India's largest coal handling agency - Mjunction

Feature
Major projects stuck for moef nod
Coal Insights Bureau
The delays in getting timely environmental
and forestry clearances from the Ministry of
Environment and Forest (MoEF) during the past five
to six years has not only affected a number of greenfield
projects in the coal sector, but in the aluminium, steel and
power sectors as well.
Not only it was Vedanta Resources, whose clearance
of a bauxite mining was cancelled in August this year by
MoEF, but its prior approval for a six-fold expansion of a
refinery in Orissa too was suspended.
Earlier, Supreme Court had barred public sector
undertaking, Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Ltd
(KIOCL), from mining of iron ore from hills of Kudremukh
citing environmental degradation. Tata Steel’s Gopalpur
steel project too was delayed to great extent because of
clearance related issues along with land acquisition
problems.
In addition, the ministry has delayed clearance to
Pohang Iron and Steel Company’s (POSCO) ambitious
project to set up a 12 million tons per annum integrated
steel plant near the port town of Paradip, some 100 km
from Bhubaneswar, citing various violations, including
the Forest Rights Act. POSCO has proposed an investment
of about $12 billion for the project.
NTPC’s Loharinag Para hydel project (2 x 600 MW) too
was cancelled on environmental issues, while a number
of hydel projects in North Eastern part of India had either
been delayed significantly or cancelled due to the same
reason.
On October 12, a delegation from Arunachal Pradesh
took up with External Affairs Minister S M Krishna
about his cabinet colleague Jairam Ramesh pitching for a
moratorium on clearance for hydel projects in the state.
The delegation led by Lok Sabha member Takam
Sanjoy called on Krishna in New Delhi and sought his
intervention, official sources in Itanagar said.
Ramesh, the Union Environment and Forest minister,
had recently taken up with the Prime Minister demands
for review of all hydro projects in the Northeast and a
moratorium on further clearances for hydel projects in
Arunachal Pradesh saying these were bound to be the
subject of agitation in Assam.
The delegation apprised Krishna about the impact on
Arunachal Pradesh if development and exploitation of its
natural resources was halted, media reports said.
Instead of protesting construction of a dam over
Yrlang and Sangpo rivers on the Chinese side, Ramesh
was trying to halt development in the state, the report said
quoting the delegates.
In another instance, MoEF has asked Jharkhand
government to crack down on alleged illegal bauxite
mines supplying the material the Vedanta Aluminium
Ltd.
Alleging that 11 out of these 14 mines are operating
without prior environmental clearance, the ministry has
shot off a letter to the Chief Secretary of Jharkhand, asking
for corrective action.
“Most of the mines in question appear to be operating
under the deemed renewal. As per the directions of the
Supreme Court of India and the clarification issue by the
MoEF dated July 2, 2007, all such projects which have
been operating without any environmental clearance
would obtain environmental clearance at the time of their
renewal of their mining lease”, said the MoEF letter to the
Jharkhand Chief Secretary.
“In view of the above, it is requested that all the
concerned departments may be directed that the
project proponent of the concerned mines shall obtain
environmental clearance at the time of renewal of mine
lease under the provisions of Environment Impact
Assessment (EIA) Notification of 2006. Else, punitive
action will need to be taken under the Environment
Protection Act, 1986 for violating the EIA Notification of
2006”, the letter added.
However, in Rajasthan the state government has
refused to cancel new mining leases in the Sariska range
despite Union forests minister Jairam Ramesh asking
chief minister Ashok Gehlot to put an end to mining in
the Aravali ranges and cancel all new leases. The Supreme
Court had earlier ruled: “no mining in Aravalis till further
orders”.
The mines department of Rajasthan said the order of
the Suprement Court passed on February 2, 2010 is being
fully implemented.
“The court has restrained mining in cases of such mines
where the renewal application is pending but lessees are
doing mining as per the deeming provisions of rule 24A
of Mineral Conservation Rules, 1960. The mining in such
cases has been stopped completely,” a letter from mines
department of Rajasthan said.
More than 17 mines in and around Aravalis region are
facing closure threat because of Supreme Court order.
COAL INSIGHTS 40 October 2010