Despite two legal orders to stop, U.S. mining company Alcoa has been dredging the Amazon River in Juruti, Pará state, in the Brazilian Amazon since July 10. Dutch company Van Oord is contracted to do the dredging. Alcoa is being sued by the Brazilian Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office, for using a "maintenance dredging" classification that allows it to bypass environmental studies, when it has in fact deepened and widened the channel substantially and increased dredging amounts by almost eight times since 2023, which prosecutors say is inconsistent with maintenance of the natural channel. "Grave environmental destruction" is in course, as well as violations of the rights of local riverfolk, who say the sediments Alcoa dumps have choked the entryway to streams and lakes that fish depend on for migration and reproduction, causing empty fishing nets and carcasses of fish, turtles, and dolphins. On July 27, the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office sued Alcoa and Pará's environmental agency, Semas, asking a judge to overturn the license and immediately stop dredging until impact studies can be done. Photo: the Coordination of Communities Directly Impacted by the Dredging of the Amazon River, a Juruti citizens’ group.
