NGT quashes ministry's order allowing power plants to change coal without impact study

CHENNAI: Observing that the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change is drifting towards dilution of norms in the name of reforms instead of converting towards higher accountability, the southern bench of National Green Tribunal (NGT) has quashed an office memorandum that allowed the thermal power plants to convert their fuel source from domestic coal to imported coal and vice-versa without conducting Environmental Impact Assessment.

While disposing of a petition filed by K Saravanan, a resident of Chennai, the bench comprising of judicial member justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana and expert member Satyagopal Korlapati noted that in practice the environmental law is largely driven by notifications, guidelines, office memorandum and circulars none of which comes under the legislative oversight. When the environmental norms are weakened then there is no constitutional accountability mechanism.

The applicant challenged the office memorandum (OM) issued in November 2020 and subsequent amendments by the Ministry said that the OM allowed the thermal power plants to change their coal source without requiring fresh EIA or Environmental Clearance.

According to the applicant the OM undermined the statutory environmental safeguards and facilitated increased pollution without regulatory oversight, and violated constitutional and environmental principles. The applicant also emphasized that such a change is significant, as different types of coal have varying emission characteristics, ash content and calorific value which directly impact air and water pollution, necessitating thorough review.

The applicant also alleged that the OM was issued without public participation and the OM lacks scientific basis apart from disregarding the environmental consequences.

On the other hand, the Ministry, in its counter, submitted that the OM does not provide any blanket exemption from the requirement of obtaining an Environmental Clearance. Instead, it mandates additional conditions for coal transportation and storage modifying existing Environmental Clearances for relevant sectors.

But the applicant contended that the Environmental Impact Assessment studies are conducted only based on the coal characteristics and the source. The impact of various aspects like air emissions, impact due to transport, storage, coal handling, water requirement, ash generation and storage, ash ponds and utilization and others are assessed, and anticipated impact is forecasted. Only based on the above factors, a public hearing is conducted after which the project is appraised and the Environmental Clearance is issued, the applicant submitted.

"Permission to change the fuel source without amendment of EC can amount to submission of false information or suppression of information since the character of pollution as well as quantum of pollution load varies with the source of coal and combination of domestic and imported coal.

Such a change without further scrutiny by EAC or SEAC renders the EIA, EMP, Public Hearing and Appraisal made earlier inadequate leading to grant of EC based on incomplete information and inadequate EIA consequently imposition of conditions to mitigate pollution will also be inadequate," the bench observed.