MPF presses for demolition of port project in Santarém and compensation for collective moral harm

The Federal Prosecution Service (MPF) has filed an appeal against a ruling by the Federal Court that the agency considers contradictory. The judicial decision annulled the environmental permits for the construction of a port terminal on the banks of Lake Maicá, an area of high ecological and social importance in Santarém (PA). However, it rejected the requests for demolition of the structures already built and for the company to be held liable for collective moral damages.

In the appeal to the Federal Regional Court of the 1st Region (TRF1), the MPF requests a partial amendment of the ruling. Federal Prosecutor Felipe de Moura Palha argues that collective moral damage is evident and that compensation is necessary. “The irregularities were not just procedural mistakes, but rather a consistent pattern of ongoing violations, which included fraud in the classification of the cargo to be transported and unlawful vegetation removal,” he said.

According to the MPF, this conduct infringed essential social values, such as the dignity of traditional peoples and communities and the right to an ecologically balanced environment, justifying a ruling with both punitive and deterrent effect. “Without the deterrence generated by an appropriate financial penalty, nothing will prevent the defendants — or other economic actors — from repeating similar conduct, reproducing the same pattern of disregard for environmental rules and the rights of traditional communities,” the prosecutor added.

The appeal also argues that once the permits were declared void, the works became illegal from the outset. Therefore, for the MPF, demolition is a “necessary legal consequence” to fully repair the environmental damage and restore legal order, preventing the offender from benefiting from its own unlawful conduct.

The MPF’s appeal directly challenges the court’s position that demolition would be an “extreme” measure. For the prosecutor, removing the structures is essential for effective remediation. The text of the appeal stresses that since the permits were annulled, the constructions are the product of an illegal act and therefore have no legal basis to remain in place.

Keeping the works in place, according to the MPF, would amount to granting an “undue benefit to the offender” and would undermine the very ruling that declared the permits void. The appeal emphasizes that removal is necessary not only to restore the physical environment, but also to re-establish legal and moral order, which were harmed by administrative fraud and the violation of collective rights to participation and information.

The partially contested ruling was delivered in September in two lawsuits filed by the MPF and by the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the State of Pará (MPPA). The decision found that the licensing process, conducted by the Pará State Secretariat for Environment, Climate and Sustainability (Semas), failed to comply with essential legal requirements.

The decision concluded that the process was irregular because it failed to carry out the Environmental Impact Study (EIA/Rima), which is mandatory for projects with the potential for significant environmental degradation, and because it omitted the Free, Prior and Informed Consultation (FPIC) of the traditional peoples and communities potentially affected, as required under Convention 169 of the International Labour Organization (ILO).

Based on these irregularities, the court declared the Preliminary and Installation Permits null and void, ordering the immediate suspension of all works and prohibiting the issuance of new permits until the process is brought into compliance.

However, the court rejected the request for compensation for collective moral damages, arguing that there was no evidence of a “serious, unjust and intolerable violation of the fundamental values of the community.” It also denied the request for demolition, classifying it as an “extreme measure with difficult reversibility,” the ruling stated.

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Source: Portal Portuário

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