SO 236(E) dated 16.01.2020 - Exemption of EC for exploration drilling in respect of on-shore and off-shore oil and gas

EXTRAORDINARY PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY No. 226] NEW DELHI, THURSDAY, JANUARY 16, 2020/PAUSHA 26, 1941 MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE NOTIFICATION New Delhi, the 16th January, 2020 S.O. 236(E).—WHEREAS, the Central Government in the erstwhile Ministry of Environment and Forests, in exercise of its powers under sub-section (1) and clause (v) of sub-section (2) of section (3) of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 has published the Environment Impact Assessment Notification, 2006 (hereinafter referred to as the EIA Notification, 2006) vide number S.O.1533 (E), dated the 14 th September, 2006, mandating prior environmental clearance for certain category of projects; AND WHEREAS, it was informed that due to incentives provided by the Government of India, sugar mills shall undertake production of ethanol from B-heavy Molasses or Sugar cane Juice or Sugar Syrup or Sugar, and because of the better yield of the ethanol there will be increase in the ethanol production beyond the environmental clearance granted capacity, even without any expansion of existing plant and machinery or technology; AND WHEREAS, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change is in the receipt of representations for waiver of requirement of prior environmental clearance under the provisions of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification, 2006 for the incidental increase in the production of ethanol due to use of B-heavy Molasses or Sugar cane Juice or Sugar Syrup or Sugar; change in the product-mix in case of bulk drug manufacturing without any increase in the total pollution load in the existing distilleries or sugar mills or synthetic organic chemical units for which environmental clearance was already granted; AND WHEREAS, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has also received references requesting for exemption from requirement of prior environmental clearance under the provisions of the Environmental Impact Assessment Notification, 2006 for exploration drilling in respect of on-shore and off-shore oil and gas; Now, therefore, in exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) and clause (v) of sub- section (2) of section 3 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 (29 of 1986), read with sub-rule (4) of rule 5 of the Environment (Protection) Rules, 1986, the Central Government, after having dispensed with the requirement of notice under clause (a) of sub-rule (3) of the rule 5 of the said rules in public interest hereby makes the following further amendments in the said notification of the Government of India, in the erstwhile Ministry of Environment and Forests published in the Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part II, Section 3, Sub-section (ii) vide number S.O. 1533 (E), dated the 14 th September, 2006, namely:- In the said notification,- i. in paragraph 7, in sub-paragraph (ii), for clause (c), the following clause shall be substituted, namely:- “(c) Any change in raw material-mix or product-mix, change in quantities within products or number of products in the same category for which prior environmental clearance has been granted, shall be exempted from the requirement of prior environmental clearance provided there is no increase in pollution load and the resultant increase in production is not more than 50 percent of the production capacity permitted in the earlier environmental clearance and the project proponent shall follow the procedure for obtaining ‘No Increase in Pollution Load’ certificate from the concerned State Pollution Control Board or Union Territory Pollution Control Committee, as the case may be, as per the provisions given in Appendix –XIII”; ii. in the Schedule - for item 1(b) and the entries relating thereto, the following items and entries shall be substituted, namely:- 1(b) Off-shore and onshore oil and gas exploration, development and production All projects in respect of off-shore and onshore oil and gas development and production except exploration Note 1: Seismic surveys which are part of Exploration Surveys are exempted provided the concession areas have got previous clearance for physical survey Note 2: All project in respect of off-shore and onshore oil and gas exploration are categorized as ‘B2’ projects” GEETA MENON, Jt. Secy. Note : The principal notification was published in the Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part II, Section 3, Sub-section (ii) vide number S.O. 1533 (E), dated the 14 th September, 2006 and subsequently amended vide the following numbers: - 1. S.O. 1949 (E) dated the 13 th November, 2006; 2. S.O. 1737 (E) dated the 11 th October, 2007; 3. S.O. 3067 (E) dated the 1 st December, 2009; 4. S.O. 695 (E) dated the 4 th April, 2011; 5. S.O. 156 (E) dated the 25 th January, 2012; 6. S.O. 2896 (E) dated the 13 th December, 2012; 7. S.O. 674 (E) dated the 13 th March, 2013; 8. S.O. 2204 (E) dated the 19 th July 2013; 9. S.O. 2555 (E) dated the 21 st August, 2013; 10. S.O. 2559 (E) dated the 22 nd August, 2013; 11. S.O. 2731 (E) dated the 9 th September, 2013; 12. S.O. 562 (E) dated the 26 th February, 2014; 13. S.O. 637 (E) dated the 28 th February, 2014; 14. S.O. 1599 (E) dated the 25 th June, 2014; 15. S.O. 2601 (E) dated the 7 th October, 2014; 16. S.O. 2600 (E) dated the 9 th October, 2014 17. S.O. 3252 (E) dated the 22 nd December, 2014; 18. S.O. 382 (E) dated the 3 rd February, 2015; 19. S.O. 811 (E) dated the 23 rd March, 2015; 20. S.O. 996 (E) dated the 10 th April, 2015; 21. S.O. 1142 (E) dated the 17 th April, 2015; 22. S.O. 1141 (E) dated the 29 th April, 2015; 23. S.O. 1834 (E) dated the 6 th July, 2015; 24. S.O. 2571 (E) dated the 31 st August, 2015; 25. S.O. 2572 (E) dated the 14 th September, 2015; 26. S.O. 141 (E) dated the 15 th January, 2016; 27. S.O. 648 (E) dated the 3rd March, 2016; 28. S.O. 2269(E) dated the 1st July, 2016; 29. S.O. 2944(E) dated the 14 th September, 2016; rd November 2016; 31. S.O. 3999 (E) dated the 9 th December, 2016; 32. S.O. 4241(E) dated the 30 th December, 2016; 33. S.O. 3611(E) dated the 25 th July, 2018; 34. S.O. 3977 (E) dated the 14 th August, 2018 35. S.O. 5733 (E) dated the 14th November, 2018; 36. S.O. 5736 (E) dated the 15th November, 2018; 37. S.O. 5845(E) dated the 26th November, 2018; 38. S.O. 345(E) dated the 17th January, 2019 and 39. S.O. 1960(E) dated the 13th June, 2019. and Published by the Controller of Publications, Delhi-110054. MANOJ KUMAR VERMA