Govt rejects environment clearance to Vedanta
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COMMENTS 
In a setback to Vedanta Resources, the Indian government has rejected environment clearance to its $ 1.7 billion bauxite mining project in Orissa after accepting the recommendations of a key panel clearing such ventures
India’s environment ministry has rejected Vedanta Resources Plc’s proposal to mine bauxite in the eastern state of Orissa. Citing reasons for the denial of clearance, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said “there has been a very serious violation of the Environment Protection Act, Forest Conservation Act and Forest Rights Act”.
The government will issue a show-cause notice and take penal action against Vedanta for violating these laws, Ramesh said in New Delhi.
The decision came after the Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) which submitted its report to Ramesh after reviewing suggestions given by the N C Saxena Panel seeking a ban on the mining project in Orissa’s Niyamgiri hills in view of various violations at the site. “There have been no emotions and no politics and no prejudice involved in this report. I have taken this decision in a proper legal approach,” Ramesh said.
The Saxena report cited a number of violations of the in-principle environment clearance given to Orissa Mining Corporation in 2008, including non-compliance with the provisions of the Forest Rights Act. “The consent certificate of the gram sabha was fake,” the panel said in its report while recommending that the project not be approved because of large-scale violations.
Permission for Vedanta to develop bauxite reserves in the Niyamgiri hills has been delayed for over four years by opposition from tribal communities and concerns over damage to the environment. “Allowing mining in the proposed lease area by depriving two primitive tribal groups of their rights over the proposed mining sites in order to benefit a private company would shake the faith of tribal people in the laws of the land,” the four-member committee said in its report on August 16.
The company has violated laws including the Forest Conservation Act and the Environment Protection Act, the 119-page report added. Vedanta Aluminium plans to use bauxite from the proposed mine to run its alumina refinery in the region. The mine will help the company, which produced 762,000 metric tonnes of alumina in the year-ended March 31, reduce its raw material costs. Aluminium is made from alumina refined from bauxite.
Source: The Hindu, August 24, 2010
Press Trust of India, August 24, 2010
http://www.bloomberg.com, August 24, 2010