Brazil’s Environment Ministry plans by year’s end to send Congress legislation that would allow municipalities to take over some of the environmental licensing now overseen by states. Officials say the bill would help clear state-level licensing bottlenecks and spur development of local regulatory expertise. Critics, however, contend that local officials are not equipped to handle the licensing responsibility and would be vulnerable to political pressure. Brazil’s 1988 Constitution calls for legislation to assign licensing responsibilities among federal, state and municipal authorities, but no such legislation has been drafted to date. Volney Zanardi, an official with the Environment Ministry, says it is time for states to share their burgeoning regulatory burden. “Southern Rio Grande do Sul state grants some 15,000 environmental licenses a year, up... [Log in to read more]