PS1: Social and Environmental Assessment and Management Systems:
Social and Environmental Assessment - BTP conducted a full Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) in accordance with Brazilian environmental laws and regulations and in-line with IFC requirements. This ESIA was conducted and presented to the Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Resources (IBAMA - Instituto Brasileiro de Meio Ambiente e dos Recursos Naturais Renováveis) and the Environmental Sanitation Technology Company of the State of State of São Paulo (CETESB - Companhia de Tecnologia de Saneamento Ambiental) on March 2009. The remediation process was approved by the CETESB on September 2009 via Environmental License No 18000066 (Licença Prévia e de Instalação), and this process is currently under execution (see PS3).
For the IBAMA to grant the Environmental License for the construction and operation of the new terminal, BTP needed to present the clean-up and remediation plan for the site that was agreed with the CETESB, the CODESP as well as the State Prosecutor’s Office via a Term of Preliminary Commitment for Adjustment of Conduct (TCPAC - Termo de Compromisso Preliminar de Ajustamento de Conduta). The Environmental License for the construction and operation of the Terminal was granted by IBAMA in August 2010.
Total terminal area under concession is 34.2 ha and granted by CODESP. Dredging will result on an estimated 3.8 million m3 of dredged material. The key EHS impacts and risks associated with the project’s construction are (a) impacts on vegetation cover from site clearance and clean-up and construction activities, (b) increases erosion, decreased soil and slope stability, interference with ground water movement associated with construction excavation, dredging and land-filling, (c) increased air emissions and dust, noise, and vibration from earth movements and construction works, (d) generation of solid and hazardous waste from construction activities and/or accidental spills, (e) liquid effluent from clean-up and construction activities, as well from workers construction camps, and (f) potential health and occupational risks to construction workers including the risks associated with transportation, handling and operating heavy equipment and machinery.
Once in operation, the key EHS impacts and risks are those typically associated to any port operation, such as: (g) impacts and risk from increased ship traffic (e.g. pollution risks from fugitive and/or accidental spills from vessels, increased turbidity) and road traffic, (h) impacts associated with increased dredging and disposal of dredged material and increased generation of operational solid and hazardous waste , (i) treatment and disposal of ship effluent and ballast waters, (j) increased generation of air, dust and noise emissions, (k) occupational health and safety to port and shipyard employees, and (l) potential risk associated with a strongly unionized workforce. Since BTP is within an existing operational port complex, none of these impacts and risks will be new, and will essentially be incremental to existing ones. All these impacts and risks will be managed with existing pollution prevention and control technologies and with standard environmental and social management practices, such as those described in IFC’s EHS Guidelines.
Social and Environmental Management Program - BTP has developed a total of twenty one (21) environmental, social and health and safety management programs to manage the identified potential EHS impacts and risks during the construction and operation. These include, but are not limited to: (a) ESPMs (PGA – Plano de Gestão Ambiental), (b) environmental audit program, (c) social communication program, (d) construction and operation environmental and social control programs (PCA-C, PCA-O), (e) solid waste and effluent management programs, (f) fauna and flora control and monitoring program, (g) underground and surface water quality monitoring and control program, (h) dredging monitoring plan, (i) ship ballast water management and verification program, (j) pollution management and control, and (k) forest and other relevant environmental components offsets. Additionally, BTP expects to consolidate all these plans and programs into an integrated Quality, Environmental, Social and Health and Safety Management System which will be certified under Brazilian ISO9001:2008, ISO14001:2004 and OSHAS 18001:2007 by 2014 ( approximately two years after the start of the operation)
Organizational Capacity / Monitoring and Reporting - BTP has an EHS management unit that reports directly to the Executive Director, which is adequately composed of an engineer, four technicians and a biologist. Additional, per the ESIA, BTP has to constitute an EHS committee composed of 5 employees (a Biologist, a EHS Coordinator Engineering, a Engineering Manager, a Planning Manager and a Projects Director) which will review the appropriate application of the ESMPs every three months, evaluate performance and dictate any corrective actions. These quarterly meetings will include the supervisors and coordinators responsible for the execution of the plans under review, and the results of the reviews will be periodically reported to management. For instance, BTP has periodic workplace noise monitoring, ergonomic assessment, safety of electrical facilities assessment and daily occupational health and safety inspections.
PS2: Labor and Working Conditions:
Presently, BTP has only about twenty five (25) employees. Once in operations, the terminal is expected to hire a total of 1500 direct employees, and generate approximately 9000 indirect jobs.
As a newly constituted company, BTP does not have a Human Resources (HHRR) policy or procedures. This will be prepared as part of the Environmental and Social Action Plan (ESAP) agreed with the IFC. The HHRR policy and procedures will define the terms of employment and working relationship, include non-discrimination hiring and promotion practices, freedom of association and collective bargain, prohibition of any type of child, slave or forced labor, and an internal grievance mechanism. These procedures will also include a contractor management program to help ensure that BTP HHRR policies and procedures are applied also to all contractors.
The main contractors are DEC Environmental NV which is currently executing the clean-up/remediation works, and Andrade Gutierrez which will be the EPC contractor for the civil works. The first currently has approximately 263 full-time direct employees and it is expected to complete the remediation process in approximately two-and-a-half years. The second is expected to hire 1800 direct employees, and generate 4800 indirect employees.
In the ESMP, BTP has articulated the need to hire locally in the towns of Santos, Sao Vicente, Praia Grande, Guarujá and Cubatão, to stimulate the local economy and avoid migrant workers coming into the project area. Once in operations, in compliance with Brazilian Labor Laws, BTP will work with the unions currently operating within the Organized Port of Santos.
In terms of Occupational Health and Safety (OHS), in compliance with Brazilian law, BTP is in the process of structuring the department of occupational health and safety (SESMT), and developing the Risk Prevention Program (PPRA) and the Occupational Health and Medical Control Program (PCMSO). Prior to first disbursement, and as part of the ESAP, BTP will need to present the final OHS Manual, with (a) clear organizational structure, (b) occupational health and safety policies, goals, and responsibilities, (c) identification of the inherent risks associated with the different tasks, (d) required personal protection equipment (PEP), training /qualification and limitation / restrictions for each task, (e) work permits procedures needed for high risk tasks, (f) expected indicators, benchmarks and targets, (g) accident prevention and response, (h) reporting and documentation, and (i) corrective actions/mechanisms. DEC Environmental NV has their respective PPRA and PCMSO, with a team of three (3) OHS professionals permanently on-site. Since the commencement of clean-up operation on November 9th, 2009, there have been only a couple of minor accidents without any further consequences.
PS3: Pollution Prevention and Abatement:
An important component of this project is focused on pollution clean-up, prevention, and control. As previously mentioned, BTP will be located in a site known as the Lixão da Alemoa, which for the last fifty (50) years has been used as an illegal dump-site to dispose various types of waste coming from port, industrial, and domestic activities. Soil samples taken by CETESB and BTP, have shown levels over the CETESB Standards of PCB’s and other chlorinated contaminants (e.g. hexa-chloro-benzene, tri-, tetra- and penta-chlorophenols), organo-chlorated pesticides such as DDT (DDE) and Dieldrin, heavy metals (e.g. antimony, barium, chrome), and PAHs. Similarly lead, mercury, benzene and vinyl-chloride have been detected in groundwater samples at levels above maximum allowed concentrations by Brazilian water quality standards. IFC’s financing of this project will contribute to the remediation and clean-up of one of the more prominent environmental liability of the State of Sao Paulo, and turn it into a terminal which would contribute to the economic growth of the region.
Legally, BTP and CODESP are liable for the remediation process. However, as part of the concession terms, BTP has agreed to cover all the costs associated with the clean-up assessment and execution. CETESB will supervise the clean-up process throughout the project cycle, and will ultimately certify a successful remediation process completion. The remediation plan proposed by BTP includes continuous monitoring of remediated soil, surface and ground waters until up-to two years after the remediation process has been completed, ensures traceability of waste and soil resulting from the process, and documents and reports results to CETESB.
After an exhaustive alternative analysis, BTP decided to perform in-situ remediation, with a traditional soil wash technique. This procedure will be used for the first time in Brazil, will be performed by DEC Environmental NV, and will apply technologies proven and widely used in the European Union. This procedure consists of the step removal of the contamination sources using a combination of excavation techniques, physical (e.g. separation, screening, sizing) and/or chemical (e.g. series of chemical washes, immobilization, and/or stabilization) treatment on-site of the contaminated material, and eventual removal and final disposal of those contaminants that cannot be physically or chemically treated. The contaminated soil and/or water that cannot be treated on-site will be transferred for treatment and/or final disposal by permitted contractors. The process is expected to last a total of twenty-four (24) months, and will result in a soil and groundwater reduced contamination levels considered safe by local regulators for the proposed land-use. Approximately 680,000 m3 of soil will be remediated. It must be noted that only 30% of such decontaminated soil is expected to need to be transported and disposed-off in permitted landfills, as roughly 70% of the remediated soil is expected to be reused for the construction. Additionally, all collected leachate and other liquid effluents will be taken to an existing biological waste water treatment facility. The remediation process will prevent the existing and continued dispersion of contaminants from the dump into the Saboo River and estuary, into bird nesting sites in the proximity of the site, and/or their seepage into the ground water.
As part of the ESIA process, environmental conditions baseline data was collected (e.g. air quality, noise). The ESMPs include general constructions and operation environmental and social control programs (PCA-C, PCA-O) that provide standard pollution prevention, control, and monitoring commensurate to the potential impacts and risks of BTP. As noted above, the ESMPs also include management plan and procedures typical to port operation which are aligned with industry practices and in compliance with local requirements such as (a) solid waste and effluent management programs, (b) dredging monitoring plan, and (c) ship ballast water management and verification program, among others. Additionally, prior to operation BTP will develop a Contingency Plan and Emergency Preparedness and Control Program compatible and in coordination with the Organized Port existing emergency and contingency programs.
PS4: Community Health, Safety and Security:
The adverse community health, safety or security issues associated with this project are limited and mostly confined to the construction period. During construction an average of 200 trucks are expected to circulate every day, and at the peak of earth-movement works, this number may reach up-to 600 trucks per day. The project is being built in a densely occupied port complex, and therefore during construction and dredging activities there is the potential for interference with existing linear infrastructure. For instance two (2) LPG pipelines which belong to Ultragas, eleven (11) pipelines carrying alcohol, vegetable oils, and chemical products belonging to the Port, and another two (2) decommissioned CODESP pipelines containing a mixture of water and diesel and/or water and gasoline will be potentially affected. Increase truck traffic as well as excavation for construction and dredging works, may potentially augment the risk of accidental rupture of any of these pipelines, which could generate accidents, fires, and/or explosions involving third parties and nearby business and people. As part of the environmental and social control program for construction (PCA-C), BTP has developed specific plans to mitigate interference with the road system, and has identified all pipelines and any other linear infrastructure located within the project area of influence. Preventive measures include (a) installation of warning signs on the stretches where vehicles and machines pass/operate close to buried pipelines, (b) burial of overhead ducts, (c) defensive driving training, and (d) scheduled transport to avoid peak traffic hours as much as possible, among others. Notwithstanding the above, as part of the agreed ESAP, BTP needs to finalize an Emergency Preparedness and Response Plan (EPRP), to assure appropriate measures are taken in case an accident occurs and corrective measure are implemented. The EPRP will be a requirement for first disbursement.
PS6: Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Natural Resource Management:
The Port of Santos is located within a modified coastal habitat. The BTP site was used as an illegal waste dump (Alemoa Dump - Lixão da Alemoa), and these activities resulted in the complete removal of the original vegetation, in addition to altering the natural geological and drainage conditions of the area, and therefore no natural habitats or ecological services are impacted. However the area that BTP is currently cleaning and where the terminal will be constructed does have patches of degraded mangroves and dry coastal forest re-growth. Following the environmental permits, BTP has a fauna and flora control and monitoring program, which include fauna monitoring and capture-and-release programs, a vegetation inventory, recovery and reforestation plan, as well as extensive training and educational programs for employees, construction workers, and the community at large on flora and fauna of the area. Additionally, next to the BTP site, there is an area known to be a nesting site for estuarine birds. As part of the ESMP developed by the company, there is a series of activities that will help mitigate the edge effect, improve the nesting conditions, and monitor the continued and successful use of the site by nesting waterfowl. Furthermore, since the Organized Port still has some areas of well preserved mangrove, BTP has included a series of conservation and offset plans to contribute to the preservation of the existing remaining valuable habitats of the area.
