Hankon Thermal Power Plant - 6 - Agitation continues...

Take proper action against the officials: SHRC

Sirsi: State Human Rights Commissioner (SHRC) had recommended the government to take action on seven police officials in connection with the issue on Hankon thermal power plant, where police allegedly assaulted the people who were protesting against the proposed thermal power plant, said the commission Chairman.

Speaking to media during here on Wednesday, he said that the commission had submitted its recommendation to the Home Ministry on October 23, and urged to take proper action against the officials.

The commission had considered the incident very seriously. One the day the report of the police team regarding the Hankon incident was revealed, a message was conveyed to the Inspector General of Police (western zone) Gopal Hosur, saying that the report was not satisfactory, he said.

Move against SC against violation of law relating to protection of tigers

The delegation convinced the ministers that the project site was at an aerial distance of five Km from Kotegao Wild Life Sanctuary of Goa and 10-11 km from Anashi Tiger Reserve. Reports given by Deputy Conservators of Forests of Dandeli and Karwar in this regard were also presented to the ministers. The ministers were also told about the plight of 20,000 fishermen, who would be affected if the project was established, he said. Alva reminded the ministers the promise given by SM Krishna, when he was the CM that no more power projects would be allowed the come up in the Uttara Kannada district.

Desai further said Jairam Ramesh has assured that he would take steps against the officials, who has given the clearance to the project without verifying the facts. Alva may also lead an agitation against the project along with Medha Patkar if the letter of clearance given to the project is no withdrawn, he warned.

Hanakon agitation gets Patkar's support

The anti-thermal power unit Sameeti of Hanakon has found a supporter in Narmada Bachao Andolan founder Medha Patkar. A rally will be held in Karwar on November 7 and Patkar will participate in the rally, said Kishor Desai, legal adviser of the Sameeti, on Saturday.

Citing the order passed by the State Human Right Committee (SHRC), against police officials who allegedly committed excesses during the violence at Hanakon on July 30, Desai said the Sameeti would approach the high court and the Supreme Court if the government fails to take action against the police officers who were indicted by the SHRC.

He said the committee will stage a dharna in front of the Vidhana Soudha and the IGP's office in Mangalore. Releasing a copy of the British gazette of 1895, in which the survey number 288 where the company is building the thermal plant was shown as forest area, Desai alleged that the company had suppressed the fact before obtaining clearance for the project.

Desai said the assistant commissioner of Karwar had converted the forest land into non-agriculture (NA) land by flouting the law.

He said many sections of the Karnataka Panchayat Raj Act were flouted by the revenue, police and company officials and he would file a writ petition in the high court seeking action against the officials who allegedly helped the company officials to suppress and conceal the facts while obtaining the permission for the thermal power plant.

Hankon Thermal Power Plant - 3 - Central panel finds Hankon report flawed

Central panel finds Hankon report flawed - Source - Indian Express News

The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report on the basis of which the conditional environmental clearance for the 450-MW Hankon thermal power project project was granted is riddled with flaws, the report of a Central committee reveals. The threemember committee constituted by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) for a spot inspection of the site, has recommended a comprehensive impact assessment study before the final environmental clearance for the project is granted.

The conditional EIA was given on the basis of the report submitted to the MoEF by the Ind Bharat Power (Karwar) Ltd, a private company which is building the coal-based power plant.
The committee was constituted following large scale local protests against the plant on environmental grounds. The committee members include K S Reddy, chief conservator of forests, M M Kamath and B Sudhakara Reddy.

Key questions raised

◆ Cotegaon Wildlife Sanctuary, Goa, is located at at an aerial distance of 5 km from the project site. The Company’s EIA report says that there is no National Park/Wildlife Sanctuary within a 7-km periphery of the project site, as is mandated by law. Also, the location of any existing National Park/Wildlife Sanctuary within 10 km of the site should be specified on an officially endorsed map. This finds no mention in the EIA report. The proposed project site is only 10 km away from the boundary of Dandeli-Anashi Tiger Reserve, the committee observed.

◆ The company’s report says that there are no lakes/reservoirs/dams within a 7-km radius of the project site. The committee has found three minor irrigation tanks in the vicinity of the project site. Also, mountains and hills within the 7-km radius find no mention in the EIA report.

◆ The existence of a historical fort at Sadashivgad, which is at a distance of 5 km from the project site, has not been mentioned. Although there are a few houses within 500 metres of the project site, the company’s report answers ‘nil’ to a question regarding the number of houses in that specified area.

◆ According to the Environment (Protection) Rules, 1986, no cooling water discharge shall be permitted into estuaries or ecologically sensitive zones like mangroves. However, the discharge site of the project falls into this category.

◆ The company has failed to mention that forest land is required for the project. The committee says that the project needs forest land for the approach road and a large portion for power transmission by KPTCL.

So What next.....

Hankon Thermal Power Plant - 2 - Kyoto Protocol vis-a-vis India

The Kyoto Protocol is a protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change(UNFCCC or FCCC), an international environmental treaty with the goal of achieving "stabilization ofgreenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would preventdangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system."^[1] The Kyoto Protocol establishes legally binding commitment for the reduction of four greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane,nitrous oxide, sulphur hexafluoride), and two groups of gases (hydrofluorocarbons andperfluorocarbons) produced by "annex I" (industrialized) nations, as well as general commitments for all member countries. As of January 2009,183 parties have ratified the protocol, which was initially adopted for use on 11 December 1997 in Kyoto, Japan and which entered into force on 16 February 2005. Under the Kyoto Protocol, industrialized countries agreed to reduce their collective green house gas (GHG) emissions by 5.2% from the level in 1990. National limitations range from the reduction of 8% for the European Union and others to 7% for the United States, 6% for Japan, and 0% for Russia. The treaty permitted the emission increases of 8% for Australia and 10% for Iceland.^[3]

Kyoto includes defined "flexible mechanisms" such as Emissions Trading, the Clean Development Mechanism and Joint Implementation to allow annex I economies to meet their GHG emission limitations by purchasing GHG emission reductions credits from elsewhere, through financial exchanges, projects that reduce emissions in non-annex I economies, from other annex I countries, or from annex I countries with excess allowances. In practice this means that non-annex I economies have no GHG emission restrictions, but have financial incentives to develop GHG emission reduction projects to receive "carbon credits" that can then be sold to annex I buyers, encouraging sustainable development. In addition, the flexible mechanisms allow annex I nations with efficient, low GHG-emitting industries, and high prevailing environmental standards to purchase carbon credits on the world market instead of reducing greenhouse gas emissions domestically. Annex I entities typically will want to acquire carbon credits as cheaply as possible, while non-annex I entities want to maximize the value of carbon credits generated from their domestic Greenhouse Gas Projects.

Among the annex I signatories, all nations have established Designated National Authorities to manage their greenhouse gas portfolios; countries including Japan, Canada, Italy, the Netherlands,Germany,France, Spain and others are actively promoting government carbon funds, supporting multilateral carbon funds intent on purchasing carbon credits from non-annex I countries, and are working closely with their major utility, energy, oil and gas and chemicals conglomerates to acquire greenhouse gas certificates as cheaply as possible. Virtually all of the non-annex I countries have also established Designated National Authorities to manage the Kyoto process, specifically the "CDM process" that determines which GHG Projects they wish to propose for accreditation by the CDM Executive Board.

The treaty was negotiated in Kyoto, Japan in December 1997, opened for signature on 16 March 1998, and closed on 15 March 1999. The agreement came into force on 16 February 2005 following ratification by Russia on 18 November 2004. As of 14 January 2009, a total of 183 countries and one regional economic organization (the EC) have ratified the agreement (representing over 63.7% of emissions from annex I countries).

The five principal concepts of the Kyoto Protocol are:^{[citation needed]}

• commitments to reduce greenhouse gases that are legally binding for annex I countries, as well as general commitments for all member countries;
• implementation to meet the Protocol objectives, to prepare policies and measures which reduce greenhouse gases; increasing absorption of these gases and use all mechanisms available, such as joint implementation, clean development mechanism and emissions trading; being rewarded with credits which allow more greenhouse gas emissions at home;
• minimizing impacts on developing countries by establishing an adaptation fund for climate change;
• accounting, reporting and review to ensure the integrity of the Protocol;
• compliance by establishing a compliance committee to enforce compliance with the commitments under the Protocol.

India signed and ratified the Protocol in August, 2002. Since India is exempted from the framework of the treaty, it is expected to gain from the protocol in terms of transfer of technology and related foreign investments. At the G8 meeting in June 2005, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singhpointed out that the per-capita emission rates of the developing countries are a tiny fraction of those in the developed world. Following the principle of common but differentiated responsibility, India maintains that the major responsibility of curbing emission rests with the developed countries, which have accumulated emissions over a long period of time. However, the U.S. and other Western nations assert that India, along with China, will account for most of the emissions in the coming decades, owing to their rapid industrialization and economic growth.

Source - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyoto_Protocol#India

Full Text of Kyoto Protocol (click)