June 28, 2022

16:06

Gabriel Abreu – Amazon Agency

BOA VISTA – Amidst much controversy and with little discussion with society, the Legislative Assembly of Roraima (ALERR) approved the Bill (PL) 233/2022, authored by the state lawmaker George Melo (Podemos), which prohibits environmental agencies and the Military Police of Roraima to destroy and disable private property seized in operations and inspections in the state.

The PL was approved in Extraordinary Session held on Monday, 28, by parliamentarians, in the meeting room of the presidency of the house. Last week, the lawmakers withdrew the PL from the agenda so that there could be more discussion about the theme. This created discomfort among the parliamentarians with the miners who were present at the session, on June 21.

Operations without destruction

With 14 votes in favor, the lawmakers approved the Law Project 233/22, with amendments, presented by Lawmaker George Melo, about the prohibition of environmental inspection agencies and the Military Police to destroy and disable private property seized during environmental operations/surveillance in the state.

According to Lawmaker George Melo, the approval of the matter represents security to workers from various segments. “To prospectors, farmers, loggers, that the seized equipment will not be damaged”, explained Melo.

“In fact, this proposal is so that the inspection agencies, when they seize this material, do not destroy it, as is done by the Internal Revenue Service in operations. Imagine you, a producer who invests his life in equipment and this equipment is destroyed, burned. So, you make this person vulnerable to the extreme, because he won’t be able to work, he won’t have technology and his family will probably have needs”, defended the congressman.

George Melo recalled that the country has legislation that supports the mineral exploration of the soil, such as the Federal Law No. 7.805/89 and the Statute of the Garimpeiro (Federal Law 11.685/2008), and that the Federal Constitution itself (Article 174) provides that the government should encourage the organization of mining activity in cooperatives, taking into account the protection of the environment and economic and social promotion.

What the congressman did not remember is that Roraima is the state where the largest Indigenous Land in Brazil is located, the Yanomami TI, and that illegal mining is making Yanomami children ill. The bill now goes to the state government’s senses.