Oil drilling project near mouth of Amazon River rejected by Brazil’s environmental regulator

RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazil’s environmental regulator has rejected a license for a controversial offshore oil drilling project near the mouth of the Amazon River that had drawn strong opposition from activists who warned of its potential for damaging the area. The agency’s president, Rodrigo Agostinho, highlighted environmental concerns in announcing the decision Wednesday evening to turn down the state-run oil company Petrobras’ request to drill the FZA-M-59 block. “Not to mention the government’s promise of a decarbonized future.” The Climate Observatory, a network of environmental non-profits, also cheered the decision, saying in a statement that “Agostinho is protecting a virtually unknown ecosystem and maintains the coherence of the Lula government, which has promised in its discourse to be guided by the fight against the climate crisis.” During the first presidential terms of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, from 2003 to 2010, huge offshore discoveries became a means of financing health, education and welfare programs. “To supply Brazil’s future demand for oil, the country will have to look for new sources in addition to the pre-salt.” Other controversial megaprojects in the Amazon that remain on the table include repaving a highway that would slice through preserved rainforest, construction of a major railway for grain transport and renewal of a giant hydroelectric dam’s license.