MARCH 2002

Around the Region

New hearings on Argentina’s nuclear accord with Australia

An Argentine congressional panel was scheduled this month to consider a controversial nuclear-cooperation agreement under which Australia could send spent nuclear fuel to Argentina for processing despite an Argentine constitutional ban on the importation of nuclear waste.

Sarney Filho steps down as Brazil’s environment minister

Environment Minister José Sarney Filho has left office as part of the withdrawal this month of Brazil’s Liberal Front Party (PFL) from the country’s governing coalition.

The right-wing PFL bowed out after accusing President Fernando Henrique Cardoso’s centrist Social Democratic Party (PSDB) of instigating a March 1 police raid on a company owned by PFL presidential candidate Roseana Sarney and her husband, Jorge Murad.

Brazil’s Petrobras boosts spill-prevention initiative

The state oil company Petrobras, plagued by a series of environmentally damaging oil spills in the past two years, is adding more than $200 million to its so-called Pegasus anti-pollution effort, boosting total spending on the program to $1.215 billion.

Ibama fires manager amid forest-clearing complaints

Ibama, Brazil’s environmental-enforcement agency, has dismissed one of its regional managers and is investigating 18 employees after discovering alleged irregularities in regional offices in south Bahia State.

Illegal-logging case advances in the CEC

A two-year-old citizens’ complaint filed with the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) against Mexico is a step closer to resolution.