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In July 2025, the Arrayara International Institute submitted a formal request to archive the process, arguing that the company’s environmental impact study (EIA) showed serious technical flaws, oversights and the absence of less water-intensive alternatives. For the Institute, the decision marks the end of the expansion cycle for the use of metallurgical coal in federal licensing and strengthens civil society mobilization for a clean energy matrix.
The project was technically inconsistent, socially unjustified, and environmentally unfeasible. We have a lot to celebrate in the midst of the COP30 with the shelves of the Ouro Negro thermoelectric plant. This is more than just a management decision from Ibama – it is a milestone in the fight for the beginning of the end of the coal era in Brazil – says Juliano Bueno de Araujo, Technical Director of Arayara, and advisor to the National Forum for Energy Transition (Fonte) and the National Council for the Environment (CONAMA).
He adds that the decision strengthens the federal charter that the Arrayara Institute and the Metallurgical Coal Observatory will launch, in partnership with dozens of organizations, at the thirtieth session of the Conference of the Parties, on November 18, at the Climate Center in the Amazon. The agreement proposes ending new coal plants in the country, including coal chain workers in public policies for a just energy transition and ending financial support for the sector.
The Oro Negro project envisages the installation of a 600 MW thermal plant fired by mineral coal, in an area already classified as critical in terms of water availability by the National Water Agency (ANA). Since 2016, the agency has rejected the water impoundment request, citing the environmental risks of the project.
Ibama has already identified relevant outstanding issues in its risk and emergency plans, such as deficiencies in firefighting systems and the absence of animal protection measures, explains John Wordig, director of energy transition at Arayara and a member of the Observatory for Metallurgical Coal (OCM). Ouro Negro Energia was notified in August 2023, but did not provide the required nutritional supplements, halting the operation. After two years of inactivity, the case was archived by the Coordination Authority for Environmental Authorizations for Energy Generation from Renewable and Thermal Sources (COERT) at Ibama, in accordance with Standard Instruction No. 184/2008.
Now attention turns to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who has until the 18th of this month to impose Temporary Measure No. 1304 in the electricity sector, which included extending subsidies for coal plants until 2040. According to calculations carried out by the Arayara Institute at the request of the blog, this expansion could cost between R$76 billion and R$107 billion for Brazilian consumers, without considering the environmental impacts and damage to the health of the affected population.
– We expect that President Lula will veto the expansion of coal subsidies stipulated in Parliament No. 1304, especially since he vetoed the law on offshore wind farms, which has not yet been analyzed in the Assembly. We hope that the President will use his veto and that the Senators and Representatives will not override Lula’s veto on this representative, in addition to maintaining his veto regarding coal in the offshore wind farm law, which has not been analyzed again in Congress. Ultimately, this measure is contrary to the public interest by increasing tariffs on electricity consumers – whether residential or industrial – with negative impacts on prices and the competitiveness of the productive sector. It expands contracting for fossil sources, which is not compatible with Brazil’s international obligations or with public policies for energy transition, climate change mitigation, and decarbonization of the matrix – highlights Wurdig.
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