​​or reparation measures.

The Fundão dam broke on November 5, 2015, in Mariana, and caused the biggest environmental disaster in the country’s history. Nineteen people died.

Around 40 million cubic meters of mining waste destroyed communities and livelihoods, contaminated the Doce River and its tributaries and reached the Atlantic Ocean, in Espírito Santo. In total, 49 municipalities were affected, directly or indirectly.