Environmental protection is achieved by project proponents in phases like a larva turning into butterfly. In the first phase, proponents consider all actions towards meeting all stipulations/regulations recommended by regulatory authorities. In second phase, they assess environmental risks and liabilities associated with various activities and quantify them. The last phase but not least, makes proponents to realize that sustainable use of environmental resources is the only way to achieve full environmental protection. In summary the requirements on one hand and the management of environmental resources on the other hand needs to be balanced.
This article looks at the experience of the authors in developing priority-ranking processes for setting up of coal to liquid project in the state of Orissa in one of the seven sites. It provides evaluation methodology used in selection of site considering parameters for air, water, noise, land, waste, society and economy that leads to sustainable and equity development.
The key environmental parameters considered were
a. Environmental Requirements (Regulatory requirements, impact of pollution load, carbon footprint and biodiversity).
b. Socio-Political Sensitivity (Power and interest of various socio-political leaders, Maoist or other anti-establishment movement in the area, Risk to land acquisition).
c. Land Use Plan and land use summary (Landuse Prohibitions, ash disposal)
d. Land having substantial Mineral Presence
This paper shall bring out the following with an objective to address strategy for adoption of ranking processes during site selection:
» Framing of Go & No-go criteria and weightages of various criteria.
» Quantification of environmental parameters
» Developing evaluation matrix to be adopted for selection of sites.
|
