Lula signs bill to ease Brazil environmental licenses but vetoes key provisions
Dubbed the "Devastation Bill" by environmentalists, the motion approved by Congress and backed by Brazil's powerful agribusiness community significantly weakens environmental controls in licensing processes, giving states and municipalities more power to issue licenses for new business developments.
Agribusiness has backed the bill because it would make expanding operations in environmentally sensitive areas easier.
Lula approved the bill but struck down or altered 63 of its nearly 400 articles, said his office's executive secretary, Miriam Belchior.
Belchior told journalists in Brasilia that the vetoes sought to preserve the integrity of the licensing process, ensure legal certainty, and protect the rights of Indigenous and Quilombola communities.
"We maintained what we consider to be significant advances in streamlining the environmental licensing process," she said.
Of the provisions struck down, 26 were vetoed outright, while another 37 will either be replaced with alternative text or modified in a new bill.
Lula's administration will send the new bill to Congress under a constitutional urgency procedure, Belchior said.
This new proposal will introduce a "Special Environmental License" designed to fast-track strategic projects while filling the legal gaps created by the vetoes, she added.
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