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On May 31, 2023, the NGO Instituto Verdeluz, the Indigenous Council of the Anacé People of Japiman, and the Indigenous Association of the Anacé People of the Planalto Cauipe Village filed a Public Civil Action (environmental class-action) against the company Portocem Geração de Energia S.A. and the Secretary of the Environment of the State of Ceará (Secretaria do Meio Ambiente do Estado do Ceará – SEMACE). The plaintiffs seek the suspension and subsequent annulment of the environmental licensing process of the Portocem Thermoelectric Plant (UTE), powered by natural gas, which is to be installed in the Pecém Industrial and Port Complex (CIPP). They claim there is non-compliance with legal norms and several omissions in the Environmental Impact Study (EIA), including (i) the concealment of indigenous communities in the vicinity of the project, (ii) the disregard of impacts related to water resources, (iii) the disregard of potential socioeconomic impacts, (iv) the underestimation of damage to health, and (v) the disregard of climate impacts. They also believe that there was no adequate analysis of synergistic and cumulative impacts with other enterprises in the region, considering their insertion in an Industrial Complex. In relation to climate impacts, the plaintiffs argue that the EIA failed to list important consequences for climate stability. They mention the reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and how the use of fossil fuels is incompatible with the guiding principles of the national energy policy. They argue that Brazil and the state of Ceará have made a legal commitment to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, which goes against the implementation of a new gas-fired thermoelectric plant. The plaintiffs also point out that the Northeast is one of the regions in Brazil most vulnerable to climate change and stress the importance of the risk analysis of the project to the water security of the region, considering that the water resources of the Northeast are under pressure from climate change. On top of the problems in the impact assessment, the plaintiffs also state flaws in the licensing process due to the lack of effective public participation. In this sense, they question the lack of prior, free, and informed consultation with the indigenous Anacé people. They believe that there was a violation of national and international norms of indigenous peoples' rights, especially Convention 169 of the International Labor Organization (ILO). 

In light of these various irregularities, the plaintiffs request, in an injunction, the suspension of the installation license granted by SEMACE as well as the determination that Portocem Energia S.A. refrain from starting the implementation work. On these merits, they request that the licensing process be declared null and void and that a new environmental licensing process be conducted with the presentation of a new EIA that corrects the flaws pointed out and includes prior, free, informed and good faith consultation with the affected indigenous peoples.

A preliminary decision was handed down dismissing the injunction for lack of urgency and probability of the right. However, a decision on the merits is still pending.

In July 2023, the defendants filed their defenses. They argued that environmental licensing was regularly held. 

A final decision on the merits is still pending.

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Ceará

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