Brazil Senate Passes Dam Safety Bill After Vale Disaster; Insurance Provision Eyed
The legislation, which tightens safety regulations on all types of dams, is similar to a regulation bill that failed to gain traction three years ago. It will now pass to the lower house for consideration, provided Senators do not file an appeal within five working days, which would require it to go to a vote of the full chamber.
The bill would ban upstream tailings dams similar to those that burst, strengthening a move already taken at the administrative level by the National Mining Agency.
The Jan. 25 disaster provoked global outcry against Vale and the Brazilian government for allowing two similar disasters to happen in a span of three years. In 2015, a dam burst in the nearby town of Mariana, killing 19 people.
The bill passed in two committees on Wednesday. Its tighter regulations are based on a similar law proposed after the Mariana disaster floundered in the chamber’s environment committee and never reached the lower house.
“I am certain, if it had passed Congress with the 16 amendments and all the feedback from the environment committee, something definitely would have been done to prevent this disaster, this crime in Brumadinho,” Senator Leila Barros, the author of the new bill, told Reuters, adding that she hoped for approval in the first half of 2019.
“Now more than ever, the legislature has the obligation to do this.”
The wide-ranging overhaul for regulation of all types of dams, not only those used in mining, will require more advanced monitoring technology and detailed emergency plans. It will give government enforcers stronger legal standing and also make criminally liable those who certify the safety of a dam that later collapses.
Miners would continue to pay taxes normally due on mining shipments in the event of a disaster-related shutdown for a decade or until operations are restarted at the mine, to avoid impact on government revenues.
One provision will require dam operators to buy insurance to cover a possible disaster, with supporters counting on pressure from insurers to boost safety efforts. A committee amendment to the bill reduces the time limit for compliance to one year.
Another amendment would raise the maximum fine for dam operators to 10 billion reais ($2.68 billion).
($1 = 3.7284 reais) (Reporting by Jake Spring; editing by David Gregorio)
Related:
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- Brazil Prosecutors Seek Arrest of Vale Executive after Tailings Dam Disaster
- Vale’s Senior Management Unaware of Dam Risk Report, Says CFO
- Brazil Miner Vale Knew Its Tailings Dam Had Higher Risk of Collapse: Reuters
- Audit of Burst Brazil Tailings Dam Raised Concerns over Drainage, Monitoring
- Brazil’s Burst Dam Disasters Blamed on Cheap Storage of Mining Waste
- Brazil Dam Disaster Could Delay Settlement for 2015’s Samarco Mine Disaster
- Brazil Weighs Management Overhaul at Vale After Mine Disaster; Death Toll Rises
- Allianz Has Reinsurance Exposure to Vale Dam Disaster: Sources
- Collapsed Brazil Mining Dam Kills at Least 58, in Echoes of 2015 Disaster