Red signals on green norms: Controversy over draft EIA notification

The controversy over the draft rules for environment clearances has created more heat than light

On August 18, the Madras High Court rejected a petition from Sterlite Copper, from the mining conglomerate Vedanta’s stable, to reopen its plant in Tamil Nadu’s Thoothukudi, closed since 2018 for its failure to meet pollution control norms. “Economic considerations can have no role to play while deciding the sustainability of a highly polluting industry,” a two-judge bench observed. 

These remarks are significant when set against the current controversy between the government and activists over the draft rules for Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), an exercise that has been mandatory for expansion, modernisation or new projects since 1994. The new norms