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Environmental Clearance

Posted on April 18, 2022 by admin1  62

In News

Recently, the Union environment ministry has extended the tenure of environmental clearances (EC) granted for existing or new projects.

Rationale behind the Move

  • Nuclear power projects and hydropower projects had “high gestation” period due to:
    • Geological surprises, 
    • Delays in forest clearance, 
    • Land acquisition, 
    • Local issues like rehabilitation and resettlement, etc.

which are often beyond the control of project proponents. In this context, the Central Government “deems it necessary” to extend the validity of Environmental Clearance (EC) for such projects.

Project 

Validity 

River Valley Projects

13 years

Nuclear Power Projects

15 years

Other (except mining)

10 years

Proposed changes

  • The environment ministry proposed to exempt highway projects that would serve India’s strategic interests from the environmental clearance process. 
    • Such projects are sensitive in nature and in many cases need to be executed on priority keeping in view strategic, defence and security considerations
  • The project proponents should comply with a set of standards to safeguard the environment. 
    • In August last year, the National Board for Wildlife, which grants wildlife clearance, had also approved the construction of roads in border areas where there are wildlife sanctuaries for their strategic importance.

Environmental Clearance (EC)

  • An EC is a long-drawn process that is mandatory for projects beyond a certain size and often involves an environment impact assessment of a potential project and sometimes public hearings involving the local populace who might be affected by the project.
  • It is mandatory for 39 types of developmental projects including mining, hydro power and thermal power among others
  • The process for clearance is outlined by the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) notification of 2006. 
  • Problems: 
    • One of the conditions of an EC is that a project must begin construction in the period that it has been granted an EC and if unable, a fresh process must begin. This leads to projects being financially unviable.
    • The Centre’s new rules and proposed changes give project proponents more time and leeway to implement and expand their operations, which could chip away at the integrity of the clearance process. 

 

Draft Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification 2020

  • Responsibility as a signatory: A signatory to the Stockholm Declaration (1972) on Environment, India enacted laws to control water (1974) and air (1981) pollution soon after. 
    • But it was only after the Bhopal gas leak disaster in 1984 that the country legislated an umbrella Act for environmental protection in 1986.
  • The Environment (Protection) Act, 1986: India notified its first EIA norms in 1994, setting in place a legal framework for regulating activities that access, utilise, and affect (pollute) natural resources. 
    • Every development project has been required to go through the EIA process for obtaining prior environmental clearance ever since.
  • Replacement: The 1994 EIA notification was replaced with a modified draft in 2006. Earlier this year, the government redrafted it again to incorporate the amendments and relevant court orders issued since 2006, and to make the EIA process more transparent and expedient.
  • Issues: 
    • Though established to safeguard the environment, the EIA process often achieved the opposite by offering a façade of legal paperwork for a range of de facto concessions enjoyed by industries.
    • Reports on projects’ potential (damaging) impact on the environment are frequently shoddy and consultant agencies that prepare those reports for a fee are rarely held accountable. 
    • Lack of administrative capacity to ensure compliance often renders long lists of clearance conditions meaningless. Then there are periodic amendments exempting one category of industries or the other from scrutiny.
    • The 2020 draft offers no remedy for the political and bureaucratic stronghold on the EIA process, and thereby on industries. Instead, it proposes to bolster the government’s discretionary power while limiting public engagement in safeguarding the environment.
    • While projects concerning national defence and security are naturally considered strategic, the government gets to decide on the “strategic” tag for other projects. 
      • The 2020 draft says no information on “such projects shall be placed in the public domain”. 
      • This opens a window for summary clearance for any project deemed strategic without having to explain why.
    • Additionally, the new draft exempts a long list of projects from public consultation. 
      • Linear projects such as roads and pipelines in border areas will not require any public hearing. 
    • The ‘border area’ is defined as “area falling within 100 kilometres aerial distance from the Line of Actual Control with bordering countries of India.” That would cover much of the Northeast, the repository of the country’s richest biodiversity.

Way Ahead

  • The Central Government deems it necessary to align the validity of mining ECs which is currently permissible up to a maximum duration of thirty years, subject to review and appropriate environmental safeguards.
  • For an action of the Central government to be treated as a measure referable to Section 3 of EPA, 1986, it must satisfy the statutory requirement of being necessary or expedient for the purpose of protecting and improving the quality of the environment and preventing, controlling and abating environment pollution.

Source: TH

 
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