Clearances eased for green projects

The Centre has proposed a set of norms demarcating the projects that need approval from state agencies or the Union ministry to expedite the process of obtaining environment clearances, by making it more transparent and time-bound and involving state governments.

The proposals, framed as part of a World Bank-assisted environmental management capacity building project, would ensure greater delegation of powers to state-level regulatory bodies and limit to 19, the number of activities that would require clearance from the Union ministry of environment and forests, official sources said.

Unlike the existing environment clearance process that takes 21 to 28 months with no certainty, the new proposals envisage the total time period for obtaining final clearance up to 12 months with ensured certainty.

The revised environmental clearance process was on the agenda for discussion at the two-day conference of state environment ministers and secretaries beginning tomorrow and was likely to be discussed threadbare, they said.

The move comes in the wake of concerns voiced by several state governments over the controversial July 7 environmental impact assessment notification.

The notification makes it mandatory for the Union ministry to grant envrionmental clearance to all new projects over Rs 50 crore, or construction meant for more than 1,000 people or discharging sewage of 50,000 litres daily.

According to the revised process, the allocation of power to approve projects, which have been categoried into A and A/B lists, has been done on the basis of scale of potential impact of a project rather than its cost.

Proposals that are likely to have a higher impact on environment, or affect more than one state or a neighbouring country, will fall under Category A, requiring a clearance from the Centre.

The remaining projects will fall under Category B and will require approval from the state governments concerned.

However, all projects sponsored by the state government or entities controlled by them will require the Centre's clearance.

A revised notification by the environment ministry will empower a screening committee to decide which of the 'A/B' enlisted projects will be cleared by the state or the Centre.

While category 'A' has projects like nuclear power, river valley projects with more than 1,000 hectares command area, ports and harbours, ship breaking yards, thermal plants with more than 500 mw capacity among the 19 activities, the ab list has 27 activities like automobile units, basic organic chemicals, construction of all projects in urban areas generating more than 50 kilo litres of waste water daily, mining of major minerals upto 25 ha among others.

The stages of the proposed clearance process include screening, scoping, public consultation, appraisal and post-project monitoring.

The screening, which will primarily be done by the project proponent itself, would primarily determine if at all an environment appraisal and clearance is required.

A screening and scoping expert committee (SSEC) at the Moef level will carry out the screening on the basis of preliminary information provided by the proponent on a prescribed form.

In case of category B proposals, a similar state-level screening committee would determine the environmental impact assessment for clearance.

The proposals would be further categorised into B-1 and B-2, with the former requring to undergo approval process similar to category 'A' projects, while the latter would require no clearance and would be based on information provided by the proponent.

A state level expert committee would assess on the basis of the potential impacts if a project is B-1 or B-2 category.

The SSEC will scope the project to formulate the terms of reference for the studies required for environment impact assessment and would address all concerns like forestry, biodiversity, wildlife etc for a given project.