Context:

The draft EIA Notification 2020 proposed by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has met with massive opposition.

Five reasons for opposition and demanding its withdrawal:

• One, the draft notification is legally untenable as it does not conform to its parent Act — the Environment (Protection) Act 1986. The Act requires the Centre to take measures to protect and improve the environment.
• Two, the proposed mechanism to deal with violations is illegal and worrying. The proposed notification allows the government to grant an ex post facto environmental clearance to projects that have commenced illegally without a clearance.
• Three, there is no mention of climate change and related consideration.
• Four, the draft undermines procedural environmental rights. The public consultation processes currently in force under the EIA Notification 2006 are already unsatisfactory, but the draft notification curtails their scope further.
• Five, there is no effort to put in place processes that will improve the quality of decision making, particularly of the expert appraisal committees which perform the critical function of independent evaluation of projects.

About draft Environment Impact Assessment, 2020:

• The draft notification is issued under the powers vested in the central government under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.
• The new notification is being brought in order to make the process more transparent and expedient by the implementation of an online system, further delegation, rationalisation and standardisation of the process.
• However, the environmentalist said that the draft would further dilute the EIA process.
• Draft proposes the removal of several activities from the purview of public consultation.
• The notification envisages two kinds of approval—prior environment clearance (EC) with the approval of expert committees and environmental permission or provision (EP) without the approval of expert committees.
• Draft has exempted almost 40 different projects such as clay and sand extraction or digging wells or foundations of buildings, solar thermal power plants and common effluent treatment plants are exempted from prior EC or prior EP.
• Several projects such as all B2 projects, irrigation, production of halogens, chemical fertilizers, acids manufacturing, biomedical waste treatment facilities, building construction and area development, elevated roads and flyovers, highways or expressways are exempted from public consultation.
• In addition, the notice period for public hearing has been cut from 30 days to 20 days. This will make it difficult to study the draft EIA report, more so when it is not widely available or provided in the regional language.
• Similarly, for project modernisation and expansion, the norms require only those involving more than 25 per cent increase requiring EIA, and over 50 per cent attracting public consultation.

Reference:

https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/draft-environmental-impact-assessment-notification-2020-shibani-ghosh-explained-ideas-6549609/

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