Participa??o social : a efetividade das audi?ncias p?blicas em processos de licenciamento ambiental em Minas Gerais.

O sistema normativo ambiental brasileiro reconheceu o direito de todos os cidad?os de ter acesso ?s informa??es sobre o licenciamento ambiental de um dado projeto ou atividade atrav?s da publicidade do Estudo de Impacto Ambiental e seu respectivo Relat?rio de Impacto Ambiental ? EIA/RIMA e da realiza??o de audi?ncias p?blicas. Nesse contexto, prop?s-se realizar uma investiga??o com o objetivo de identificar e analisar os mecanismos que levaram ? realiza??o de audi?ncias p?blicas e sua influ?ncia na condu??o de processos de licenciamento ambiental de tr?s empreendimentos de grande porte instalados no Estado de Minas Gerais: o Distrito Ferr?fero de Itabira, da Cia Vale do Rio Doce, em Itabira, a Ibiritermo, em Ibirit?, e a Cia de Cimento Portland Ita?, em S?o Jos? da Lapa. A escolha levou em conta as caracter?sticas tecnol?gicas dos empreendimentos, que determinam o potencial poluidor e o risco do processamento industrial, as rela??es com os assentamentos urbanos adjacentes, e o fato de que no processo de licenciamento ambiental desses empreendimentos terem sido realizadas audi?ncias p?blicas. A pesquisa evidenciou dois aspectos importantes da participa??o social nos processos de licenciamento ambiental em estudo: o primeiro refere-se ? rela??o afetiva que a popula??o desenvolve com a cidade em vista dos la?os hist?ricos com o lugar, e o segundo, ao surgimento da percep??o dos n?veis elevados de polui??o e de degrada??o causadas pelas atividades produtivas. A an?lise realizada considerou a intensidade da manifesta??o p?blica e os principais aspectos ambientais destacados, as propostas para mitiga??o dos impactos ambientais identificados, refletidas nas condicionantes das respectivas licen?as, e os per?odos transcorridos entre a solicita??o da licen?a ambiental e sua concess?o pelo COPAM. Concluiu-se que as audi?ncias p?blicas tornaram-se um importante foro para a manifesta??o da popula??o nos processos de licenciamento ambiental dos referidos empreendimentos, mas pode-se constatar tamb?m que as audi?ncias p?blicas, por si s?, n?o garantiram que o licenciamento ambiental contemplasse as demandas sociais para a redu??o dos n?veis de polui??o e de degrada??o ambiental em cada uma das localidades consideradas. O papel do ?rg?o ambiental estadual foi determinante para a defini??o de um elenco de condicionantes que visaram mitigar os impactos ambientais assinalados e preservar a popula??o da exposi??o aos riscos da polui??o cr?nica e dos acidentes envolvendo subst?ncias perigosas.The Sistema Normativo Ambiental Brasileiro (Brazilian Environmental Normative System), through the public audiences? performance, recognized the citizen right of being able to access informations about the environmental grant of license of some random project or activity. This access can be done through the Environmental Impact Study (EIS) and its respective Environmental Impact Report (EIR) publicity. According to this, it was proposed the accomplishment of an investigation with the aim of identify and analyze the mechanisms that had led the public audiences? realization and its influence in the guidance of the environmental grant of license of three big enterprises located in the state of Minas Gerais: Itabira Iron County, from Vale do Rio Doce Company, in Itabira; Ibiritermo, in Ibirit?; Cimento Portland Ita? Company, in S?o Jos? da Lapa. These three enterprises were chosen because of their technological resources, which determine: the pollute potential as well as the industrial processing risk, the adjacent urban settlement relationships and the public audiences? performances in the environment grant of license. This research verified two important social participation aspects in the environmental grant of license process study: the first one deals with the emotional relationship between citizens and city - it occurs because of the historical bondings that people establishes with the place, and the second one, deals with the turning up perception of the high pollute levels and the degradation caused by productive activities. The developed analyses considered the public manifestation intensity and the principal featured environmental aspects; the proposals to mitigate the identified environmental impacts, which appear in the respective licenses conditioned; and the elapsed time between the environmental license solicitation and COPAM?s concession. It was concluded that the public audiences became an important foru in the environmental grant of license citizen?s manifestation against the quoted enterprises. Although, it was also noticed that the public audiences, by their own, could not ensure the environmental grant of license to behold the social demands of pollute levels reduction and environmental degradation in each considered place. The role of the state environmental organ was determined in order to define a list of conditioned elements that angled for the mitigation of highlighted environmental impacts, and also for the citizen preservation from the chronic pollute risks, as well as accidents with dangerous substances