The Backstage of the House’s Environmental Committee

It’s 10 o’clock in the morning of Wednesday, May 7, 1997: time to begin the Consumer’s Defense, Environment and Minorities Committee session in the House of Deputies. Plenary 8 of Annex 2 of the House is empty. The chairman, Ricardo Izar (PPB/SP) stands ready, but most of the 25 committee members (officially 26, but one of the seats, belonging to PSDB, is vacant) haven’t arrived yet.
Among the present, lobbyists mingle with clerks and deputies: Gilney Viana (PT/MT), the former committee chairman, is very excited. He walks back and forth, talks to everyone and his anxiety is evident.
Finally, at 10:50 AM, deputy Celso Russomano (PSDB/SP) arrives and adds the 13th signature - the minimum required for the session to begin. At 11:14 AM, Ricardo Izar begins the session, reading a report on the actions taken by the Committee vis-à-vis the assassination of the Pataxó indian Galdino Jesus dos Santos. He calls Galdino a Tapajó and is duly corrected, but repeats the error twice again.
Before starting the vote, Gilney Viana indicates that the PT/PDT/PCdoB block is in obstruction of the endeavors of Congress, retaliating the government’s maneuver of the previous day, which transferred to the Justice and Constitution Committee the decision on the amendments submitted in plenary concerning the administrative reform. At 11:32 AM, the session was adjourned due to insufficient quorum..
An atypical day, because of the obstruction, however not different from what usually happens in Committee proceedings, where political disputes and myriad interests are reflected in the proceedings. For those who follow the projects linked to the environmental and indigenous areas in Congress, things in the Committee are not like in the old days.

Backstep

Researchers at the Socio-Economic Studies Institute (Inesc) feel that the fact that the command of the Environmental Committee has left the "left wing" and placed in the hands of the PPB stands for a "backward step." The Environmental Committee and the newly-created Committee for the Amazon and Regional Development show a highly conservative profile," surmises Paulo Pires, special advisor to Inesc and coordinator of a research effort on the profile of congresspersons. He feels the environmentalist NGOs are facing a tough year. "The inequality of forces is very great," he complains.
A former advisor to the Environmental Committee, Hélio Madalena also forecasts difficult times for environmentalists and indigenists: "The Committee’s new chairman is a well-known, pro-Maluf person, aligned with major economic interests," shoots he, reminding that the deputy had been working as a lobbyist to pharmaceutical companies at the Committee. "At any rate, this may ultimately turn to our favor because, since he is dedicated to meet the interests of the drug companies concerning consumer rights, he will not bother the congresspersons who are linked to the environmental and indigenous areas, because he is not in favor of face-offs.".
Gilney Viana, former Committee chairman, also feels that from the political viewpoint the Committee’s profile became more conservative. However, from the environmental viewpoint, it is a "novelty" for the PPB, which is a party notoriously disinterested in this area, to conquer the chair. "That will possibly prompt Izar to adopt a regimental way of leading the Committee’s endeavors," surmises the deputy, for whom, on the other hand, there is a "cluster of congresspersons who have been working on these issues for years, creating the critical mass which will always ensure debate.".
The PT congressman is more deeply concerned with the Amazon Committee - of which he is also a member - where he figures "the profile is much too regional and development-oriented. Created this year, the Committee on the Amazon is one more step that the matters in appreciation by the House will have to go. "Expectations vis-à-vis this Committee are still unknown, and I would recommend that the NGOs should participate more actively in the meetings, because the presence of the organizations is fundamental, because that subsidizes the debates, helps the creation of concepts and even in pressing for favorable votes towards the indigenous and environmental interests," claims Viana.

The Committee hears Xavante leaders: at the left hand desk. Cunha Lima (in a gray suit) and Ricardo Izar (to Lima’s left); at the right hand desk, Celso Russomano with Gilney Viana on his right and Salomão Cruz on his left.
photo:Divulgação Comissão

Tudo muito parado

Standstill Ricardo Izar, chairman of the Environmental Committee, responds to the criticism: "This story that only the left cares for the environment and the right doesn’t has to come to an end." Izar even thinks than the pace of the Committee was "much too slow" and it was about time to do some "housekeeping." The congressman wishes to approve all drafts submitted to the house till year’s end and also increase the number of hearings, increasing the ideological range of the guests. "We’re in a hurry, and the left is doing the obstructing, as they did today," says he, referring to Gilney Viana’s maneuver.
José Priante, of the PMDB/PSD/PSL union in Pará), chairman of the Amazon Committee, feels that calling the average profile of the Committee "conservative" is a mistake. The Committee’s profile is the profile of Congress, and it is a reflection of the House’s party make-up," says he. He understands that "the Amazon must convince Brazil that it is different from all other regions, and must therefore be treated differently." However, he admits that there is too much land for too few indians.
"If the Committee is not imbued with the purpose of becoming a forum for the defense of the Amazon Region, it will be senseless," says Priante, a notorious advocate of the thesis that the Amazon requires the "modern world triad" - to mean transportation, power and communications - and should not be seen as an untouchable sanctuary, where man could abstract from debate. "These ideas reflect the average thinking of the Committee," surmises the deputy, suggesting that the majority thinks along his lines, and not like Gilney Viana.