Environmental agency provides for grouping the stages of contaminated areas management into blocks

Cetesb Board Decision No. 056/2024/E (DD), published on July 30, 2024, regulated the grouping into blocks of the stages of contaminated areas management.

Also, a detailed procedure was established for requesting Technical Opinions and submitting the corresponding reports, seeking greater efficiency and clarity in the process of rehabilitating contaminated areas.

The stages of the environmental management were grouped into blocks as follows: (i) “Block 1 – Identification” (Preliminary Assessment and Confirmatory Investigation); (ii) “Block 2 – Diagnosis” (Detailed Investigation, Risk Assessment and Intervention Plan); and (iii) “Block 3 – Intervention” (Implementation of the Intervention Plan and Monitoring).

Those legally responsible must complete all the stages of a block before filing the results with Cetesb, except in situations of danger, in which the adoption of emergency measures is foreseen.

Currently, there are more than 7,000 contaminated areas registered on the environmental agency’s official list. In practice, this number is possibly higher, as there are areas that have not been updated in the document yet.

The new rules aim to ensure greater agility in the progress of environmental management procedures for contaminated areas or areas with potential for contamination at Cetesb.

The Environmental and Sustainability team at Souto Correa is available to provide more information and clarifications on the matter.