Rousseff announces recovery plan for Rio Doce
Environment Minister Izabella Teixeira said that Rio Doce Basin recovery plan will be a long-term project, for at least a decade.
President Dilma Rousseff announced Tuesday (Nov. 17) a recovery plan to Rio Doce Basin, hit by the sea of mud full of residues from mining operations of the collapsed dams. According to her, the recovery program will be drawn up by the federal government in partnership with the state governments of Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo.
"This river is surrounded by the highest concentrations of Brazil’s mining and steel companies. If there was this calamity, we have to give the example and recover this river, revive it. A very significant part of [the recovery] will have to be made by [Samarco] company," she said.
Environment Minister Izabella Teixeira said, after attending a meeting with the president, that Rio Doce Basin recovery plan will be a "long-term [project], for at least a decade."
According to the minister, there is much work to be done and the goal is to get all the parties involved to formulate a single proposal.
"[It was] a catastrophe, the country’s worst environmental disaster, and we have to adopt innovative measures to address [the issue]. We know that some of the fish, wildlife, reptiles have been devastated. Experts have to say how long it takes [to revive it]. In addition to recovering river sources and setting a number of structural conditions for the basin to recover its environmental quality," said Teixeira.
President Rousseff stated that the government is defining how the funds will be established for the plan. She also reported that the quality for water supply in the affected region and the risk of collapse in new dams are being daily monitored . Minas Gerais Governor Fernando Pimentel said that the situation is still an emergency, but "there is no immediate risk".
"To evaluate this dreadful disaster we need time. It is not possible to analyze [yet] how extensive the damages were. The mud is destroying the Rio Doce’s flora and fauna wherever the mud reaches. Samarco has responsibility for that [that was the] most terrible environmental accident in the country’s history and we will charge [for it]," said Espírito Santo Governor Paulo Hartung.
ranslated by Amarílis Anchieta
Fonte: Rousseff announces recovery plan for Rio Doce
