Occlusions and opacities in the environmental licensing of the Tabajara hydroelectric plant, State of Rondonia, Brazil: a socio-economic analysis. (in Portuguese)

The colonization of Rondônia started in the late 1960s, a process made easier with

the construction of BR-364. Machadinho D’Oeste received the first settlers in 1984,

the agrarian reform projects in Rondônia favored small farmers as opposed to large

landowners. Some of these subjects who migrated to Machadinho D’Oeste did because

the displacement caused by Itaipu Hydroelectric Dam. With the announcement of the

construction of the Tabajara Hydroelectric Dan, discussions are emerging, such as the

role of Environmental Impact Studies - and their necessary assessment of cumulative

impacts -, in theory an instrument to analyze the impacts generated by the works,

including popular participation through the hearings public; that in practice it has been

shown to be a mechanism that legitimizes the plunder of natural resources and that

endorses the omissions brought in it. These elements indicate the need to deepen

the discussions on yet another project that is advancing in the Amazon, the Tabajara

Hydroelectric Dam.