Judge in Brazil orders slaughterhouses to pay for Amazon reforestation

BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — A judge in the Brazilian state of Rondonia has found two beef slaughterhouses guilty of buying cattle from a protected area of former rainforest in the Amazon and ordered them, along with three cattle ranchers, to pay a total of $764,000 for causing environmental damage, according to the decision issued Wednesday. Cattle raising drives Amazon deforestation. The companies Distriboi and Frigon and the ranchers may appeal.

It is the first decision in several dozen lawsuits seeking millions of dollars in environmental damages from the slaughterhouses for allegedly trading in cattle raised illegally in a protected area known as Jaci-Parana, which was rainforest but is now mostly converted to pasture.

Four slaughterhouses are among the many parties charged, including JBS SA, which bills itself as the world’s largest protein producer. The court has not decided on the cases involving JBS.

Brazilian law forbids commercial cattle inside a protected area, yet some 210,000 head are being grazed inside Jaci-Parana, according to the state animal division. With almost 80% of its forest destroyed, it ranks as the most ravaged conservation unit in the Brazilian Amazon. A court filing pegs damages in the reserve at some $1 billion.

The lawsuits are based on transfer documents first reported by the Associated Press that show cattle going directly from protected areas to slaughterhouses. The documents were filled out by the illegal ranchers themselves.

Part of the decision is a collective penalty of $453,000 against the five defendants, who are linked to one farm. The money will be used to reforest 232 hectares (573 acres) of what is now pasture there.

“When a slaughterhouse, whether by negligence or intent, buys and resells products from invaded and illegally deforested reserves, it is clear that it is directly benefiting from these illegal activities,” according to a part of the original complaint which Judge Inês Moreira da Costa sustained in her ruling. “In such cases, there is an undeniable connection between the company’s actions and the environmental damage caused by the illegal exploitation.”

Frigon and Distriboi did not respond to questions sent by email. In a filing, Frigon argued the state of Rondonia allowed ranchers to sell the cattle and said there is no relation between buying beef cattle and deforestation. In filings, Distriboi also denies any wrongdoing.

JBS also did not reply to a request for comment.

Rondonia, on the border with Bolivia, is the most badly deforested state in the Brazilian Amazon. In the past few weeks, most cities have been covered by thick smoke from wildfires, a sign of rampant deforestation. The situation is so dire that its main airport in Porto Velho was closed for seven consecutive days.

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FILE - A river borders an area that has been illegally deforested by land-grabbers and cattle farmers in an extractive reserve in Jaci-Parana, Rondonia state, Brazil, July 11, 2023. (AP Photo/Andre Penner, File)

A U.S. passenger flight preparing to leave the nation's capital and an incoming military jet received instructions to divert and prevent a possible collision, officials said.

Delta Air Lines Flight 2983 was cleared for takeoff at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Friday around 3:15 p.m., the same time four U.S. Air Force T-38 Talon aircraft were inbound, the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement.

The jets were heading for a flyover of Arlington National Cemetery when the Delta aircraft received an onboard alert of a nearby aircraft. Air traffic controllers “issued corrective instructions to both aircraft,” according to the FAA, which intends to investigate.

According to a recording of air traffic control communications, Delta's pilot asked, "Was there an actual aircraft about 500 ft below us as we came off of DCA?”

In a recording archived by aviation site LiveATC.net, the controller responded: “Delta 2983, affirmative.”

The Airbus A319 with 131 passengers, two pilots and three flight attendants was embarking on a regularly scheduled flight between Reagan and Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, Delta Airlines said.

The flight left its gate at 2:55 p.m. and was scheduled to arrive at Minneapolis-St. Paul at 4:36 p.m. local time before the flight crew followed the diversion instructions from the controllers, the airline said.

No injuries were reported.

The Air Force's website describes the T-38 Talon as “a twin-engine, high-altitude, supersonic jet trainer” used by different departments and agencies, including NASA, for various roles including pilot training.

The incident comes just two months after a midair collision above the same airport killed 67 people. The Jan. 29 crash between an American Airlines passenger jet and an Army helicopter was the deadliest U.S. plane crash in more than two decades. Both aircraft plunged into the Potomac River, killing everyone aboard.

Associated Press reporter Julie Walker contributed from New York.

FILE - The air traffic control tower at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is pictured, Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025, in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)