CHENNAI: The southern bench of National Green Tribunal on Monday issued a notice to the Union Environment Ministry seeking a response to its recent notification that grants certain exemptions to offshore and onshore oil and gas exploration projects.
On January 16, the ministry proposed an amendment to the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification, 2006, according to which onshore and offshore exploration of oil and gas activity was recategorised as 'B2' from 'A' which allows these highly intensive projects to duck mandatory scoping, EIA study and public consultation process. The move had drawn wide criticism from environmental activists.
Challenging this, K R Selvaraj of Meenavar Nala Sangam filed a petition in the NGT praying for immediate quashing of the amended notification. The tribunal comprising Justice K Ramakrishnan and expert member Saibal Dasgupta has admitted the appeal and issued a notice to the ministry.
The petitioner alleged that the notification was completely contrary to the precautionary principle as well as the principle of non-regression which implies that environmental laws should not be diluted from existing standards of restrictions. "The impugned notification is liable to be quashed as relevant factors were not considered by the ministry. It is devoid of reasons for exempting scoping, EIA studies and public consultation for oil and gas exploration, which in most cases are carried out in ecologically sensitive areas rich in diversity," Selvaraj said and added that the ministry's EIA Technical Guidance Manual mentions the environmental impacts of oil and gas exploration activities.
As per information obtained through RTI, ONGC alone had drilled 768 wells so far, of which 187 are currently operational. Tiruvarur has 78 operational wells, the highest in the state, followed by 57 in Nagapattinam, 35 in Ramnad, 12 in Thanjavur, 4 in Cuddalore and one in Ariyalur.
This apart, the environment ministry has granted three years environmental clearance extension to ONGC for carrying out exploratory drilling in the Cauvery basin. ONGC filed for extension in June this year and after careful consideration, it was granted by the committee on September 5.
After years of protests, the Tamil Nadu government has issued a gazette notification declaring the Cauvery delta as a protected zone. It has prohibited exploration, drilling and extraction of oil and natural gas and other hydrocarbons in Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Nagapattinam and select blocks in Cuddalore and Pudukkottai. Officials of the environment department say current and ongoing oil activities will not be disturbed in the notified area, but no new hydrocarbon project will be allowed.