Modi Govt Trying to Exempt Hazardous oil Rigs From Green Clearances

New Delhi: The Narendra Modi-led central government has proposed to exempt hydrocarbon exploration and development activities from the purview of rules meant to protect India’s ecologically fragile coastal areas. It is the latest development in a series of reforms to the country’s environmental regime.

On November 1, the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change (MoEF&CC) issued a gazette notification seeking an amendment to India’s Coastal Zone Regulation (CRZ) Notification, 2019, to exempt oil and natural gas exploration and development activities from obtaining mandatory prior clearances.

The amendment notification – which will effectively lead to a larger carbon footprint – was issued at around the same time that PM Modi stressed upon India’s commitment to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2070 while speaking at the COP 26 summit in Glasgow, Scotland, on November 2. Modi’s promise at the COP26 notwithstanding, the proposed exemption will potentially benefit private hydrocarbon firms since the Union government has also been willy-nilly working towards weakening public sector enterprises in this industry.

Barely a couple of days before notifying the proposed amendment, state-owned hydrocarbon major Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) had been asked by the Union government to give away 60% stake as well as operating control in India’s largest oil and gas producing fields of Mumbai High and Bassein to foreign companies. “The MoEF&CC, instead of fulfilling its obligation under Article 48A, has embarked upon nonchalantly breaching that obligation with the sole intention of accommodating the corporate businesses on whom the ruling elite depends for financial support,” said 1965-batch retired bureaucrat EAS Sarma.

The Union Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas had also directed ONGC to sell off its stake in producing oil fields, such as the Ratna R-Series, to private firms earlier this year. It also made ONGC get foreign partners in the KG basin gas fields and work towards monetising its existing infrastructure. The latest amendment notification not only proposes to exempt the development and production of oil and natural gas along with exploratory drilling operations, but it also proposes to exempt “all associated facilities thereto” from the coastal regulatory regime. Surprisingly, the term “associated facilities” has not been defined in the notification, thereby leaving the field wide open for project proponents to include any activity under the heading of hydrocarbon extraction. However, prohibition on oil rigs in areas classified as CRZ IA, which are ecologically most sensitive and where no activities are generally permitted, will continue to remain in force.

“In an orchestrated effort, the MoEF&CC has ‘exempted’ the oil sector, in a series of moves, from the clearances necessary under laws relating to the protection of forests, wildlife and the environment. One can appreciate if such an exemption is considered when the expected environmental effects of oil sector activities are far too marginal and its benefits to the society in proportion to it are far too significant to be ignored. It is not so, as abundantly made clear by the oil spills off the Mumbai coast and the more devastating oil spill impact of the Gulf of Mexico,” said Sarma.

The Gulf of Mexico oil spill, also known as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, took place in April 2010 following the explosion and submergence of a rig off the coast of Louisiana in the US, resulting in loss of temporary and permanent livelihoods of substantial sections of the population apart from causing largescale irreversible damage to marine biodiversity. This has been so far the largest reported oil spill incident in the world.

In India, oil spills resulting from malfunctioning hydrocarbon rigs, particularly along the western coast of the country, have been reported in the past too. These incidents have not only damaged marine ecology but have also led to loss of livelihoods in several instances. In January 2011, the Mumbai-Uran Trunk Oil Pipeline, which belongs to the ONGC, suffered a leakage, thereby causing a major oil spill off the coast of Maharashtra. In August 2013, an oil spill was reported in the coastal areas off the Gulf of Khambhat. The incident took place following a rupture in ONGC’s pipeline near Bhadbhut village of Gujarat. An oil spill off the Mumbai coast in August 2010, following the collision of two cargo vessels, had affected the Maharashtra coastline causing irreparable damage to the local marine ecology, including mangroves.

Environmental activists and marine conservationists are, in this backdrop, up in arms against the government for proposing to exempt hazardous oil drilling and extraction activities from the rigours of environmental regulations.

“There is not enough data available about India’s marine biodiversity and habitat as compared to our knowledge about the country’s terrestrial ecology. It would certainly be a sweeping decision to do away completely with mandatory CRZ clearances for oil and natural gas rigs in coastal areas without assessing the existing state of our marine habitats and wildlife and the various threats that they face,” said Goa-based marine conservationist Puja Mitra.

In addition, a large section of the country’s population, particularly in the littoral states, are intrinsically dependent on the marine ecosystem for their traditional sources of livelihood. Activists further say that exempting hydrocarbon rigs along the sea coast from CRZ clearances is tantamount to ruling out consultations with local communities that would directly be affected by large infrastructure projects along the coastal zone. Erosion of the health of marine ecology through hazardous industrial activities is also likely to threaten the livelihoods of many communities.

“Fisher communities, marine and coastal tourism operators and other allied livelihoods depend on the coastal areas remaining healthy and viable. By ruling out CRZ clearances in any form, we are effectively silencing the voices of these communities that stand to lose their livelihoods due to large infrastructure projects. Ultimately, it will be the local communities who will lose out in this game even though it is their rights which should come first,” Mitra added.

While Modi spelled out the mantra of ‘Panchamrit’ at the COP26 summit to increase India’s dependency on non-fossil fuels, his government’s series of policy reforms to boost oil and natural gas production is diametrically pointed towards a different end – that of increasing production and consumption of fossil fuels.

Earlier in October, the Union government issued a consultation paper on a set of proposed amendments to the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980. The paper, amongst other things, exempts hydrocarbon exploration and development from mandatory forest clearances if undertaken outside protected areas using the ERD (Extended Reach Drilling) technology. In September, the National Board for Wildlife ruled  – in what could be termed as a tactful circumvention of a Supreme Court order – that oil and natural gas exploration could not be considered as mining activities, thereby paving the way for rampant hydrocarbon extraction close to protected areas such as wildlife sanctuaries and national parks. In January 2020, the Modi government had exempted oil and natural gas exploration activities from the purview of Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification, 2006, even though the process is still compulsory for the development of hydrocarbon blocks.

The record of the Modi government in the efforts to conserve marine ecology is not particularly encouraging. In May this year, the Bombay High Court had stayed the Union government’s attempt to dilute the CRZ provisions wherein the MoEF&CC had issued a notification allowing post facto clearances to all industries.

The writer is an independent journalist.