State ADI 0007238-31.2021.8.21.7000 (Eldorado do Sul Master Plan)

This is a Direct Action of Unconstitutionality brought by the Attorney General of the State of Rio Grande do Sul against Municipal Law 4.968/2019 of Eldorado do Sul, which provides for urban policy and establishes the municipality's Urban and Environmental Development Master Plan. The plaintiff argues that the approval of the Plan by the City Council took place without popular participation during the legislative process, in violation of the constitutional right to participation, which makes it incompatible with the Constitution of the state of Rio Grande do Sul and the Federal Constitution. He argues that the law under discussion reduces environmental protection in the city, which reinforces the need for popular participation in the legislative process, as well as the need for a technical study to analyze its environmental impacts. It requests a preliminary injunction to suspend the validity of the contested law. On a final basis, it requests that Municipal Law 4.968/2019 be declared unconstitutional. The Reporting Judge granted the injunction. He considered that the documentary evidence showed the lack of popular consultation. He considered that master plans are related to the population's quality of life, and that public discussion is essential. He pointed out that there had been no Environmental Impact Study or Neighborhood Impact Study, considering the National Environmental Policy - PNMA (Federal Law 6.938/1981) and CONAMA Resolution 237/1997. The Association of Residents and Friends of Eldorado Park (AMAPE) requested to be admitted as amicus curiae in the case. AMAPE points out, among other issues, the importance of the climate debate in the case. It emphasized that climate should no longer be a peripheral issue in the lawsuit, since, alongside health protection, it is part of the core of the right to a balanced environment, forming part of the environmental existential minimum. He argued that the legislative plan to set up an industrial center in the area of Parque Eldorado (a district of the municipality), related to the opening of the Guaíba coal mine, goes against the need to expand renewable energy sources in order to preserve the planet's climate. He stressed that coal mining should be stopped in order to protect the climate, the environment and health, as provided for in the Paris Agreement (enacted by Federal Decree 9.073/2017). It also claimed that the indigenous community living near the region had not been consulted about the approved law, as required by Convention 169 of the International Labor Organization (ILO). Subsequently, AMAPE and other organizations' request for amicus curiae status was granted. The special body of the Rio Grande do Sul Court of Justice upheld the request to declare Municipal Law 4.968/2022 unconstitutional, on the grounds that the requirements of reasonable community participation in the drafting of the rule and prior environmental studies on its impacts were not met, considering the climate issue when mentioning AMAPE's statement. Subsequently, the Municipal Law in question was repealed, which is why the claim lost its object. It was therefore definitively dismissed.