Responsabilidade civil ambiental e energia eólica: um olhar para a zona costeira do RN e a atuação do TJ/RN (2006-2020)

Abstract

The environmental civil liability has as its central premise the protection of the environment, in view of the diffuse nature of the ecological legal asset and its importance for the entire community. In this way, the defense of environmental values and rights is shown through strict liability for environmental damage, where any action or omission that results in an environmental offense, considering the causal link, gives rise to civil liability for ecological damage. In this context, the development of the wind energy matrix in the Coastal Zone of RN has presented several socio-environmental conflicts, resulting in several damages, especially for local communities. In the State of Rio Grande do Norte, there has been an expressive growth in the last 15 (fifteen) years of the wind sector, a fact that brings, in addition to the positive aspect under the discourse of being a renewable energy, negative impacts, such as the change in the landscape traditional, usurpation of areas used for family farming, as well as for leisure and socialization activities, obstruction of access to the sea, use of areas that were intended for livestock, alteration of social dynamics and local ecosystems, according to the diagnosis carried out by the Project of Research “Social and environmental conflicts in the coastal zone of RN: a profile of contemporary reality and an analysis of the role of Law and the Judiciary”. In this context, the objective of this work is to understand, in a comprehensive scenario, the institute of environmental civil liability and to verify how it has been applied in the Court of Justice of Rio Grande do Norte, in situations involving environmental damage related to the activity. in the Coastal Zone of RN. To achieve this objective, we sought to expose the concept and most relevant aspects of the environmental civil liability institute. Associated with this reality, the context of the installation of wind activity in Rio Grande do Norte was presented, as well as a diagnosis carried out in the Potiguar Coastal Zone regarding the environmental damage related to wind activity. Finally, a search was made in the TJRN database regarding lawsuits related to wind energy and environmental damage existing in coastal municipalities of RN. From this research, it was found that, even with an expressive amount of socio-environmental conflicts and ecological damages, there is a low procedural incidence within the scope of the TJRN regarding the theme of environmental civil liability in relation to wind activity. Thus, we were able to infer the existence of a low level of action by the Public Power regarding the installation of wind farms in the Coastal Zone of RN, an activity that, as noted, is involved in socio-environmental conflicts that deserve the attention of the Law.