Oil drilling is “a technology from the past,” says Obama’s chief

President of Ibama (Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources), Rodrigo AugustineHe said it is necessary “look forward” And we leave it “technologies of the past”referring to oil exploration. He made the remark on Saturday (June 17, 2023) at the Brazil UK Forum event in Oxford, UK.

“In recent weeks, people have only asked me about oil. But I license 300 offshore wind projects and nobody asks me about it. I license about 30 green hydrogen projects. This is looking forward. We’re stuck with technologies from the past. Ibama will continue to license Oil, but we need to look forward a bit.”argued.

In May, there was an impasse between Ibama and the federal government over a veto given to Petrobras to conduct test drilling in the sea 179 km off the coast of Amapá, in the Brazilian Equatorial Margin. The aim of the state-owned company is to check if there is indeed oil in the area, which is what it has been named for “new salt”.

According to President Abama, the demand is there ‘alarming contradictions’ For safe operation in High social and environmental vulnerability“.

On May 25, Petrobras submitted a new application for an environmental license in an attempt to resolve the issue “contradictions”. Augustine even claimed it ‘There have been improvements’ in the text. The request is still waiting for a response.

environmental crimes

At the event, Rodrigo Agostino also defended that the armed forces should not be part of measures to combat environmental crime.

“Brazil has opted for more civil confrontation and I think it is important for us to maintain that. It seems to us to be a better model than putting a soldier there to deal with a very complex issue, for which simply repression is not enough.”He said.

Agostino has also criticized Brazilian environmental legislation: “Environmental crimes in Brazil are treated as a crime with less offensive potential, so nobody goes to jail. If a person is convicted of deforestation, they pay a basic basket and all is well. I think the wording of Brazilian environmental legislation is one of the most beautiful formulation in the world. But from the point of view of effectiveness, we have problems.He said.

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This report was prepared by trainee journalist Gabriella Boychat under the supervision of Assistant Editor-in-Chief Victor Schneider.