Abstract:
This paper deals with the environmental issue, focusing on the Mariana disaster in Minas Gerais, where the district of Bento Rodrigues was swept away from the map as a result of the rupture of the Fundão dam, where waste was deposited by Samarco and its Vale do Brasil Rio Doce and BHP Bilinton, two mining giants. In the disaster were lost human lives, goods and the history of a whole region that was covered by the mire. On the application of environmental civil liability, application of the objective theory is also discussed, as foreseen in Brazilian legislation. The imposed values may seem large, but they prove incapable of rebuilding the pre-disaster condition, nor are they able to fully compensate for the damage to people and the environment at risk of extinction. Companies Samarco, Vale and BHP Bilinton knew the risk and accepted in exchange for the possibility of profit, and there is no need to consider the guilt, since the causal link between the event and the damages promoted has been proven.
