Draft EIA Notification, 2020

What is the issue?

• The government has put up for public consideration and comment the Draft Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification, 2020.
• The draft is seen as an attempt to weaken environmental regulation and silence the affected communities.

What is EIA?

• The EIA process scrutinises the potential environmental impact of a project.
• It looks into the negative externalities of a proposed project i.e. before commencement.
• It then determines whether it can be carried out in the form proposed, or whether it is to be abandoned or modified.

How does it work?

• The assessment is carried out by an Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC).
• The EAC consists of scientists and project management experts.
• The EAC frames the scope of the EIA study and a preliminary report is prepared.
• The report is published, and a public consultation process takes place.
• During consultation, objections can be heard including from project-affected people.
• The EAC can then make a final appraisal of the project.
• It is then forwarded to the regulatory authority, which is the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF).
• The regulatory authority is ordinarily obliged to accept the decision of the EAC.

What is the idea behind?

• The basis in global environmental law for the EIA is the “precautionary principle”.
• Environmental harm is often irreparable.
• It is thus cheaper to avoid damage to the environment than to remedy it.
• Various international environmental treaties and obligations as well as Supreme Court judgments are based on this principle.
• Environmental regulation must balance damage to the environment with sustainable development and possible benefits of a project.
• In this line, any project that involves environmental factors needs an unbiased assessment made on a precautionary basis.
• It is with this idea that the Environmental Impact Assessment is carried out.
• However, industries and business interests have long regarded EIA as a constraint to them.

What are the concerns with the recent notification?

• The stated reason is to streamline the EIA process and bring it in line with recent judgments.
• If put into force, the EIA Notification, 2020 will replace the EIA Notification, 2006 for all future projects.
• But the Draft EIA Notification dilutes the effectiveness of the process, and shrinks its scope.
• The most devastating blow to the EIA regime is the creation of an ex-post-facto clearance route.
• Under this, the project proponent can enter an assessment procedure, with some minor fines for the violations.
• In other words, it offers a route when an EIA clearance is not sought or granted, and the construction of the project had taken place.
• Where such ex-post-facto clearances were being granted previously, the courts cracked down on them as illegal.
• Therefore, what could not be ratified will now find itself notified.
• The legality of sidestepping the courts is questionable and will have to be tested.
• In essence, the EIA would become a business decision as to whether the law needs to be followed or the violation can be “managed”.
• The argument that this route will be an “exception” is difficult, given the long history of expanding the exception into the rule.
• The draft notification also shortens the time for the public to furnish responses on the project.
• The project-affected people are frequently forest dwellers.
• For these and others who do not have access to information and technology, this will make it harder to put forth representations.
• Monitoring requirements have also been relaxed.
• The draft EIA notification halves the frequency of reporting requirements from every 6 months to once a year.
• It also extends the validity period for approvals in critical sectors such as mining.
• The scope of the EIA regime is also set to shrink.
• Industries that previously fell under the categories that required a full assessment have been downgraded.
• The construction industry will be one such beneficiary, where only the largest projects will be scrutinised fully.
• Defence and national security installations were always understandably exempt.
• But, a vague new category of projects “involving other strategic considerations” will also now be free from public consultation requirements.

How serious is this?

• A deadly gas leak at LG Polymers’ Visakhapatnam plant in May 2020 killed 12 people and harmed hundreds.
• What came to light after the disaster was that the plant had been operating without a valid environmental clearance for decades.
• Given such incidents, weakening the EIA process is essentially anti-democratic.
• Seismic shifts in the local environment can threaten livelihoods, flood a valley or destroy a forest.
• For affected communities, public consultation is a referendum on such existential threats.
• To curtail this is to silence the voices that are scarcely heard otherwise.
• It seems that the government views environmental regulation as an impediment to the ease of doing business.
• During the nationwide coronavirus-led lockdown, the MoEF has been working swiftly to clear projects.
• It is even carrying out public hearings over video conference.
• Notably, the Minister for Environment and Forests and the Minister for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises is the same person now.
• Two charges that are oppositional are vested with the same person and the resultant conflict of interest is debatable.

Source: Indian Express