Can’t rely solely on Regional Environmental Impact Assessment reports: NGT

Following a plea challenging the environmental clearance granted to 12 minor mineral sand mining projects in Uttar Pradesh, the National Green Tribunal held that the Regional Environmental Impact Assessment (REIA) reports cannot be the sole basis for approval to projects.

Clearance quashed

A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel, while quashing the environmental clearance said: “REIA is a macro-level tool which only gives representative idea of impacts in general, in a large area. It is just an indicative tool which gives a bird’s-eye view of the situation. Only the individual EIA [Environmental Impact Assessment] or cluster-based EIA can bring out individual or cluster-based impacts on environment.”

The green panel further held, “Relying solely on REIA or carving out individual EIAs from it cannot give or capture impacts at the micro or individual levels… Such a situation would result in the recipient environment being the net loser, which cannot be permitted in terms of the tenets of Precautionary Principle.”

“Relying on such tools will give the authorities a false sense of environmental compliance whereas environmental degradation will continue at the same pace,” the NGT Bench added.

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