Shell obtained a court injunction and reopened the unit several hours later on Tuesday, but must present the necessary documents by June 1, a spokeswoman for the Ipiranga Regional Administration, which includes Vila Carioca, told Reuters.

"The administration ... is looking for ways to overrule the injunctions and close the facility," she said, adding that the license expired in 1985.

Jose Cardoso, Shell Brazil's installations manager, said the license had not been renewed because of "misinterpretation of its terms" by the Anglo-Dutch group's local subsidiary.

Shell said the license issue was unrelated to the environmental charges and hit back at the local authorities and judges who ordered the closure, saying they were influenced by emotions.

"The closure was in our opinion an overdose, a precipitated decision ... the emotional side influenced the authorities who mixed up two separate issues," Cardoso said.

The facility stores around 11 million liters of fuel.

TOXIC MATERIALS IN SOIL AND WATER

At the heart of the environmental dispute is Shell's pesticide plant, which first operated in Vila Carioca and later in Paulinia, 75 miles (120 km) northwest of Sao Paulo.

Shell stopped the local production of pesticides Aldrin, Dieldrin and Endrin in 1990 when Brazil banned them. They are among the 12 persistent organic pollutants, dubbed the "dirty dozen," that remain in the environment for over 100 years without breaking down and accumulate in the food chain.

Shell has long made a commitment to decontaminate the sites and has provided drinking water, social counseling and medical exams for residents at Paulinia.

But the group brushes aside accusations it contaminated residents in the areas and insists their immediate removal from the affected areas is unnecessary.

The residents in turn say they plan to demand compensation for health and other damages in what could potentially become a multimillion-dollar lawsuit.

"We are awaiting biopsy results soon to back up our health damage claims...," said Paulo Souza, head of the Paulinia residents' association. "The process has not stopped. We are thinking of moving individual claims and joining our efforts with Vila Carioca's residents."

The Sao Paulo state's Public Ministry has accused Shell of negligence in the exposure of at least 156 people to toxic pesticides in Paulinia and said there were risks to the population of Vila Carioca, where pesticides were made between 1950 and 1978.

It backed a report by Paulinia City Hall that showed that 156 of the 181 residents examined had some degree of contamination from metals or pesticides, which could result in tumors or neurological and hepatic disorders.

Shell dismissed the report, saying it used low thresholds to measure contamination compared with those recommended by the World Health Organization. Tests requested by Shell have shown no human contamination and the issue is now being analyzed by the judicial authorities.