Heineken gives up factory near archaeological site in MG

The Brazilian branch of the Dutch brewery Heineken gave up on its project to build a factory in Pedro Leopoldo (MG), 42 kilometers from Belo Horizonte. The project, with declared investments of R$ 1.8 billion, had been blocked in September by ICMBio (Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation).

In the institute’s assessment, the construction of the new factory could damage the region where Luzia’s skull, the oldest fossil in the Americas, was found. The capture of underground water to produce beer would have a major impact on the water table and on the region’s complex of caves and caves, which would run the risk of being buried.

Even so, in early October, Heineken got an injunction in Minas Gerais to resume the works of the brewery. The injunction was granted by the 12th Federal Civil and Agrarian Court of SJMG (Judiciary Section of Minas Gerais), after a writ of mandamus filed by the company.

This Monday (13), however, the company announced the withdrawal of the project. “We follow all the rites to obtain the environmental license and we have court authorization to build the brewery, which demonstrates the legality of the process,” said Mauro Homem, director of corporate affairs at Heineken, in a conversation with journalists.

“But our permanence in the place still divides opinions and, in order to move forward, it would be necessary to dedicate more time to carry out new studies. For all that, we made the decision to look for another area that will meet the demand of the coming years,” he stated.

According to the executive, it is confirmed that the new plant will be in the state of Minas Gerais. But the city that will host the operation will only be announced early next year.

Meanwhile, as Heineken is already at the limit of its production capacity (90%), the solution was to increase the capacity of its factory in Ponta Grossa (PR). “We are going to install new tanks for the production of the Heineken brand, in order to cover the ‘gap’ of production for 2023, when the new factory would come into operation”, says Homem.

ICMBio’s decision to suspend Pedro Leopoldo’s project took the company by surprise, a few days after work began, in August of this year, said the executive.

“We started talking to all interested parties – ICMBio, Iphan [Instituto do Patrimônio Histórico e Artístico Nacional], the City Hall of Pedro Leopoldo. And even demonstrating the feasibility of our project, we realized that the work still generates disagreements about what would generate prosperity in the region,” he said.

According to Homem, the brewery intends to make a donation of around R$300,000 to help preserve the Pedro Leopoldo archaeological site.

“There are industrial activities less than 200 meters from the archaeological site,” said Mauro Homem. “There is an industrial vocation in the region, but due to the different interpretations between the licensing agency and public managers, we decided to change the location of the factory. We are combining our discourse with practice and reinforcing our values.”