Tragedy in Mariana: 26 cities join reparations pact in Brazil

Twenty-six municipalities in the states of Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo have joined the agreement for repairing the damage caused by the 2015 collapse of the Fundão dam in the rural area of the municipality of Mariana, in Minas Gerais. Altogether, 49 cities could have signed the agreement.

The content of the agreement between municipalities and the Samarco mining company was ratified by the Brazilian Supreme Court on November 6, 2024. The deadline for signing up was Thursday (Mar. 6).

Dam collapse

The dam burst on November 5, 2015. Around 39 million cubic meters of tailings—enough to fill 15,600 Olympic-sized swimming pools—flowed 663 km through the Doce river basin until it reached the sea in Espírito Santo.

The tragedy left 19 dead. The districts of Bento Rodrigues and Paracatu, in Minas Gerais, were left devastated by the torrent of mud. Environmental impacts were recorded and the people of dozens of cities in Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo were affected.

The dam belonged to the mining company Samarco, a joint venture between Vale and the Anglo-Australian company BHP Billiton.

The new agreement

The new agreement ratified by the Supreme Court is a renegotiation of the previous reparations policy, which had created the Renova Foundation to implement the measures. One of the changes was the dissolution of the foundation and the provision of funds directly to the municipalities.

The renegotiation stipulates that BRL 170 billion should be earmarked for plans to repair and compensate for the damage caused by the disaster. The amount is divided as follows: BRL 100 billion is to be passed on to public entities—the federal government, Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo states, and the joining municipalities; BRL 32 billion is to go towards recovering degraded areas, removing sediment, resettling communities, and paying compensation to the people affected; and BRL 38 billion is to be regarded as disbursed for damage repair initiatives before the renegotiation.

Last Wednesday (5), Supreme Court Justice Luís Roberto Barroso denied a request to extend the deadline for municipalities to adhere to the pact. The Minas Gerais Association of Municipalities had asked for the 120-day deadline to be increased to 180 days, so that the municipalities could better evaluate the terms.

Contacted by Agência Brasil, Samarco said that 20 municipalities in Minas Gerais and six in Espírito Santo had signed up to the renegotiation.

UK trial

One of the conditions for joining the agreement is the withdrawal of the lawsuit for damages that is pending in the UK courts. Thirty-seven municipalities were not satisfied with the terms of the Brazilian agreements and are represented in the UK by the London-based law firm Pogust Goodhead.

In the European court, these municipalities—as well as 620 thousand people and 1,500 companies that consider themselves affected by the disaster—are suing BHP Billiton.