Vedanta refinery expansion hits green roadblock

In yet another blow to Vedanta, whose mining project in the Niyamgiri hills of Orissa has already been blocked by the environment ministry, the company?s plan to expand its adjoining alumina refinery in Lanjigarh has been adjudged by the same ministry to be in violation of existing laws.

The ministry is all set to tell the company that its ongoing six-fold expansion of the refinery ? from an annual capacity of 1 million tonnes to 6 million tonnes ? cannot be allowed because the required environmental clearances had not been obtained. The existing operating facility of 1 million tonne itself violates forest laws and needs corrective action, ministry officials claimed.

Incidentally, the refinery and the bauxite mining project at Niyamgiri hills were originally part of the same integrated project. The bauxite mined from Niyamgiri was to be processed at the refinery. While the mining project was embroiled in environmental trouble ? which was ultimately blocked in August ? a standalone clearance was given to the refinery to be operated at an annual capacity of 1 million tonne and with bauxite imported from other mines.

The refinery is operating at full capacity since 2007 with support of a 75 mw captive power plant. The bauxite is shipped from Chhattisgarh, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu among other states. The same year, the company applied for environmental clearance for the six-fold expansion of both the refinery and the captive power plant. But even as the application was being processed, the company started construction work on the expansion plan, for which it came under heavy fire from an expert committee headed by retired bureaucrat NC Saxena, who also recommended blocking the mining project.

The latest decision comes after a consideration of Vedanta?s reply to a show-cause notice issued to it by the environment ministry in August this year asking why its refinery expansion should not be disallowed.

Vedanta had given a detailed reply and its officials had also made a personal appearance at the ministry to explain their version.