{"id":8809,"date":"2020-07-02T14:04:21","date_gmt":"2020-07-02T08:34:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/?p=8809"},"modified":"2020-07-02T14:04:21","modified_gmt":"2020-07-02T08:34:21","slug":"draft-environmental-impact-assessment-eia-notification-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/draft-environmental-impact-assessment-eia-notification-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"Draft Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification, 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"

Relevance: Prelims & Mains:G.S paper III: Environment: Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Context:<\/h3>\n

\"Now<\/p>\n

\u2022 The government has put up for public consideration and comment the Draft Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification, 2020. If put into force will replace the EIA Notification of 2006 for all future projects.\u00a0The EIA process scrutinizes the potential environmental impact and negative externalities of a proposed project. The assessment is carried out by an Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC), which consists of scientists and project management experts. The EAC frames the scope of the EIA study and a preliminary report is prepared.<\/p>\n

Modus operandi:<\/h3>\n

\u2022 That report is published, and a public consultation process takes place, where objections can be heard including from project-affected people.<\/p>\n

\u2022 The EAC can then make a final appraisal of the project and forward that to the regulatory authority, which is the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF).<\/p>\n

\u2022 The regulatory authority is ordinarily obliged to accept the decision of the EAC.<\/p>\n

\u2022 The basis in global environmental law for the EIA is the \u201cprecautionary principle\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Environmental harm is often irreparable \u2014 one cannot reverse an oil spill.<\/p>\n

\u2022 It is cheaper to avoid damage to the environment than to remedy it.<\/p>\n

\u2022 We are legally bound to the precautionary principle under international treaties and obligations, as well as by Supreme Court judgments.<\/p>\n

Unbiased assessment:<\/h3>\n

\u2022 Environmental regulation must balance damage to the environment with sustainable development and possible benefits of the project.<\/p>\n

\u2022 An unbiased assessment must be made on a precautionary basis, before investment, jobs and infrastructure are put on the line.<\/p>\n

\u2022 However, industries and business interests have long regarded EIA as a thorn in their side.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Under the guise of streamlining the EIA process and bringing it in line with recent judgments, the Draft EIA Notification disables it, shrinks its scope and removes what teeth it did have.<\/p>\n

\u2022 The most devastating blow to the EIA regime is the creation of an ex-post-facto clearance route.<\/p>\n

\"Evs<\/h3>\n

Ex-Post facto clearance route:<\/h3>\n

\u2022 An EIA clearance was never sought or granted, and the construction of the project took place regardless.<\/p>\n

\u2022 The project proponent can enter an assessment procedure, with some minor fines for the violations, and find its sins blessed.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Where such ex-post-facto clearances were being granted previously, the courts cracked down on them as illegal.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Therefore, what could not be ratified will now find itself notified.<\/p>\n

\u2022 The legality of sidestepping the courts is questionable and will have to be tested.<\/p>\n

\u2022 In short, the EIA regime will now carry the instrument of its demise in its text.<\/p>\n

\u2022 It will become a business decision as to whether the law needs to be followed or the violation can be \u201cmanaged\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u2022 The argument that this route will be an \u201cexception\u201d is difficult to believe in India. Our law has a long history of expanding the exception into the rule.<\/p>\n

\"Environment<\/p>\n

Lacking transparency:<\/h3>\n

\u2022 The draft notification also shortens the time for the public to furnish responses on the project.<\/p>\n

\u2022 For project-affected people, who are frequently forest dwellers or otherwise do not have access to information and technology, this will make it harder to put forth representations.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Monitoring requirements have been slackened.<\/p>\n

\u2022 The draft EIA notification halves the frequency of reporting requirements from every six months to once a year and extends the validity period for approvals in critical sectors such as mining.<\/p>\n

\u2022 The scope of the EIA regime is set to shrink. Industries that previously fell under the categories that required a full assessment have been downgraded.<\/p>\n

\u2022 The construction industry will be one such beneficiary, where only the largest projects will be scrutinised fully.<\/p>\n

Vague new category of projects:<\/h3>\n

\u2022 Defence and national security installations were always understandably exempt.<\/p>\n

\u2022 A vague new category of projects \u201cinvolving other strategic considerations\u201d will also now be free from public consultation
\nrequirements.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Would a power plant fall into that category?<\/p>\n

\u2022 Weakening the EIA process is essentially anti-democratic.<\/p>\n

\u2022 For affected communities, where seismic shifts in the local environment can threaten livelihoods, flood a valley or destroy a forest, public consultation is a referendum on existential threats.<\/p>\n

\u2022 To curtail it is to silence voices that are scarcely heard otherwise.<\/p>\n

Anti-democratic:<\/h3>\n

\u2022 The government\u2019s actions on environmental regulation (as opposed to its bon mots and rhetoric) show that it considers it an impediment to the ease of doing business.<\/p>\n

\u2022 During the nationwide coronavirus lockdown, the MoEF has been working swiftly to clear projects, even carrying out public hearings over video conference.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Where the Minister for Environment and Forests and the Minister for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises are the same person, the conflict of interest is perfect and complete.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Two charges that are oppositional are vested with the same person.<\/p>\n

\u2022 The fruits of this lackadaisical approach to precautionary environmental regulation have been recently put on display.<\/p>\n

Past examples:<\/h3>\n

\u2022 Oil India Limited\u2019s oil wells in the Tinsukia district, Assam, only a few kilometres away from protected forests, went up in flames this month.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Recent processes for expansion and modification apparently took place without fresh environmental clearance.<\/p>\n

\u2022 A deadly gas leak at LG Polymers\u2019 Visakhapatnam plant in May killed 12 people and harmed hundreds.<\/p>\n

\u2022 What came to light after the disaster was that the plant had been operating without a valid environmental clearance for decades.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Relevance: Prelims & Mains:G.S paper III: Environment: Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment Context: \u2022 The government has<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7214,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[123],"tags":[392],"class_list":["post-8809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current-affairs","tag-union-public-service-commission-upsc"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8809"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8809\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8810,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8809\/revisions\/8810"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}