The Committee on the Environment and Sustainable Development approved, on Wednesday (12), a fund creation for financing the projects of repairing environmental damage caused by the oil and gas industry. According to the proposal, the fund will be composed by resources of the Contribution of the Economic Domain (Cide), among other sources, and managed by the Ministry of the Environment.

One of the amendments made by the rapporteur was the name of the fund, which was Fund for repairing environmental damage caused by hydrocarbon contamination to Fupap (Fund for financing environmental projects related to the oil and gas by-products). This change, according to Jardim, was motivated by the fact that Cide resources are limited to finance projects related to the petroleum industry.

Emergency Repairs                                                                                                                                     According to the text approved, the Fupap may be used in cases of environmental damage caused by unknown companies, when the blame for the damage has not yet been ascertained. In this case, when companies are identified, they must repay the amount spent on interest and inflation.

"Thus, the resulting environmental remediation, for example, for possible leaks proven in pipelines or tankers of Petrobras and other companies will be the responsibility of these companies and cannot be funded with resources from the fund," stated Arnaldo Jardim.

Fupap Sources
According to the text approved, the fund will consist of the following sources:
- 12% of resources from Cide relating to the portion of the Union;
- resources of the so called special sharing that the Union receives after the distribution of royalties from oil;
- amounts allocated in the Union Federal Budget and additional credits;
- resources from the interest charges and amortization of financing;
- donations made by national and international, public or private entities;
- resources under agreements, arrangements, contracts and conventions, with bodies and entities of Public Administration; and
- loans from nationally and internationally financial institutions.

The Ministry of the Environment will be responsible for setting standards for the operation of Fupap.

The proposal will also be reviewed by other committees.

Reporting - Rodrigo Bittar
Edition - Carolina Pompeu
Translation - Grupo Solucion-SP Language/Suzana Pinheiro Lara